Kiyomi and Ren's Excellent Adventures: The pigeons are afraid

Suffice to say, there is probably not a single pigeon in downtown Budapest that has escaped being dive bombed by my kids.

We're staying in the Pest side of the city, so decided that today we should try exploring Buda a little. The city is one of interesting contrasts - Pest is the flat to Buda's hills which roll just across the Danube.

To ascend to the Buda heights, we decided to take the funicular. Ok, so heights is probably an overstatement as the ride up was probably less than 2 minutes. But it was an interesting way to travel and gave us the opportunity to chat with an Aussie couple who were that afternoon leaving for a 2 week cruise down the Danube.

As soon as we arrived at the top, it started to pour, but undeterred we roamed around Buda castle. The castle sits on top of the hill looking down upon the river, and while the location was said to house medieval princes, the castle itself has been rebuilt many times in its history. Most recently, it suffered significant damage during WWII when Hungary's latent attempt to court the Allies late in the war, angering Mein Fuhrer, lead to a barrage of Soviet bombs that destroyed or damages more than half the city.

This brings me back to the study in contrast of this city. Despite having a medieval heritage, the city has endured such devastation over the centuries, and particularly in the last thanks to WWII and the 1956 Uprising, that most of it is rebuilt. There are pockets older buildings, but even those that appear older, seem actually to have a cement facade echoing back to a turn of the century construction.

Seeking to explore some of the city's medieval history, we ducked into the Labyrinth, a 1200 meter maze of caves that run beneath the Buda hills. It became clear early on that we should have thought that one through a little better. The kids were terrified and clued to our legs the entire time in there. Not helped by the fact that it turns out Dracula was one impressed there, so they have a section haunted by dry ice smoke and eerie music playing. The kids couldn't get out of there fast enough, and I'm expecting a wake up or two tonight.

We finally took a break for lunch at a little pancake place which reminded me more of a hobbit hole than a restaurant.

After which, we attempted to exorcise the spooky caves by checking out a science center only to learn that it was no longer at that location. Thankfully, Millenium Park where it had formally being housed had a pretty cool playground with a zip line and other play structures that would never meet North American standards, and of course, the obligatory ice cream vendors.

We wandered back towards Pest, with Ren chasing after every cable car he could find. The kids actually did amazing well, covering a huge amount of ground on foot, and not really complaining at all. We gazed at the Parliament building, itself rebuilt 6 times over the years, and managed to find a grocery for a quiet dinner in.