We returned today from Budapest to Vienna. We had a fantastic time in Budapest. Stephanie loved it so much that she wants to retire there.

My conference ended on Wednesday, and I took the train from the university down to Budapest. Stephanie and Duncan arrived from Vienna around 5:00 pm. Stephanie’s aunt and uncle had graciously offered to keep Emma, who would could not have cared less about seeing yet another foreign city. This freed us a great deal, since we didn’t have to come back to our apartment for her naps and we could stay out later. We have seen very few European cities at night, since Emma always has to be in bed.

Instead of a hotel, we are staying in an apartment. It is about six blocks from the Danube and is very conveniently located. It is in the section of the city that was the Jewish ghetto during World War II.

The first night, we went down to the Danube and took a dinner cruise. First, let me point out that the Danube is surprisingly not blue, no matter what you might have heard. It is the same color of green that most rivers are, although the Danube flows so quickly in Budapest that it tends to be brown.

The dinner cruise was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Budapest is incredibly beautiful. As we cruised up the river, it was still light, so we were able to see a lot of the buildings. After we went up and around the Margarite Island and began to cruise downstream, it was dark and all the buildings were lit up. It gave us a completely different view of the city. The city is even more spectacular at night. To add to the magic, there was a full moon hanging low over the Danube directly in front of us as we headed down the river.

They also had a live band on the cruise. By band, I mean one guy on the keyboard and another who alternatingly played a saxaphone and a pan flute. Some of the music selection was interesting to say the least. For instance, I have never associated the song Chattanooga Choo-Choo with Budapest. Their rendition of Barry Manilow’s Copacabana left something to be desired (I danced to it anyway) and their closing song of My Heart Will Go On from the move Titanic made me worry that the boat would sink, but overall the music added to the ambiance.

The next day was spent on Castle Hill. We hiked to the hill and then took an inclined railway to the top. The Castle Hill (which contains the palace) is on the Buda side of the river, which is the touristy part. We spent the day there seeing the palace, the Fisherman’s Bastion, and the St. Matthias church. The church was the site of the coronation and weddings of the Hungarian royal family before the Austrians took over. The Fisherman’s Bastion just behind the church was a protective wall overlooking what used to be the fishing area below. There was a man there with a hawk that he would let people hold, so Duncan and I took turns being falconers.

That night we went to a traditional Hungarian restaurant. Duncan was reluctant to try goulash, but one he tried it he fell in love with it. He is now making Stephanie search the Internet to find a good goulash recipe. He also ended up eating it for lunch today. The restaurant also featured a gypsy violinist playing traditional songs.

Today we spent the morning at the Great Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world (after Temple Beth-El in New York). It has a Holocaust memorial in the garden that is made up of a metal tree. Each leaf on the tree represents a Jewish family that was killed in World War II. The synagogue was only three blocks from our apartment.

We then had to head to the railroad station. This was the only part of the trip that did not go as planned. We got there with over an hour to spare. This turned out not to be long enough for me to get through the line to get a ticket. After 45 minutes, only seven people had be served, and I will still six people from the window. So, we just hopped onto the train, hoping to be able to buy tickets there. We could, but only as far as the border with Austria. There, we needed to buy another ticket, but we only had Hungarian forints and the ticket seller only took Euros. Fortunately, he allowed us to stay on the train and buy a ticket once we got to Vienna.

We are now back in Vienna and are looking forward to several days of sight seeing here. Check out the pictures from out trip to Budapest in the photo album section, accessible by the menu on the left.

Having survived two flights and a long bus trip, we currently find ourselves back in our apartment in Klaipeda, Lithuania. It is certainly good to be home. Although our luggage did not make the transfer in Amsterdam, the good folks at KLM delivered it to our door earlier today, even though we live in a different country than our arrival airport. Now that is service!

We will be here until Saturday. I have a faculty retreat on Thursday and Friday that will take up the better part of both days. We then leave for Austria to visit Stephanie’s aunt and uncle in Vienna. I will leave Stephanie and the kids in Vienna on Sunday to take a train to Budapest, Hungary, where I will be attending the European Society of Biblical Studies annual conference. Stephanie and the kids will join me on Wednesday for two days of sight seeing. We will return to Lithuania on the 16th.