First day in Budapest - we walked and we walked...
We arrived in Budapest at around 10, and we had talked about taken an airport shuttle to the apartment. As we were about to walk outside, we got stopped by a nice lady from ZONA Taxi company. Turned out the taxi got cheaper split in 2, then the shuttle would have been. We also got their card, so that we could call and book a car for our return to the airport.
We got to the apartment at about 10.45. Gudny, who had made the arrangement, sent a text mssg to let them know we were on our way, and got an answer that someone would be at the apartment to let us in, give us the keys and also for us to pay for the rent. We were instructed to dial a certain nr. at the doorbell, and we would be let in. I have no idea how many times we tried, before Gudny finally texted them and said that no-one was there.
We unpacked, and decided to hit the town, and not wait around to see if they came and fixed the tap. Not sure on where to go, we just started walking. And for some reason it felt like we never stopped walking that day. Think we walked at least 20 km, maybe more. But we found that we liked the city. There are so many parks around that makes up for the grey, dirty buildings.
Our first stop was Pizza Hut, not too far from where we were staying. We were all hungry, and not knowing our way around yet, made it an easy desition. We sat at very large, round table, with kinda like a horseshoe shaped sofa. The interior of the Pizza Hut was cool, and the waiter were nice and trying his best to speak english and describing the toppings on the pizza.
From there we found a main street, called Andrassy Ut. We followd that street till we came to a Cathedral. Took a lot of picture of the outside, and as we walked around it, we found the entrance. Since we already had agreed to try to walk up to the top, we went inside. It was a beautiful church. I'm as far from a Christian person as you could possibly get without being on the "wrong" side... lol, but I still like the arcitecture and paintings and such of some churches. After looking around and taking pictures, we paid 600 HUF pr. adult and 400 HUF pr.
We went around the top, and shot lots of pics, before heading down again. (Yes, there are lifts there, but we chose not to use them)
After that we went on and ended up down by the river Danube ( Donau). Since we had talked beforehand that we were going to take a boat trip, we got some tickets for a boat that same evening at 7pm. It was now around 4pm, so we had some time to kill.
By now, it was actually raining a little, so we diceded to call it the night and head back to the apartment. We found a metro line that had a stop not too far from our apartment. But being so tired that we were, it seemed like we had to walk like forever. When we got inside, and took our shoes off... Oh, that was heaven to my sore feet. lol...
An other thing that was good, was that they had been there and fixed the tap.
I layed down on the bed, just wanting to rest for a little while. The kids were watching Cartoon or something in Italian, Gudny sat at the table looking at the map I think. It was around 8.30 pm or something I think...
Next thing I know everyone is sleeping, the apartment is dark and I was waking up because I had to go to the restroom. Oh yeah, I was really tired....
And so ended our first day in Budapest.
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As we arrived at the appartment, with a textmssg saying to ring the doorbell and the owner would let us in, we found that the owner was NOT there. But his Mom was and she for some reason didn't bother to open the door when we rang. So my friend had to get in touch with the owners sister again and she had to call her Mom to let us in. Not exactly a good start to our stay. However, we were finally let in and then there were some issues regarding the pay. The Mom didn't have change money, so I had to trust that I would get back the change. (Which I did later that night)
After Mom left, we looked over the appartment and one of the kids said that the tap in the kitchen was broken !?? It was, and no one had said anything. So there were another issue that had to be solved. Gudny contacted the owner and just got the respond that the tap had broken the day before! So what? Why wasn't it fixed already?? Gudny was quite mad in her reply to them and told them to get it fixed asap. After this controversy, we decided to go for a walk instead of sitting in the appartment waiting for someone to come and fix the tap.
Thankfully it was fixed when we got back in the late evening.
I didn't care much for this appartment except for the location. It's located very close to the Metro, and also has grocerystores and restaurants in walking distance.
All in all, we did have an ok stay here, but I won't recommend this appartment.
It costs 500 HUF pr. adult and 400 HUF pr. child.
You can take the lift up, but I recommend walking all 146 steps to the top. You'll feel your thighs burn at the end, but it's so worth the effort getting there on your own feet...
The view from the dome is magnificent. Although it's quite windy up there, so hold on to anything that might fly away. I almost lost my hat there...lol
Our waiter knew very little English, but he tried his best. The funniest was when he was trying to translate the toppings on the pizzas. He said they were small and green and I said Peas.. he said no, and kept this going for a while. Then he drew little round things on a paper, and again we said PEAS.. he still said no, not peas. Then he went and found a picture to show us, and wouldn't you know.. PEAS. lol...
He then came with a pen and paper and asked if Gudny could write down some of the english names for them. The funny thing was that at the table just a cross from us were some American guys... and he chose to ask some people from Norway.. hahaha.
The pizza was good, and the size we ordered were good for one and 2 people.
Location; Corner of Andrassy Ut & Korut Erzsëbet
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