Do You See It?

 

Little did we know, but Budapest is a city of caves...and we love caves!  There are more than 100 within the municipal boundaries.  Charlotte went to a cave birthday party today at Szemlőhegyi cave.  30+ six year olds and one brave English speaking guide.  Impressive.  We can't wait to go back with the boys.  Can you tell what the room above is called?  The Witch.  See the crooked nose and chin in the lit area?  This isn't the most impressive part, so I'll be sure to get better pictures next time when I'm not with a gaggle of kids!

Nothing Says "Spring" Like Baseball

That's right, folks.  We're back for another round of baseball.  This time, however, it's a lot more like what we're used to at home.  It's outside, kid-pitch, and normal (mostly) rules.  No stealing, which bummed Nico out, but much more fun than that crazy indoor tournament.  Nicholas was the first pitcher (since he was one of the few who had ever pitched before).  He did great.  I'm honestly not sure if we won or lost the game, but it was a beautiful day for baseball!

 

The outdoor field.  Real baseball!

 

 

Off he goes!

 

Nico chose number 13.  "Because it's my lucky number".

 

Ice Cream with Daddy

Tom's been travelling a lot, but is home now for about 36 hours between week long trips.  The kids each get a little alone time with him while he's here.  Today, Charlotte had some while Nico was at cricket.  They played a lot of Barbies up in her room (Sorry, no pics of that.  Drat!), but first they went down the street to get ice cream ("fagylalt" in Hungarian) from the cukrászda, which has made room in the dessert case for ice cream now that the weather is warm.

 

 

 

Aaah, our Messy Missy.

 

One other fun thing:  our cukrászda has the cutest napkins.  See?  I'm sure by the end of summer we'll have discovered all the sports that an ice cream cone can possibly play!

 

 

Lennie the Lizard

Lennie is Charlotte's class pet.  Thankfully she is stuffed.  She visited us for the week.



View From Tom's Office

Tom's office isn't in a very lovely part of the city.  But wow, the sunset view we saw tonight was amazing!

(this is looking west across Pest towards the Buda hills)

Happy March 15th

March 15th is the Hungarian equivalent of 4th of July in the USA.  It commemorates the Revolution of 1848 against the Hapsburg rulers of Austria.  One of its leaders was Kossuth Lajos...which happens to the be name of our street here in Budapest.  We decided to head down into the city and ride the funicular up Castle Hill for the first time:

 

 

 

 

We made it to the top of the hill to start our tour (courtesy of our Rick Steves Budapest book) and the skies opened up.  And we had packed no umbrellas.  So the plan went out the window.  We popped into the Budapest History Museum for a while (a surprising amount of time for two damp children), ran past a fountain and a statue or two...and gave up.  The rest of Castle Hill will have to await our return.  On a day with much better weather!

Wet and waiting inside a bus stop shelter for Daddy to get the car.

As we waited, the gentleman in the middle of the picture began speaking to me in Hungarian.  I smiled, but understood nothing.  He pantomimed that he wanted the ?Golden Jesus? to be in the picture I was taking of the kids.  I obliged, and he handed me a few Holy Cards.  Another gentleman in the shelter handed me what I thought were a few coins.  I thought perhaps he wanted me to give them to the statue-man as a tip.  But no, they were Holy Medals.  Not sure if this is a common thing, but they were really nice to us as we all stood there out of the rain.



Introducing Slimy Patrick King

Amazing weather, kids off from school, and a newly trimmed yard.  What could be better?  Snails,  that's what.  Actually just 'snail', as the kids only found one amidst all the empty shells.  They were thrilled and promptly named him, created a habitat with water and leaves for food and shade...and stared at him.  For a long time.  They named him Slimy Patrick, and although he was only with us for the day (he was a surprisingly fast mover and was completely missing the next morning), he will always be remembered.