Last night around 9 we decided to go out to see Margit island at night, and we got so much more than we bargained for, but I'll get to that. First we took a long bus ride to the far end of the island so we could make our way back towards our apartment. Once on the island in front of Palatinus Strand (a pool/ water park type place) we bought some snacks - a pretzel, an ice cream bar, and a beer (fun game - guess which family member got what) and were on our way. We were going to see if a fountain that we had seen before which played music and had choreographed jets by day would be playing at night. But first we made another stop for some cotton candy, which was huge, delicious & very sticky. Then we came around some trees and saw the fountain but it was much better than we expected. Not only was it on moving to the music but there were different color lights moving and changing to the songs. My dad was especially enthralled. We took some video and a bunch of pictures so I'll put some here:
All that excitement made us ready for bed. This morning I did not wake up particularly early but decided I wanted to go out to Heroes' Square and the big city park as well as do a tad bit of shopping. So about 2:30 pm (8:30 am for those of you in Grand Rapids) I set out for the metro which would take me to another metro which would take me to Heroes' Square. When you walk up the metro steps to the square it's quite the impressive view. I'll put a picture below.
After snapping some more photos I meandered my way to the park and through some castley looking courtyard museum. I walked right through some fancy looking event that was either about to start or had just finished (but don't worry there were other tourists doing the same thing as me). After which I proceeded on through the park not to sure where I was headed. Which turned out to not be the greatest idea when I got a tad bit lost. I knew I was still in the park but compared to anything I was not too sure, so I ended up making a large circle and finding a bus that would take me back to Heroes' Square. Throughout my walk I learned that it is not uncommon to go to a park to tan because - no pool in sight I saw nearly ten people stretched out in bathing suits (and remember I'm in Europe
so this meant more speedos than I would have liked).
Returning home from that excitement I saw my dad at a fountain near our apartment. Then I relaxed at our apartment for a bit while my mom made alphabet soup for dinner. Around 7 we met two Hungarian girls who had come to Calvin for interim the first we had already hung out with one of our first evenings. With them we went down to the Danube (the big river running through the middle of the city separating Buda and Pest). We walked for a while looking for the dock for the public transportation ferry. Finally we found one but it turned out that stop was closed during Sziget fest (this week) so we kept walking. When we found a real stop we waited for about 20 minutes and got on the boat. We quickly figured out that the boat was basically just for tourists because it did not move very fast at all. At one point Lena was talking about a turtle she had seen in the Danube a different time and made a comment that the turtle could probably swim faster than the boat we were on. We got off near Margit Island and made our way back to the musical fountain. I wanted to get cotton candy again so my mom & I walked to the food stands and on our way a hedgehog crawled across the path in front of us! It was rather bizarre seeing a hedgehog not as a pet. (I ended up getting strawberry cotton candy if you were curious.)
Now we are back at our apartment getting ready for bed as it is nearly midnight. I hope you enjoyed this day as much as I did.
Goodnight.
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