4 days in Budapest-07/21-7/24/2018

Day 1- Arrival

To get to Budapest we had to connect in Dallas, Washington, and then to Budapest.  Our plane in San Francisco has too much fuel and could not take off.  The airline had to find another plane and were delayed for about 2 hours.  Luckily, we were able to board our 2 other connections without any problems.  However, once we got to Budapest, my luggage did not make it and the airline told us it will be delivered to our appartment the next day.  Having only winter clothes on as it is always cold on the plane, I told Hoa we had to go shopping until my clothes get here.

We rented a really nice apartment on Rákóczi út (Rákóczi Avenue) which is one of the busiest arterial roads in Budapest.

 

This is the first McDonald in Hungary that was opened during communism on April of 1988 in Régiposta street, downtown Budapest.

 

Found this old picture of the same store... The store is now different and people do not line up for McDonald any longer. It is still very popular but there are plenty of stores now.

 

It takes about 10/15  minutes to walk from our apartment on Rákóczi út to the main shopping area.

 

Streets are very clean...

Parisi Udvar (Paris Courtyard) is a historic building turned into a luxurious hotel.

 

This is Parizsi Utca is street close to Váci Utca with lots of cute shops.  The buildings are really nice

 

Main Shopping area in Budapest with lots and lots of store on Váci Utca. 

Váci Street is located downtown Budapest and is ranked 7th spot among 16 pedestrian shopping streets in a contest, the aim of which was to rank the streets by comparing several factors including:

Atmosphere, attractiveness, cleanliness, and customer service in shops.  Váci Utca received 76 points out of 100, outrunning well known pedestrian streets of Paris, Amsterdam, and Milan.

 

This is the first Adidas store opened in the Eastern block circa 1990.   Needless to say people were lining up just to have a glance at the store and the clothes.

 


I am wearing Hoa's t-shirt (way too big for me) so I picked up a few things at Mango store until my luggage gets here

 

After shopping we walked around a bit a found this little restaurant behind the main street which is less crowded.

  

Lunch time.

 

 

Local beer for Hoa.

View from out table of the open kitchen concept of the restaurant.  There is only one cook and one server for the whole restaurant.

Local charcuterie platter-not edible, pretty bad

We ordered foie gras as appetizer and I think the cost is less than $10.

Pan seared foie gras was delicious!

 

 

Chicken cutlet with a side salad- just ok.

 

 

 

 

Loan and Minh landed in Budapest late afternoon and their luggage also did not make it neither.  At least Loan has a short sleeve T-shirt on!  As you can see I changed and wore the new dress I just bought at lunch time.

We have dinner reservation tonight and we are headed toward the restaurant.

We passed by St. Stephen's Basilica, a Roman Catholic church (way in the background).

Október 6 Utca (October 6th avenue)

October 6th is a Memorial Day for Hungary; a grievous day in history when the 13 Hungarian martyrs of Arad were executed

 

There are a lot of upscale restaurants on Október 6 Utca

 

Trendy neigborhood

 

View of Október 6 Avenue The avenue is decidated to the 1848-1849 Freedom flight and October 6th is a Memorial Day for Hungary

Click on LINK to read about the history of October 6th

 

Next....Dinner at KNDRY

 

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