Mr. Hat finds his distant relative.

Mr. Hat finds a street that was named after his associate.

Mr. Hat is looking to see where he wants to go. Buda castle, or the Pest side.

What? What the hell are the French doing in Hungary, especially after the Treaty of Trianon?

The Gellert Mountain (but really more like a hill) on the banks of the Duna River (Danube). You could walk around them hills.

The Parliment Building in the distance, on the other side of the Danube.

Old architecture. It seemed that the billboards, which advertized various events, were changed almost daily.

Close-up of Lanc Hid (Chain Bridge). It wasn't made of chains or cable, but these steel pieces of metal (like a giant erector set).

Trolley coming across a bridge. Public transportation is great in Hungary.

Mr. Hat relaxes on the Trolley. It is better than walking. And convenient.

The band is preparing to play, perhaps after this beer, or perhaps the next.

Anybody care to dance? These dancers are dressed in traditional Hungarian folk costumes.

Ah yes, csardas is the traditional Hungarian dance.

I wonder where the good swimming pool is? PS- Bad is German for spa.

This is on the Buda side, in the Buda castle. All the houses were 100-200 years old.

Depicting a hunting scene out of a classic Hungarian tale.

The back entrance of the Buda Castle, not quite as ornate, but still classic.

I think that the turks attacked Buda in the 1500s.

Are we in Disneyland? No. We are in the Buda Castle.

I was really fascinated by this place, but I don't know what year it was built. Maybe I should look in one of my tourist guides.

Budapest used to be 2 cities, Buda on one side of the Danube, and Pest on the other.

Great murals, stonework, and architecture were seen everywhere.

Two gypsies playing violin and guitar. They played a song for me, "Goya Goya huszu lobu goya" Which traslates to 'Stork Stork long legged stork.'

Mr. Hat's favorite thing to do in Budapest was to eat ice cream. It was Italian Gellato. The National Art Museum is behind him, in the Buda Castle.

A better view of the Gellert Hegy (mountain). See the statue up top?

An ornate archway, on the way to the National Art Museum.

Hungary has about 10 million people.

The Parliment building (it is on the Pest side of the Danube).

The Freedom Statue at the top of Gellert Mountain (at night time).

Hero's Square. Also see the picture at the very end with the peace sign.

The view a block from our hotel. We walked across the bridges quite a few times.

Mr. Hat meets Mr. Lion

The Siklo, which is a (almost) vertical cable car. There are two cars attached by a cable, and when one is up, the other is down.

The Lanc Hid (Chain Bridge)

The sign on the train saying that it is going to Kaposvar (home of my relatives on my mom's side).

The train station. We went on a third class train, which was pretty bad with all the people smoking. The next time we went 2nd class, much better.

Kaposvar

The walking street of Kaposvar. Most big cities in Hungary have converted the downtown to walking streets. It is very nice.

This horse drawn wagons are still being used. In villages it is a common sight to see a horse drawn wagon, though not in the cities.

Mr. Hat goes for a ride. It was drizzling though. These horses moved very fast.

These are examples of horse drawn carts. The one in front in typical freight wagon used to carry hay. The rear wagon is a 'coach' wagon.

They was a lot of attention paid to details, and even this new driveway had a design in it.

Raksi, where my grandmother lived. The red line through the sign indicates you are leaving the town.

My grandmother's house. After a pig slaughter in the backyard, I didn't eat pork for 5 years.

The person responsible for the scalping I got. I think Mr. Hat was in on it. And the bottle of palinka didn't help.

The market (see my parents on the left). Food is really good there. No GMOs.

That is a stork nest, it is really a big nest, and you can see a stork and its baby.

This is an old species pig. I think that if Stephen King saw it, it would be the basis of another horror novel.

This is in Pecs. This city dates back to Roman times.

I like the architecture.

This is a street fair that had a wooden swing (that spun around) that was person powered (see the woman sitting in the center).

These are some old board games. We came back later and they were all being used.

Another person powered kids toy, the man pulled down the rope that spun the chairs around.

The walking street in Pecs.

Hungarian Plan - Attack the fort and eat all their food.

Food. This was neat. It was an outdoor eatery that was cooking these stews over an open wood fire in giant kettles.

Relatives

Alley. Notice how the center brick is lined up straight.

Get this monkey off my back (my uncle).

Mr. Hat takes target practice with Andrew.

Mr. Hat meets Bugs Bunny

The trio defending the fort.

The Three Wise Men

No, it is not bowling balls. Those are old cannon balls (this picture was arranged by Mr. Andrew).

Magnificent buildings were everyplace you looked.

This was where Mr. Hat had in coffee in the morning (at our Budapest hotel). He was pretty grumpy until he got his first cup.

I rode the Orient Express from Germany to Budapest to this train station my last visit. The Orient Express originally went from Paris to Istanbul.

This is a bug. A big bug. It is called a Sarvas bogar which translates to Buck Bug (because of the horns on its head).

Table for 1?

A falcon. We talked to the falconeer who told us about the remaining falcons and eagles that live in Hungary, but I forgot everything.

A view of Budapest.

St. Stephens Bascillica.

Would you take 200 forint for that?

Budapest at night. It was really great walking around at night time as the weather was nice, and usually ended stopping for a beer.