Sunday, September 9, 2007

our day at the castle

So many pictures to post from our awesome weekend... Coming soon!

We had such a fun weekend! We are now exhausted from it all, but it was great.

We headed into Budapest yesterday for the wedding with Nusi. We maneuvered on public ALL BY OURSELVES and even bought tickets by ourselves. That felt good to do. We took the wrong tram to get to our final destination, but it worked out alright. Actually, it went to the right place, but we took the longest and most scenic route instead of the direct route. It was good, though, because I got to go by Octogan and Nyugati, which is where I also liked to shop before and where there is a TGI Friday's! Can't wait to eat there sometime soon.

We didn't have time to stop and eat at Pizza Hut. I was super bummed because I wanted it so badly. One of these days hopefully...

We met up with Nusi and Kat at Moskva ter. Kat hasn't changed a bit, looks or personality, so I recognized her right away. We had a fun time talking and hanging out for a couple hours before the wedding. We ate at some awesome little pastry shop near Buda Var. It is in the castle district, and it is just incredibly beautiful...filled with old European charm. We took a ton of pictures of the area, and I know my mom will appreciate them because this is her favorite part of Budapest!

We went to the wedding of one of Nusi and Kat's old classmates. I didn't understand a word of it obviously, but Kat was kind of enough to translate here and there. We also met Nusi's boyfriend Tomas at the wedding, along with her friend Linda, who I also got to know and spend time with on my exchange program here 9 years ago. It was so fun!

After the wedding, Kevin and I walked around the castle district, strolled along the Danube, and took some great camera and video shots. We are still learning what to do to put them on our website, but I hope to post some of the pictures here in the meantime.

We met up after that with the Custer's and McLemore's for the wine tasting they have every year in Budapest at the castle. It was incredible to get to be in a castle courtyard and tasting wines from around the world! Well, I should say that I had fun sipping my water instead, but everyone else thoroughly enjoyed this part of the European lifestyle. Kevin and I realized that it is just as cheap, if not cheaper, to buy wine/alcohol here than it is to buy other beverages. So weird! I have never been to anything like this before, but it was so cool. I enjoyed eating some of the food they had to offer instead, and I was glad it was outside so that I wasn't inhaling as much second hand smoke had we been inside for it.

That leads me to something else... smoking. I got so used to everything being smoke-free in NY when we lived there, and then Ohio soon followed when we moved there. Now we are in Europe where just about everyone smokes, and I realized that the instant we stepped off the plane in Frankfurt, Germany, because everyone lit up. They smoke all the time and everywhere. It really is disgusting, and I pray I don't die of lung cancer from second hand smoke while we're here! So I am exaggerating a bit, but nonetheless, too much smoking!

I just can't describe how beautiful it was last night. The city is incredible all lit up at night, and having a castle right there is just amazing! Budapest is still under major construction everywhere, but at night you can't see all of that. I am anxious to post some pictures once we get our laptop over here at school and hooked up to the internet. I know pictures don't do justice to what it is actually like, but it's better than nothing. So be looking for them!

3 comments:

Aimee said...

Glad you had such a fun weekend! You'll get your Pizza Hut soon, I'm sure :) I have some exciting news - I'm an AUNT!!! Danielle had her baby this morning (Sept. 9)at 7:20am, about 3 1/2 weeks early. The doctors had to induce her due to preeclampsia, but baby Hannah is doing great (4 lbs., 8 oz.) and so is Mom :) We continue to pray for you three daily!

Brittany said...

So, did you get Pizza Hut? lol

Kristin said...

Hey! I have been staying updated with your life, but I don't comment often. I really cannot imagine having to deal with all the different things you and Kevin are going through.
As far as putting videos in, you upload it like you do pictures -- there is a little film strip right next to the photo icon in the post screen. It only accepts certain "styles" of video(it lists them when you click on the icon) and Ryan set that up for me. I am sure that you and Kevin will be able to figure it out. I would love to see video and pictures of where are you living...it is so hard to imagine.
I am glad that things are getting a little easier. We will continue to pray for you!