Budapest, day 2

Though Hungary is part of Europe Union, it does not use Euro. I changed 100 Euro to 27000 Forint in France. In Budapest, there are money changers everywhere. The rates are all better than the one I had in France. I changed money 3 times in Budapest and the best deal was 100€ to 30500 Forint.

On the second day, after breakfast, we took the metro, a tram and then bus and then a small train to reach the Children's Railway. We wanted to try out the train ride run by children, driven by an adult, of course.

When the teenage train conductor came selling tickets, I only had a big bill. He told me to hold on and went to get an adult staff. I thought the adult was going to sell me the tickets. Instead, he gave me small notes to break down my big note. Then he left and I bought the tickets with the teenager. The boys enjoyed the ride a lot looking out at the hilly Buda and waving at the teenagers at each station.

After the ride, we headed back to Pest by tram and decided to try our luck at the number one restaurant in Budapest noted in Tripadvisor. We arrived at noon without reservation. The owner told us we could have a table of 4 if we finished by 1.30pm. I was delighted as I read in Tripadvisor that reservation was a must due to its popularity. 

The waiters were extremely friendly. The humble boss thanked us for finding our way there. The food was very good and the speakers were playing my favourite songs from Joe Dassin. We were given free entrées and free sorbet. The boys had chocolates to take away with. This place was not excessively expensive and it definitely lives up to its name "Comme chez soi" (just like home).  

We were seated not far from the open kitchen and the entrance. I could see many people got turned away. It pays to eat early.

After lunch, we took a digestive walk until the chain bridge and then walked across it to visit Buda. We came upon several statues in Budapest and they were all interesting creations.

In Buda, we visited the Fisherman's Bastion. From there, we had a great view of Pest and the Parliament building.

We went into St Matthias church and beautiful music was coming from the church organ played by a musican.

We strolled to Buda Castle and enjoyed the scenary. There were not many tourists and we were able to enjoy the peaceful environment in this area. We like this area a lot. Below is a typical post box. Isn't it cute?

We headed back to our hotel by tram and metro. The public transport were not crowded and some trams and metro trains were real vintage. They transported us back in time to the 60s. The boys loved to take the tram. 

For dinner, we had it late as we were still full from lunch. We settled at an Indian nearby our hotel. We arrived at 8pm and were told it was full. We were leaving when an Indian man at the table beside the entrance spoke to the waiter. The waiter then told us he had a table available for us. That Indian man had to be the boss. We ordered but could not finished our dinner. The boys found the food too spicy and they were dead tired. If you are looking for authentic Indian food in Budapest, you have to try Indigo.

  

Seb and I noticed that in Budapest, there were not many foreigners in the kitchens. This was so different from Paris. In Paris, almost all restaurants had Indians or Blacks as cooks. In Budapest, we saw only white cooks even in Asian and Indian restaurants. Kinda weird to see white europeans making sushis. Actually, there were few foreigners. The non-whites we saw were tourists.