Better Together

Tim and I arrived in Budapest yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. Our month of travel is more than half finished. And I'm so glad that part of it is here. This city is so beautiful, not full of newer buildings or much of anything newer, but it is beautiful in it's architecture and scenery.

We walked a lot today. It's Tim's only full day to sightsee here, so we made the most of it and still allow him some prep time for work.

I'll try to take you along on our journey:

Step out of the hotel and turn right onto the stone road/walk-ways and stroll to the corner, past the Inner City Parish Church, founded in 1046. Cross the street and turn right to stroll along the Promenade along the Danube. Along the way, we pass the Girl with Dog statue, the Fairy Boy statue, the Sidewalk Painter statue to arrive at the Chain Bridge. 

Turn left and walk across the bridge, being sure to glance (if you're not afraid of bridges) out at the river views (scared or not, they are beautiful) and to the other side to see the Budapest Castle. 

Once across the bridge, we walked to a little food stand and bought a Chimney Cake and sat at the base of the Palace to enjoy it. We then waited in line for about 5 minutes for the opportunity ride the Funicular up to the top level of the Budapest Castle grounds. About 5 minutes after arriving at the top, to our surprise we were witness to Changing of the Guards for the Sandor Palace (next to the Castle). I did capture it on video. 

After taking in the sights of the Castle, it's gardens and gate, we strolled along the rear of the Palace to see the ruins of something behind the Palace. There was a Magpie in the ruins that was squawking up quite a racket because a cat was invading his space. 

We then walked along through Castle Hill, making our way to St. Matthias Church by way of the Statue of Independence War and next to the Holy Trinity Statue. St. Matthias Church is stunning architecture and add to that has a mosaic tiled roof. 

Behind St. Matthias lies Fisherman's Bastion, a fort-like terrace with seven towers providing panoramic views of the Pest side of the city and especially the Parliament building.

After spending some time here, we began our trek back to our hotel. We opted to descend the stairs at the river side of Fisherman's Bastion. Yeah. We descended in total over 100 steps as well as walking down hills to make it to the river. Then continued our journey along the river back to the Chain Bridge to walk back to the Pest side and to the Budapest Marriott and take a break in the Executive lounge there. 

There are perks to being a Marriott Platinum member. Snacks, beverages a nice lounge area with incredible views. After a nice respite, we returned to our hotel (we are staying in a different Marriott, but have use of the Executive lounge of the others). 

I looked it up and our straight path was 4.26 miles. This does not count the walking around at each point of interest. My legs were like jelly a couple of times during our journey, but I made it. 

Throughout our little jaunt today, the one thing that stayed for-front in my mind was this, "I'm so glad that we're together. It seems more beautiful and is more fun because Tim is with me." We are definitely better together. Well, at least I'm better when he's with me.