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After George's visit to Budapest in 2014, we decided to spend our 17th anniversary in that wonderful city. Cl;ick HERE to see last year's anniversasry in Bruges and HERE for other photos from autumn 2015.
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We stayed in a luxurious apartment, which was another fortunate Owners Direct find. Click HERE to see our last accommodation from them in Abruzzo.
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On our first day, we strolled around our neighbourhood marvelling at the Art Nouveau architecture. The train station, above, was right near our house, and also just across from a place with luscious cinnamon rolls.
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The bronze shoes are from victims of World War II.
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Gresham Palace's Art Nouveau exterior drew us inside, where we had cocktails, including an apricot, vodka, and chilli martini.
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Above: Nick with Rolls Royce, and some artistic views from around the city.
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On Sunday morning, we went in search of a market and saw lots of Art Nouveau and some window cleaners.
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Szelmpa market was inside one of Budapest's "ruin pubs" and was one of the highlights of our trip.
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We bought salamis, bread, pickles, and cheese to take back to our apartment and guacamole and a cinnamon roll to snack on. .
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There was seating made from old skis and tyres, a group of people preparing stew, and at least two Boys with Famous Hair, like the one in Freiburg.
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We heard an excellent folk band called Babra. The other photos are highlights of our trip.
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We strolled across to the Buda side and visited the castle.
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The art gallery hardly had any people, but it lad lots of wonderful art and a great dome with a wonderful view.
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Mátyás church
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The sign above was posted just before entering the turret with narrow, but not that narrow stairs.
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We saught out a burger and truffle fries at Baltazár and found a statue of Columbo and his bassett hound near where we stayed.

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We met at the Great Market Hall on Monday morning to shop for our cooking class. We made goulash soup, chicken paprikash with homemade noodles, and a sour cherry pie. The pickles were a revelation.
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It looks like Nigella Lawson advertising Budapest.

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The next day, our rainiest, we went on a fascinating four-hour Art Nouveau tour that took us all over the city.
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We leared a lot about architect Ödön Lechner, who designed many of the Art Nouveau buildings in the city.
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Our tour finished in the Art Nouveau café, which is stuffed full of wonderful artifacts.
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Above: the Art Nouveau café, the Liszt Academie, where we heard a fantastic concert with music by Stravinsky and Ligeti, including his Mysteries of the Macabre, the Post Office Savings Bank, and me eating one of many lángos.
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The building with the torso sticking out is soon to be a hotel, we think.

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Another fascinating visit was to the Soviet Sculpture Park.
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The large statue above was dubbed the "Coat Check Man" by irreverent Hungarians.
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Luch at Kispiac Bisto was one of the best meals we had.
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We went on a wine tasting in the Jewish Quarter, where boys were queueing to have their hair cut.

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A day trip to the sunny riverside town of Szentendre
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There is a wonderful Christmas shop and museum in the town where we bought two ornaments. Click HERE to see our whole collection.
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Trip Advisor told us of a mysterious, secret lángos place that was the best in the country. After finding the wrong one and eating a rather good cinnamon lángos, we found the right one and had a savoury one with sour cream and cheese.
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Nostalgia on a grand scale at the Retro Museum, where I could stay for hours.
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We found some other unusual art galleries and spent ages playing with the colourful mobile.
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Above: in the mobile, Rebublic Day celebrations, and Szimpla ruin pub.
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Above: Borssó Bistro is one of my all-time favourite restaurants. The next day, we went to Rudas spa, which was full of cute men (not the ones superimposed above) and we both had our first professional massages. I had to think of Margaret Thatcher and plan crashes while my inner thigh was being worked on.
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Republic Day celebrations at Parliament. We saw both the rehearsal and the real thing.
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Parliament was free to visit and we queued for an hour to get inside the beautiful building.
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We went on a dinner cruise with a wonderful view of the Danube.
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We heard a clarinet and viola recital at the Liszt Museum and discovered a very traditional market.
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Back to the Art Nouveau café and to Buda for some sightseeing.
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We had healthy smoothies chased with palinka as our almost-last drink.

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