Bath Time Again

Andrassy Avenue
Today we were all moving a little slower. After an incredible time at Tom and Erika's wedding last night, we all needed some R&R. Around 11:00 am, a large group of Jane’s family decided to head over to the Szechenyi Baths. Granny went in a cab, others via the metro, and we decided to walk. We both felt that it had been a while since we had taken a good long stretch of our legs.
Floating art

We walked through the Oktogon, turned down Andrassy Avenue, and headed towards Heroes Square. We walked behind Heroes Square and through City Park. The park is locally called Varosliget and was the world’s first public park.

As we walked through the park, we encountered a festival. There were tons of food vendors, stalls selling hand crafts, and a Tibetan folk band.  We crossed a bridge over a lake and almost got sidetracked. In the winter, this lake freezes becoming the largest outdoor skating rink in Eastern Europe. During the warm months people cruise up and down it in paddle boats. In the lake itself, there were several art displays, some of which were floating freely. One featured several checkered cars at various angles. Another, a small house that is partially submerged. These 26 pieces of art are part of an exhibit put on by the Museum of Fine Arts. Interesting, but we didn't want to walk the whole lake and view the rest of this exhibit.
The baths
We reached the Schezenyi bath house and met up with Jane's family. Jane spent a large part of the day with her family hopping from pool to pool. Luis spent most of the day in the outdoor pool, enjoying the many massage jets, and the sunshine. Around 4:00 pm, having absorbed the culture and the sun, we were ready to leave. We walked over to the metro and returned to the hotel.
We gathered in the lobby a little after 5:00 pm. As a group, we walked to the metro and rode back to Heroes Square. We were all celebrating Tom and Erika with one last family dinner together. William, Ralph, and Kate were leaving Budapest after dinner and it was probably going to be our last supper together for a long time. We ate at a restaurant called Paprika. The meals were delicious. For every two people there was an enormous plate of meat and potatoes. The plate held a large variety of meat, including chicken, duck, beef, and pork. Our table which included Luis, Dan, William, Ellie, Ralph, Kate, and Jane competed with the larger table to see who could polish off their plates first. We managed to get through three of them before quitting (minus Jane's participation of course).

As the night drew to a close, we again toasted the couple and thanked the bride's parents, Erika and Andras, for being such wonderful hosts. With full bellies we rolled back to the hotel. We fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

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