Oney Family Adventures

Since our landing around 10am Budapest time, we have walked to Heroes Square, Vajdahunyad Castle, Hungarian Parliament building, the Chain bridge, and we still had at least an hour to kill in the heat before we could check into our Airbnb. Delightful fun fact to also remember is that we are carrying all of our belongings/luggage on our backs throughout the trip from place to place.

As a result, we were looking for neat places were we could get out of the heat and just sit for awhile. By this point in time we had walked over 9 miles and I was starting to feel shin splints. So our next stop wasn't necessarily on our "must do list" but I'm glad we stopped at St. Stephens Basilica. It was well worth the 1 euro "donation" or 300 HF for a quiet place to sit down out of the heat.



This church is named to honor Stephen the first King of Hungary. His incorruptible right hand sits in a reliquary within the church. Here is a picture of it below, you can make out inside the red cloth the hand on display.

It was a beautiful church inside with only a few visitors around 2pm. So we got beautiful views and pictures from the inside of the church. In Europe it is important to note that when visiting churches (particularly in the summer time) there is a required and regulated dress code. Both men and women should have their shoulders and knees covered when entering a church.







After we were able to check into our 2 day temporary residence our legs were in pain. Luckily, Budapest is known for their thermal bath houses. We decided to splurge and go to the Szechenyi bath house for a nice long soak.



This time we took the public transportation (i.e. the subway) instead of our feet. And we left our 15-20 lbs. back packs at the place too. When you arrive you can purchase a locker for your clothes and items. And if your wife forgets your flip flops (which are required for the pool area) they do have some you can purchase there that are heavy duty.



The Szechenyi bath is one of the only bath's located on the Pest side and is one of the largest bath houses in Europe. Inside there are multiple thermal pools at different temperatures. The first few hours we spent inside allowing the warm water to heal our legs. However, Brian eventually convinced me it would be good to also dip our legs and bodies in the cold water pool before again warming our legs back up in the warm water again.


Towards the end of the day, we decided to lounge next to one of the three outdoor pools and just relax the rest of the day away.




We enjoyed a nice soak (about 3 hours there) relieving our aches and pains.  I double checked before we left that it is not nude or clothing optional- swimsuits are required but be prepared to find some men and women in rather scant apparel that doesn't seem to contain much of their body parts. Ages ranged from 18 to 75.  Consider yourself warned.


The thermal baths really helped but we were also exhausted from being awake over 24 hours. So by the time we went to bed we had logged over 10 miles of walking for the day! And if you think that's crazy... just wait... we did even more the next day after some much needed rest.

Pushing onward, we went towards the world's third largest Parliamentary building and largest building in Hungary. It has 691 rooms and only part of it is actually used by the Hungarian government.




For those people who are dying to know more about the Hungarian government, it is unicameral (1 branch) government that has 386 representatives who serve and represent the people of Hungary. To compare, the United States is a bicameral government (2 branches- Senators & Representatives) with a total of 535 (100 Senators and 435 Representatives) political officials representing the people of the United States.




Hungary has both a President AND a Prime Minister. On the square outside Parliament is a statue dedicated to one of the Hungarian president from 1849- Lajos Kossuth.



When the Communists took control of Hungary, a red star of Communism used to sit upon it's domes. After World War 2, the Hungarian crown jewels were sent to the American Army to safeguard them from their communist overlords- the Soviet Union. The United States would keep the Hungarian crown jewels at Fort Knox, Kentucky until they would eventually be returned by Jimmy Carter in 1978. There is a museum within the Parliament where you can see the returned crown jewels, but did not schedule a tour in advance. Typically, entry to Parliament is limited to Hungarian citizens; however a few can schedule a tour well in advance and enter inside.


The Parliament building is right alongside the Danube river on the Pest side. Long ago, Budapest was actually two separate cities divided by the river. The Parliament building on the Pest side and the castle on the Buda side. Along the Danube river there is a memorial to the many Jews who were rounded up in 1944, stripped of their clothing, and then shot. Their bodies would then fall into the Danube river and be washed away. While the memorial is dedicated to those victims, it was commonly done in multiple areas around Budapest along the Danube river. However, near Parliament a sculptor created about 60 rusted looking shoes made from iron in various sizes to remember the fate of so many Jews during the Hungarian Holocaust.


Past the shoes, we walked toward the Chain Bridge, which connects the two sides (Buda & Pest). During World War 2, the Nazis actually destroyed the bridge in order to prevent the Allies from crossing into the Nazi-Hungarian stronghold of the Buda Castle. The chain bridge contains lions flanking the entrance on each side.





We walked across with most of the other pedestrians and took pictures of the Danube river. We would eventually return to the Pest side to explore more of the city. Tomorrow we would spend the rest of our time in Budapest discovering the Buda side of the city.


Until then, we headed back along the bridge to visit Saint Stephens Basilica, our Airbnb, and then onward to enjoy the famous baths and hot springs of the city.