Two Year Anniversary in Budapest!

Well, it's been two years since our rock star wedding in Cancun and the adventures haven't slowed down a bit!  We decided that we would take a trip every year for our anniversary and so far we are two for two.  This year we settled on Budapest....something different and new to both of us which can sometimes lead to a little confusion.  We start every trip the same way, take out the equivalent of a few hundred U.S. dollars cash in the local currency.  Well, in Hungary they use the Forint, 1 USD is about 224 Forints....hmmm ok.  (Side note....In Croatia, we thought we took out about 500 dollars worth of Kuna.  However, once we got to our tiny island with no ATM, we discovered that we actually took out about 40 bucks worth of Kuna....doesn't exactly cut it for a week trip.)  This go around, Nicole was trying to err on the side of caution but the ATM just wouldn't give us anything.  We stepped back, thought about it, and figured out that our math was even worse this time as she was trying to take out about 3000 U.S. dollars....luckily it didn't let us.  Nicole came up with a simple equation for us use from then on so we thought we were dialed in.  Then later that night we went to dinner at a restaurant near our hotel.  The prices SEEMED reasonable so I had the waiter recommend us a bottle of wine and went with it.  Great dinner.... great wine....time for the bill.  Giant number?.....use the equation....ok.....Oh, I see now...so if my calculations are correct....hmmm....yup, it looks like the bottle of wine was twice as much as the rest of our dinner....awesome...."Hey love, do you remember where that ATM was?"  Needless to say Nicole approved my wine selections for the rest of the trip. Moving on. The food and wine in Budapest were surprisingly amazing.  The wines from the area were very distinct and great to drink with a meal.  Being that it was our anniversayr, I booked our hotel with a little relaxing in mind. The place ended up being way better than expected and had a huge Turkish bath spa area that we used every day.  It had a pool, Jacuzzis, steam rooms, and saunas.  We also ended up getting massages and doing yoga (which is growning on me).  Perfect place to spend cold autumn mornings!  The weather could have been better, but we still managed to cover some ground and see a ton of the city.  One night we stumbled upon a small wine festival in the middle of the city, which of course was awesome! We tried some very good wines, one very bad wine, and a cup of possibly the best pumpkin soup I have ever had.  We went on a night boat cruise that was fun but might not recommend.  We only ended up going to one museum, which had the worst layout ever and is probably not worth going to.  I have never been to a museum with more dead ends,  we couldn't find anything! In all honestly though, the beauty of Budapest rivals any of the cities I have been to, including Paris. We had a pretty amazing trip and Budapest should be on everyones European travel list. I can definitely see us doing a repeat visit.  Happy Anniversary my love, can't wait for next year!   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Could this be considered a Canadian Tuxedo?....If only I had one more glass of wine before walking into this shop I might be the proud owner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Weekend in Paris

Well...this is certainly a little tardy but better late than never. One of my favorite sayings. I continue to be the worlds greatest procrastinator even in my new house husband life. I guess that is just a part of my personality..... ugh.... procrastinating again....Paris...focus! Here we go:  I was very excited for my second trip to this city being that most of the major tourist traps have already been visited and therefore enabling us to avoid the crowds.  We took the train this time and it was pretty relaxing mainly because we are so used to the discount airline extravaganza. This holiday was planned to be about the food, museums, and being out socially past 8pm (which is frowned upon in Switzerland).  I can say with confidence that we accomplished all of our goals. We stayed at this great B & B that our friends Dan and Margaret recommended to us.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures but it was one room in a beautiful house in the 6th Arrondisment ran by a great family.  The location was perfect, we ending up walking or taking a taxi everywhere.  The only not so amazing part of our trip was that it rained almost the whole time. We were wet at some point every day.  We still had a great time though, it is one of those places that you can still love even when the weather is miserable.  Aside from our usual eating and wine drinking we did manage some activities.  We visited three museums (Rodin, D'orsay, and the Pompidou) and the Pantheon.  All of them were great, the Rodin being my new favorite.  After being in Paris a second time I am begining to understand they hype.  Even with the horrible weather I loved walking around and discovering new places. I don't think we have even scratched the surface of cool neighborhood bars, great restaurants, museums, or parks.  À bientôt Paris!