Budapest, 2025

Following our Vienna visit, we headed to Budapest. We could immediately tell Budapest was the poorer sibling. It felt a lot more run down, but the city is still beautiful, has a lot of history, great wine, and many things to see and do.

I wanted to take a boat from Vienna, but instead we took a train ride - I fumbled the departure time, and we had to play musical chairs on the way. Once there, we doubled down on the rocky start with an Airbnb without hot water and a less than ideal layout, but we moved to a hotel and from then on had a great time.

For some reason, I took a lot of vertical shots there.

The Danube. Noa enjoyed watching the boats and the trains pass by.

There’s lots of contrasts between the old and the new.

The headquarters of the Secret Police during the Communist era was turned into a museum, The House of Terror. Not sure it was worth the visit, but I took this photo of its staircase.

The touristy area in Buda used to be the Jewish ghetto. It’s unfortunately pretty run down.

The Jewish influence is palpable.

The parliament building is beautiful.

The Shoes on the Danube Bank monument, memorializing the victims of the Holocaust, had turned into a protest for the return of the Israeli hostages.

The city was surprisingly green.

The Pest side was pretty cool. We probably should have spent more time there.

Every nephew and niece got a camera, but some knew how to use it better than others.

The palace was under construction. More cranes than you’ll ever see in SF.

We crossed the river by foot both ways

Of course we went to the baths. Pretty fun. Also somewhat run down.

The mural is there for Ernő.

And then sadly we all went back home. We’ll hopefully travel together again soon.