We've landed in Europe

We left Cairo the day before yesterday and speaking for both of us...I think we were really ready for a change. After a quick 4 hour flight on Egypt Air, we landed in Budapest, Hungary. It really made us realize, once again, how small the world is. Budapest and Cairo are both big cities but they seem like completely different worlds. Chris and I have been traveling in developing countries for the past 3 months and I think we were really happy to be somewhere different. Some of the things I1ve been appreciative of:

-toilet paper
-being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet, not throw it in a can
-being able to cross the street without having your life flash in front of your eyes each time
-cars stop at a red light
-sidewalks
-not avoiding stepping in "puddles" on the sidewalk....ie.."puddles" were usually something gross
-much cooler weather without all the humidity...or dryness of the desert
-paying the actual price on an item...not bargaining
-parks

We're not complaining at all...just appreciative of what we have at home and what we're experiencing now.

So with in the first couple of hours of us being in Budapest I decided I love it!!!! You can basically walk everywhere and if you get tired there1s decent public transportation, including an underground. The buildings here are amazing...hundreds of years old and so ornate. Just incredible. Walking around and going nowhere in particular is nice enough on it's own. It's like being in San Francisco but older, cleaner and not very hilly. Like I said...I love it!!!

Costs are now going up for us, so we'll be sleeping in quite a few dorms from here on out. This first one we're at is a small one and we're in a 6 person room, but it's not completely filled. Finding it was interesting. We had found it on the map but just couldn't seem to find it in reality. We walked up and down the street several times. Then we decided to sit on a bench and figure out what to do next. As we were sitting on the bench we stared at the number on the door. This should be the place...right in front of our faces...but there is no sign. We walked up to the door and saw the name of the hostel on the list of businesses in the building. We pushed the correct buttons and got buzzed in. It's at the top floor of a who knows how old building. At least we found it.

So here's a quick run down on the sights we saw yesterday...parliment, Buda Castle Royal Palace...well, all of the Castle Hill area in Buda (it's just that, a castle on a hill overlooking the Danube and the Pest area, the Chain Bridge, and the Opera House.

On our trip home we found their version of a wine bar. It's just that, a bar that serves wine. More of where a blue colar crowd would go, not our version of fancy wine bars in the states. It was in the basement of this...yes, old building. Looked almost like a wine cellar. There was no English spoken so we just had to grunt and point at what we wanted. It worked out just fine and we got 4 glasses (very, very small glasses) for about $3. It may have been their version of a dive bar but it was just great.

Today we went to a place called statue park...and it's just that, a park filled with several of the old communist statues that used to be around the town. Some of the pieces had been damaged during various times in history. There are Stalin's boots and his platform he used to speak from. There's definately a cold and impersonal style to many of the statues. What's interesting is it feels like the many of the Hungarian people don't think of the park as a negative thing but more of a kitche type of place. They can view these things with a smile on their face.

The park is just out of town, so once we headed into town it was time for our lunch. The sun is shining and we packed a picnic. We layed out a sarong and set up our baguette, brie, salami and wine lunch. Perfect. We weren't alone on that style of lunch. Several people were enjoying themselves and the sun. So much so that shirts we're coming off of people, both men and women. Very different than at home and very, very different from where we've been the last few month. I just had to smile. No one here bats an eye.

Then we headed to the Holocaust Museum. Not really the happy thing to do after that wonderful lunch. The museum is well designed and thought out but it didn't really move either of us. It's mostly photos, videos and ALOT of reading. The one in L.A. is much better. It takes you through an experience more than being told about it. I'm not saying this was a bad one. It's good to have any at all. The museum ends in a synagogue. It was the first one that Chris had ever been inside of, so that was a new experience.

We have one more day here in Budapest and then we move onto the wine area of Eger in Hungary for 2 nights. Obviouly we'll let you know how that goes.