Budapest

It has been on our list for a while now. The husband and I had always wanted to explore Central/Eastern Europe but somehow the time was never right.We did the regular European hotspots before the kids arrived. And well, after the kids came into the picture, it was mostly vacations to beach resorts, trips to theme parks in the region or holiday destinations in Asia where travel time was kept to a minimum!

But with the kids now at a decent age of 5 and 7 we decided it was now or never. And we were right! Our little nomads played along beautifully! They ate when we decided it was meal time (and I still feel guilty about the late lunches that sometimes happened because we were stuck inside some castle or church)slept at times very different to their regular bedtimes and sleepwalked through railway stations to catch early morning trains!

Budapest welcomed us with scorching rays. It was definitely a shock to the system after enjoying the gentle summer in Helsinki! We escaped inside St Peter's Basilica on the Pest(plains) side and then trekked across the famous Chain bridge

and up the Buda (hill) towards the Castle district. The afternoon, I had planned to devote, entirely towards the kids' fun. We headed to the other end of town hoping to catch the circus. The kids had never seen one and were super excited about it. Unfortunately the circus or sirkoos (as they call it in Budapest) was not operating for just that week. The little ones' faces fell. And I had no back up plan for the afternoon. And it was still blazing hot! Luckily the kids spotted a sign to the zoo in the vicinity. And everybody was happy again. The kids had a glorious time gazing at the animals and spotting the India section (which had a massive statue of the Goddess Mariamman at the entrance)while we rested and ran after them (alternatively, taking turns) under the shade of leafy branches.