Our First Weekend in Budapest
Our first day back in Budapest we got back late and dragged our suitcases the 25 minute walk back to our apartment. We were hungry and didn’t have anything at the house yet except for some of the junk food we brought from the States, so we went down to the corner and got buckets of KFC!
At the corner of our block is a KFC and a Starbucks. Starbucks prices are pretty similar to the States, but KFC was a bit cheaper. They didn’t have the same stuff though; it was mostly chicken wings and chicken strips. And everything was spicy! Of course Willow would not eat it.
The next day, Saturday, we had to go to the mall to get our sim card working again. While JonPaul and my mom went to the store, I took the kids walking around the mall. On the roof of the mall there is a garden, walking path with benches, and a small playground! The kids thought this was super cool, especially since you could look down into the big ceiling skylights and see the stores below.
Also in the mall was a movie theatre. JonPaul went to check to see if they had any movies in English, and surprisingly they show movies in English with Hungarian subtitles sometimes. There was Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings playing in an hour, so we went to the food court and had lunch. Then JonPaul, Zoey, Ronin, and I went to the movies! They had some cool Marvel statues that Ronin just had to have his picture with, and the prices for snacks were so great compared to the States! We just had to get popcorn! It was a pretty good Saturday.
On Sunday we had heard about a children’s festival at one o the parks on the Buda side. We had no idea what it would be like, but figured we would check it out. There was so much to do! Right when we got into the park we saw some carnival rides set up. The kids were allowed to pick two things to do, since they of course cost money. All of them picked the bumper cars. Since there was an extra seat I got to ride with Zoey. She did a pretty good job driving and loved bumping everyone, especially Ronin! Ronin had a little trouble with the car and knowing which way to turn the wheel, so he got stuck a couple of times. He still had tons of fun though. For the second ride, Willow chose to jump in the bouncy house and Zoey and Ronin chose the roller coaster. It was a simple circle with two bunny hills that they went around 13 times. Everyone had a blast.
Next we played a bunch of the sports and games stations. There were two scooter/bike riding areas where the kids followed the cones to ride in an obstacle course. Then there was a climbing wall. I couldn’t get good pictures because of where the sun was, but Ronin made it halfway up (which was awesome for his first time climbing) and Zoey of course made it all the way to the top. She loves climbing, and if she ever retires from gymnastics I know she would love to climb more. There were also darts, which Ronin loves, and jumping pads where you had to move them one at a time to jump across the ‘river’. We also played some badminton (the kids were terrible at it!) and did some soccer games.
Everyone was hungry, so we got some langos, a traditional Hungarian street food. It is basically fried dough like an elephant ear but with sour cream, cheese, or sour cream and cheese on it. You can get other things, but those are the most common. These are super yummy, and everyone liked them, even Willow.
There were a lot of other things at the festival to do. The police were there and had sign puzzles to put together. The kids earned a sticker badge for completing all the puzzles. They also had the police motorcycles to sit on and Ronin especially loved that. Of course there was face painting and balloon animals, although the balloon lady only knew how to make dogs, so that is what everyone got. There was a small petting zoo with lots of rabbits, goats, pigs, and even a giant snake! Finally, the technology group was there teaching children how to do coding. Luckily there were a few who spoke English, and Zoey and Ronin got to learn a little about coding simple video games. All in all, it was a really fun festival.
Later in the day we walked by the Oktogon, which is a few blocks from our apartment. In the Oktogon there is a food stand that sells Kürtőskalács, or chimney cakes. These are dough rolled in sugar and cooked slowly on a rotating spit, the rolled in more sugar, put back on the spit, and then finally dipped in a topping, typically cinnamon and sugar. They are the yummiest when piping hot!
It was a great first weekend in the city. I can’t wait to get to explore more!
