A perk of being a teacher, George was treated to an all-expenses paid trip to Budapest over Easter 2014. It was an amazing city that we will return to!
Above: our tour rep Tom, the Cserpes Milkbar, and the city park. Note the cultural apogee that is Hooters.
Above: Some Secession art like we saw in Vienna, plus seasonal blossoms and Easter eggs.
Above: more of the city park and more of Tom, plus one of the many churches we visited.
Above: we had a lesson in "Fungarian" during which we also learned a folk song taught by the flute player.
Above: the houses of parliament overseen by a former prime minister
More Secessionist architecture and St Stephens' basilica, where the mummified hand of the saint can be viewed.
Our group took a coffee break at the City Park Lake and then visited the Heroes Square, where there seemed to be a Village People reinactment going on.
Not all Hungarian men were in little tight shorts, but these two were.
On the Buda side of the Danube, we visited St Matthias Church
We also visited the castle, which gave a splendid view of the bridge and parliament
Tom shows off his Calvins and George discovers four extra keys on the bass end of Bartok's piano. The wax cylinder machine was used by the composer to record folk music.
My favourite experience was at the Trap Factory. Our group was locked into a room with an hour to search for clues and break our way out. The clues were ingenious and it was such fun to race against the clock. Above, Tom is dropping a magnet over the wall to get a key.
Some of the Trap Factory rooms were The Mad Professor, The Magician's Room, Miss Marple, and ours, the Military room.
We had an unexpectedly refined meal at Borssó Bistro. The following day, we went to Szentendre and visited the marzipan museum
Where else can you see Michael Jackson, Princess Diana, and Dorothy all rendered in almond paste?
We visited the castle in Visegrád where blond Hungarian men put on a jousting show
I was crowned King of the Festival and watched the whole show from a throne.
Afterwards, we had a huge Renaissance meal of larded turkey leg and ribs before going to Vác to see another church
The church in Vác, the Budapest jazz club, and folk dancers on the boat that was hired just for our group of eight
Parliament taken from the boat, and the Great Market Hall, a wonderful end to a wonderful four day adventure.
