johanna, a friend who visited budapest recently, told me a lot of things about the city. i consulted her with the location of the apartment i booked, what the easiest things to do and see are given my broken foot and how transportation in budapest is like. i booked an apartment that is very close to the city center and to the metro stations because apparently taxis are not very reliable in budapest. for our arrival though, i booked welcome to budapest transfer services instead of taking the direct bus from the airport which stops fairly close to the apartment. of course this service is more expensive than taking the bus, but you get to sit comfortably in a nice car and tamas enthusiastically shows a presentation of budapest top attractions, historical sights, fun activities and even local cuisine.
we arrived late afternoon so i didn't make any plans for the evenings and wanted to just take it easy. we walked around the vicinity in search for dinner. lovro saw the wheel and asked that we take a ride after we eat. it took more than half an hour to queue, for such a short spin, but probably worth it since the little one had fun.
the next morning i arranged for a visit inside the parliament building. i heard that the century-old structure is the third largest parliament building in the world. sitting at the bank of the danube, it is quite a sight to behold especially at night when it's all lit up and seen from a cruise along the river. up close, it was grandiose.
the selling point of the guided tours in this building is the crown jewel - which of course was not allowed to be photographed anyway. as expected, lovro didn't care for that tour. all the gilded stuff was nothing exciting for a 4 year old. in fact the main hall was glistening too much that i couldn't take proper pictures. that, or iPhone camera isn't so great. my photography skills are out of question of course. 😂
we met agnes afterwards for lunch. and from where we ate, she suggested to visit margitsziget or margaret island. it's a nice little park right at the danube, in between buda and pest. it's definitely a nice place to visit for locals and tourists alike. we hung out by the music fountain and awaited the hourly show. it was nice and chill and a good time to let our hair down. literally. 😆
then we searched for something fun for lovro. there was a playground for kids, and a small petting zoo. we spotted those silly-looking big-haired chicken and felt bad for laughing out so hard. they look so funny! we also saw some storks that were apparently injured and could not fly anymore so they just hang around the zoo. they looked so regal.
there are a bunch of interesting things to do in the park. right by the entrance you could see bicycles and motorized small vehicles for kids to rent. while it's not a big park, just merely 2.5 km, it's definitely more fun for kids to be mobile. we also saw people going for a run and others just at the benches enjoying the sun. as we walked to leave we spotted the flower garden and commanded dear lovro to take our photo.
in the evening we took a cruise along the danube river. while touristy, it was actually quite enjoyable to see the Bridges of Budapest and of course the Parliament Building all lit up at night. this has got to be the most popular tourist attraction in Budapest - there were countless boats going back and forth and i even spotted a humongous cruise ship.
the next morning was bathing day! what visit to budapest will be complete without a trip to széchenyi baths? even though it is a thermal bath complex and summer days have been so scorching hot - we still got to go! the only caveat of going there with an uncooperative toddler is that you don't get to see the entirety of the complex! so i basically didn't get my money's worth - especially since it wasn't cheap to get in - but i was glad to have been there at least.
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