Budapest

Our Hungarian friends Anett and Balazs took us on an extended weekend trip to Budapest. It is a really beautiful city and we had a great time. We also spent some time south of the city meeting with each of our friends' families, which was very nice. It allowed us to do a few things "off the beaten trail" and that was a real bonus.

Our first morning out on the town. Here are Anett and Balazs and their son, Dominik.

This was Lukas' favorite way to travel in the city although you wouldn't be able to tell it just from his expression here. :-)

The Parliament

A view of Pest from the Citadel on the Buda side (For those of you who don't know, Budapest is a unification of two former cities: Buda and Pest that are separated by the Danube River.)

"The girls" hanging out on the Citadel

The Höltje Family on the top of the Citadel

I think Lukas thought this concrete slab was a slide since he spent much time scooting himself down it, walking back up and scooting down again. At least he was entertaining himself!

Isn't he sweet?

Lukas putting together a wooden puzzle of a parrot while waiting for us to finish eating our lunch.

A mischevious look for sure!

Parts of what is called the Fisherman's Bastion

The Parliament building as seen from the Fisherman's Bastion

More of the Fisherman's Bastion exterior wall

Parliament building from the Buda Castle

Lukas and his friend Dominik taking a bath together at Anett's parents' house.

For the past few months, Lukas has been obsessed with tractors. Balazs' parents own a farm so Lukas got to live his dream and ride one!

Here he is while the tractor is stationary...

...and here he is with the tractor in motion. He was yelling "Traktor - los!" the entire time, which is German for "Tractor go!".

We visited an outdoor Hungarian museum of sorts on our last day. It was supposed to show life in Hungary several hundred years ago. Olli was chosen from the crowd to participate in one of the exhibits. This man was pretending to shoot an arrow at him/his target. Since Olli doesn't speak any Hungarian, he really wasn't sure if the guy was joking or not and whether he was giving instructions like "On the count of three, duck!" etc. Thankfully, the man didn't take a shot.

Olli then had a turn to shoot a target with an arrow and he managed to hit it while several of the other men did not. Way to go, Babe!