Zoodapest

mallard.

not an attraction, they just freely roam the zoo.

look close - baby gorilla dangling from branch.

He was adorable.

the friendly silverback.
I'm not including picks of the scary one.
He was swinging all over the place,
freaking Claudia out.
cheetah

Kodiak (?) bear, taking a swim

ok, now for Claudia's favorite...

oh, hello there, Jerry.

You're looking well today.

Oh, Jerry, too close

NOTE: I have the iphone and Bop in left hand &

a cracker in right hand. Thank goodness Jerry

went after the right hand.

She also loved the zebras

Hungry hungry hippos

We marveled at all the sleeping flamingos.

Apparently the sleep standing up, on one leg,

with their heads resting on their backs.

a slightly more conventional way of sleeping

a stuffed Jerry the Giraffe to commemorate the trip

On Friday, I took Claudia to the zoo with some of her new friends... Carston, whose family moved here from the Netherlands, and William, Cade and Chelsea who are all here from Houston. The zoo was beautiful and had great animals. Claudia had fun seeing the animals. Some made her laugh (the giraffe), some confused her (the flamingos), some freightened her (the silverback gorilla) and some delighted her (the baby gorilla). All the kids had a great time. The zoo is in City Park, so it is just 15 mintues away from our apartment. We will definitely have to go back one day when Daddy isn't working.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

your card, Grandpa
the artist at work

just a few more splashes of blue

signed with hands and feet!

Today is Grandpa's 60th birthday! We're so sad we can't be there to celebrate, but Claudia made you a sign, Grandpa. Hope you enjoy this special birthday. Wishing you many warm birthday wishes from Budapest!!

Halloween Preview - the Ladybug in City Park

wondering why everyone is staring
enjoying the fact that she is not wearing shoes,
except for that one on her hand

trying to run away from the camera

eating animal cookies

(Jessie - THANK YOU for sending those!)

I wanted to keep up the one year long tradition and get out some Halloween cards, so we went to some scenic areas of City Park to take pics. Funny thing is, they don't celebrate Halloween here and apparently they don't dress their kids up in costumes. At one point, no less than 6 children were circled around her, poking her little ladybug belly, patting her bug head, and chanting "katicabogar! katicabogar!" She made lots of friends. It was pretty funny. The photo shoot did not yield that many pics - stupid me had my camera out of focus for half of them! Hopefully I can pull something together and get some cards out, but if not, happy early Halloween!!

Palinka and Sausage Festival at Castle Hill

We took a quick walk across Chain Bridge to get to Buda.
self pic. These always turn out great.
You can see Castle Hill and the Royal Palace in the background, though.

Daddy and Bop outside the castle

birds eye view... no one is smiling at this point.

They were both so hungry for sausage.

the famous Turul Bird at the top of Castle Hill.

The story goes that the Turul dropped a sword in the Carpathian Basin,

indicating that this was to be the permanent home of the Magyars.

courtyard wall around the castle

a view from Castle Hill

It was a breathtaking view. Bop was very impressed.

King Matthias Fountain, also inside the castle.

Claudia couldn't take her eyes off the water.

the booths set up inside the castle courtyard were all so cute

there were about 50 booths

sampling all the great eats

Today was Budapest's annual Palinka and Sausage Festival. Given my love of cured meats, it was a must. All the best sausage makers and palinka distillers are given booths set up within the Buda Castle. The Royal Palace (Kiralyi Palota) was impressive itself and it now houses several museums. We got there early and it got crowded quick, so we stayed long enough to check out the palace and get lots of sausage and test the palinka. Palinka is a Hungarian brandy. They gave us little sipper glasses to walk around and get tastes from all the palinka booths. I thought it tasted pretty bad. It was almost like drinking Listerine. Accordingly, I focused on the food: a roasted and fried pork (think pork belly), smoked sausage, fingerling potatoes, roasted pumpkin, and rolled up crepes filled with chocolate and vanilla filing. Everything was delicious and Claudia had a great time!

Our House!

Home Sweet Hungary!
living room

one of the bedrooms

part of the garden... there's a little fire pit!

Can't wait for the marsh mellow & weenie roasts!

breakfast area

view from bedroom balcony

Here it is! Our house! There's not much to say about the inside. It's all (freshly) painted a blah creme color on the inside, so we are stuck with that. I've already ordered curtains! We won't move in until November 1st... hopefully our furniture will have arrived by then. So the house is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath in the Buda side, in a nice residential area. I can't wait to get moved in and start decorating!

Vaci Utca and Stuff

Hungarian Parliament building at night
sampling the chocolate tort at Gerbeaud cafe and pastry shop
After operating for over a hundred years,
they've perfected the art of coffee and dessert.
the chocolate made its way in her mouth...
on her hands, all over her sweater, all over my sweater...
you get the picture.
She liked it.

No, she loved it.

the best invention ever: the KinderKord.

Thank you Elizabeth & Jay for this marvel.

Apparently they don't have these in Europe.

People stopped to take pictures of the baby on the leash.

hanging on the streets

patronizing the street performers.

we paid him 50 forent (a quarter).

We should have given him more - Bop loved it!

Who is this guy? I don't know.

But it reminded us of The Short Fat Policeman Golden Book.

So we took a picture.

our walk to St. Istvan's Basillica

taking in the sights

Chain Bridge all lit up at night

Today we went on a final tour of our top three houses and then, after Bop's nap, we toured the Pest Town Center (Belvaros). Fyi, Budapest is split down the middle by the Danube River. The West side is the hilly "Buda" side - think rolling hills, valleys, castles, basillicas, thermal baths, lots of houses. The East side is the flat "Pest" side, think hustle bustle city, businesses, fancy stores, shops, apartments. Vaci Utca is the main tourist drag. We dragged ourselves down said street this afternoon. We sent to Gerbeaud, a famous and beautiful coffee and pastry shop. Claudia enjoyed herself. We did a little shopping. We saw the beautiful Hungarian Parliamant building (Orszaghaz), the Chain Bridge, St. Istvan's Basillica and then we had dinner at Spoon, a restaurant that is on the Danube.


I usually have several small panic attacks throughout a typically dinner out with Claudia, but this one went very smoothly, dare I say perfect. No food throwing, no screaming and she was generally content to sit in the high chair. Claps for Claudia! It was a wondeful afternoon in Budapest.