One Day in Budapest in Winter

continued from 4 Amazing Days in Salzburg and Vienna at Christmas

On the three-hour drive from Vienna to Budapest we passed through Bratislava, Slovakia. The goal, to add another country to our list for this trip. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The day was incredibly foggy, and quite cold, so we didn’t see much on the way, and when we arrived in Bratislava, none of us wanted to get out of the car. As a result, it would not be fair to add Slovakia to our catalog of visited countries.

Anyway, we arrived in Budapest by midday and with a bit of effort, eventually located our apartment at Central Apartment Budapest. This location in Central Budapest placed us very close to the Danube River, and the Nyugati Train Station. We were also provided with a garage for our car so did not have to locate street parking. The apartment was small, but clean, and had all the basics. (I believe it was also $80/night.) After we unloaded all of our stuff, we headed to the train station to make our way to Central Market.

The train system in Budapest was not overly user friendly. There was a kiosk to purchase tickets, and there was an English option, but most of the information did not translate well. We eventually chose to purchase eight one-way tickets. We received twelve (of what we thought were) tickets. When we reached the turnstiles, three of us were able to enter without an issue, but I was not that lucky. As I stood on the wrong side of the turnstile, the guards yelled at me in a language that I did not understand. All I could do was laugh. Eventually a female guard waved me through. Apparently I was using a “receipt ticket” instead of an “actual ticket”. Take note in case you find yourself in a similar situation.

Central Market, Budapest

Navigating the train system was not easy, but we did make it to our destination, Central Market. This market is the largest of all of the markets in Budapest. Hundreds of traders gather under its impressive vaulted ceiling to sell a colorful selection of seasonal Hungarian produce from their stalls. On the second level of the massive building there is are Hungarian trinkets and souvenirs. I was looking for a rare type of Paprika that they did not sell there. They also only took Hungarian money, which we had none of, so we moved on pretty quickly.

The Szechenyi Baths

The Szechenyi Baths were next on our agenda. Built in 1913, this is the place to be in Budapest. The Neo-baroque palace housing the baths allows for some fabulous instagram-worthy pictures. Now experts, we braved the public transportation to get there and were entertained to witness a British couple running into the same issue we had had previously with the tickets. Unfortunately, they were not traveling with kids, so the guards were not as sympathetic as they were with us.

Doug decided to sit out of the whole “bath” experience so it was Greg, Roy, and I. We squeezed into a locker room, changed into our swim suits and booked it towards the baths as it was absolutely freezing outside. Doug attempted to take a video, but I was not about to stop before I hit the warm water. Greg and Roy weren’t as lucky though, and had to stop for the video.

The baths were crowded — mostly with young couples. I believe I was the only one in the pool with kids. The water was over four feet deep so Greg could barely touch and was hanging off my shoulders. It was a cool experience, but I do not feel it was worth the $47 a person. We floated around snapping “selfies” until we found ourselves seated next to a British couple talking about their herpes outbreak and if they could still kiss the other. I felt that at that point it was time for us to leave.

Central Apartment Budapest

Our bodies had been heated up enough by the baths, that for the first ten minutes of the walk back to our apartment, I was almost ready to unzip my jacket. The cold, damp, air quickly set in quickly though, and the remaining thirty-minutes I felt I was near hypothermic. When we arrived back at our apartment, we all took a warm shower, packed our bags, and readied ourselves for the early morning wake-up call to head to the airport. Our flight back to the United States left at 6AM.

Normally this would be the end of the blog post, but the trek to the airport was too exciting not to share. It also may hold a lesson for anyone staying at the Central Apartment Budapest.

Awake just before 4AM, we grabbed our bags and headed to the garage to retrieve our car. Apparently because of the crime in the immediate area, the garage doors are disabled over night. We were not about to miss our flight home, so Doug spent the next twenty minutes climbing on top of our car to disable the garage door contraption so that we could manually lift it up. By the time we hit the road our hearts were racing.

The Journey Home

Next, we stopped at a gas station just outside of the airport to fill up the rental car. At 4:30AM no one was interested in helping us with that either. The woman working the station just gave Doug a nasty look. Next it was the rental car center. The Rental Car Return claimed to offer 24-hour service. What this meant is that you could park our car in the lot at any point in time, but the shuttle to the airport did not operate until 8AM. So there we were, on a cold, dark December morning walking along a highway and up an exit ramp, with our suitcases in tow and the kids sandwiched between us. When we reached the terminal, we almost all ate it on the black ice that covered the sidewalks.

By the time we boarded our 6AM flight, Doug and I felt like we had already run a marathon. After a few snide comments by the flight attendant about Greg’s “bed head”, we finally arrived in Frankfurt. At this point we went through eighteen different passport controls on our way to our gate. During that whole process Doug and I were given full body scans at least twice.

The Lufthansa 747

Our flight back to San Francisco was delayed for well over four hours. European rules meant that Lufthansa had to provide each of us with meal vouchers but when we went to use them, 1) a new passport control had been set up between our gate and the food court, and 2) the airline immediately summoned everyone back to board the flight. (Well played Lufthansa!) Starving, we finally entered the boarding lounge for our Lufthansa 747 (Roy was desperate to fly one of these “museum pieces” before they were taken out of service.) but were almost crushed when the door jammed and the escalator kept sending more people into this small, cramped location.

Finally, we were on our way, enjoying a take off that was so violet and noisy that Doug and I were both sure that we had left an engine somewhere back on the runway. Thankfully, we had not and landed in California, safe and sound, just after midnight. But then Doug tried to offer a banana to the customs dog (a beagle) and our passports were locked up in a bag as we were sent to the “special” customs line.