Buda Side, Hospital in the Rock, and One Last Goulash
That Thai massage from yesterday did the trick. Woke up feeling like a new person. Grateful for the little Asian lady who twisted and pulled my body in all sorts of directions. Did some work while everyone was still sleeping, and it was probably 10 am by the time we actually rolled out of the condo. Grabbed coffee and pastries on the way out and decided today was the day we'd finally check out the Buda side. Turns out one side of the river is called "Buda" and the other is called "Pest." You learn something new every day.
We walked up to Castle Hill and toured around the church, then made our way to Fisherman's Bastion. So beautiful up there. Postcard views everywhere you look. I keep finding myself drawn to the history here. Walking through these streets and wondering what life was like in 1945, 1950. You look at the apartment buildings and wonder who lived there, who was forced to leave. Europe has so much WWII history layered into every block and I'm absolutely drawn to it.
Hospital in the Rock
Chad found the Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum, tucked underneath Buda Castle. A hospital and nuclear bunker used in WWII, carved into the rock. It was a guided tour and this family does NOT like guided tours, but all four of us really enjoyed this one. It was really interesting. They wouldn't let us take any pictures inside (though if you google it, some rebels managed to sneak a few and post them online). The only photo we got was Sofie and I wearing nurse cloaks because the temperature in the underground tunnels is around 15 degrees C. Scary thought, what people had to live through down there. You really hope history doesn't repeat itself.
After that we headed back down the hill, grabbed buns, meat and cheese, and jumped on the metro back under the river to the Pest side. Lots of meetings today so the coffee shop became the office for three or four hours.
Wrapped up the day with Hungarian goulash again for dinner. Felt like the right way to cheers our stay in Budapest. Tomorrow we've got an early morning train to Salzburg.