Hungary.

Rune and I went to Budapest, Hungary this past weekend-- below is a quick reference of the location in Europe.  

Day One:

Right as we arrived in Budapest, our first priority was to grab a beer and some grilled goat cheese (which is amazing!)

We rented an apartment-- which had a balcony, kitchen, bedroom, and jacuzzi in the center of town for cheap.  This picture is on balcony :)

Our next priority was to stock the apartment with the essentials: German & Czech beer, water, and snacks.  Rune thought using the colorful kids cart was a necessity as well.

After settling in Rune and I took a long walk around the city center.  Below, is a picture of Hungary's Parliament building.  This picture doesn't nearly do it justice, it was enormous.  In fact, it's the third largest parliament building in Europe.

Walking along the river.

Hungarian Flag.

One thing that is not lost in Europe, is architectural details.  Check out these snakes!

We were very lucky, the weather was incredible the entire time we were there-- 30 degrees celsius.

Rune taking in the city.

After a few hours of sightseeing we grabbed dinner at a place called Karma.  Below is a picture of the appetizer we got-- grilled slices of mozzarella over fresh vegetables and salad.  For dinner we had spicy wok and finished with a glass of champagne with strawberry pulp.  Yum!

Day Two:

Rune figuring out the best way to tackle breakfast.  I got french toast on brioche with fresh fruit, ahh :)

After a relaxing breakfast in the sunshine, we took in the sights of Budapest:

Rune sporting his inner-model.

A smart-car ambulance.  Only in Europe.

A very cute little hungarian girl playing in the fountains.

St. Stephen's Basilica.  This basilica was enormous and absolutely beautiful.  We were lucky enough to come when a wedding was going on.  The stunning bride was taking pictures in front of the church.  What a dream wedding that must have been.

From the inner city we walked towards Elizabeth bridge, to get to Buda Castle (shown below) and the Turkish Bath.

Again, with the posing.

Rune and I stumbled upon this monument on our walk and walked to the top of it.  We thought it was the way to this famous watch-tower.  We were sadly mistaken, but on the bright side we received amazing views of the city.

Walking up to the monument.

Hands-down one of our favorite activities was the Rudas Bath.   Rudas is a Turkish bath, that was built during 1550 during Turkish occupation of Hungary.  The colorful dome is 10 meters, and the bath is thermal & medicinal.  The thermal water has components of calcium, magnesium, fluoride ion, and sulphate.  The medicinal components include ease of joint inflammation, vertebra problems, and lack of calcium in the bone system.

After soaking in the 6 different thermal baths (each with varying temperatures.. in which Rune inched into the hottest one while I happily swam in the cold one, haha) we received aroma massages.  They were sooo relaxing.  I was a bit suspicious the moment my masseuse came into the room... in came a shirt-less very large man, with a dragon tattoo covering his stomach, and a braided beard.  He barely spoke english.. pointing down at the top of the table he ordered, "head, lay".  It turns out masseuses don't need to be any shape, size, nationality, or speak any familiar language.  The body is the same everywhere in the world, and people know how to relax it :)

After our Turkish bath we took on central Budapest once again:

We're riiich!  Actually, it's around three euros.

For our last night in Budapest Rune treated me to a five course Hungarian dinner.  Beginning with cocktails and lamb skewers soaked in mint.

Enjoying life.

Tenderloin of beef with green potatoes!

What a combination: Spanish red wine, great food, wonderful conversation, and a loving boyfriend.

 I would actually like to explain this joyous laughter.  The server at the restaurant came over with two cold, wrapped up wet towels and gave one to each of us. I followed protocol and began whipping my hands.  I looked across at Rune and saw him confidently raise the towel to his face and whip his mouth-- in the same instant he looked over at the server with a naive smile and asked "wait, what is this for?"  It might have been one of those 'had to be there' moments :)

We finished our amazing trip off with a lovely walk along the water.

Heading to Portugal next!  Sending all of my love!