We made it to Hungary!

We had uneventful (thank goodness) travel. We left Logan International Airport in Boston MA for Budapest Hungary. This is Pooh at Logan with the plane we took and Pooh and Carl waiting to board.

We had a stop over in Munich Germany on our way to Hungary. This first picture is of a billboard in the airport. Nothing special, but thought it was interesting since it was all in German. I had one with Pooh and billboard, but you couldn't make out what it said in that picture.

This is Pooh at the gate in Munich, with our plane to Budapest in the background. After flying for 8 hours, he still has a smile on his face. Wish I could say the same for Carl and me!

After 10 hours on airplanes we finally made it to our hotel.

We went on a "walk about" this morning to explore the area. We stopped a small bookstore that served coffee. Under the glass of the tables, people left notes with where they were from. Pooh left a note of his own. He also liked the small shops. :-)

The hotel we are staying at has walls that span 700 years. It is in Buda's Castle district. Budapest is actually two cities -- Buda and Pest (pronounced 'Pesht'). The hotel was built on the grounds of a thirteenth century Dominican church and monastery named after St. Nicholas. These were established in 1215. It is a unique experience being here as this hotel is actually on a tourist tour and there are people stopping to see it. We feel very fortunate we are able to stay here this week.

We have not done much yet and I will post a lot more as the week goes on and we get out and about more. But the view of the Danube from out hotel room is amazing.

I will be taking TONS of pictures. The streets are incredible - a mix of old and new. Everyone we have met has been very nice and all make an attempt to speak English. It made me start thinking of how, as Americans, we expect everyone to speak English, even when we are in their country. When you come to Europe, everyone here was brought up speaking their native tongue and English, and in many cases, they speak multipe languages. Around here they speak German also.

One last fact before I go to eat dinner... Budapest is 6 hours ahead of New England time (8 hours ahead of Colorado). I promise my posts from and about Budapest will get better. :-)