road trip- part 2

On to Budapest!

The Great Synagogue in Budapest.

Hungary's Parliament building.

The Great Market Hall.

This was one of our favorite spots in Budapest. We browsed crazy meat, gorgeous veggies, and incredible assortments of paprika.

Toby joining Hungary's top dogs in Heroes Square.

This is a reproduction of a Transylvanian castle in the city park. A lot of "original" historical buildings in these countries were damaged or destroyed by the Nazis or the Communists. I gotta tell ya, by the time we visited Budapest our enthusiasm was waning. We were pooped. Big dirty cities, tricky metro systems, and Hungarian was the most challenging language to decipher of all. It was a struggle.

Must be time to move on to Vienna!

Rob and the kiddos in front of Hofburg Palace.

This is one of the few appearances of our stroller on this trip. Mostly, we made the kids walk... part of that was because we backed over the stroller with the minivan on the first day of the trip and it was kinda broken for the rest of the trip. It has been laid to rest since we got home.

St. Stephen's Cathedral is just gorgeous. I love that colorful tiled roof!

Inside St. Stephens.

This is a photo shout out-- you know who you are. ;)

We toured the royal apartments of Hofburg Palace. This is part of the silver museum there. There are about 40 rooms full of dishes. It's insane. Charlotte and I were fascinated by the Empress Sissi. We both agreed with her love of ice cream, but her vanity and 3 hours a day spent on doing her hair were what convinced Charlotte that princess life was not for her.

The Opera House in Vienna.

We toured inside the opera house, but several of my photos did not turn out very well. I have never been to an opera house before, and thought it was very impressive. Rob was apparently feeling inspired by the surroundings as well, as he began singing the marriage of Figaro on our way out. :)