One place I never imagined visiting...

I have a list in my head of places I would love to travel to, and we've had the amazing opportunity to check a lot of those places off the list in the last year and a half.  But there are some places that just aren't on my radar.  Places I have little to no background knowledge about, places where I'm not even sure exactly where they are on the map...they are places I don't imagine ever visiting.  Because of a trip Dustin had to take for work, we had the chance to travel to Budapest...definitely one of those cities that never had really entered my mind before. 

All I knew about Budapest prior to our visit was that it was in Hungary, and that it had been under communist rule.  And I had heard something about goulash...

Budapest (which is actually made up of two cities, Buda and Pest) really surprised me.  Until our visit, I had no idea that it is considered one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

The Parliament Building on the river Danube

Megan came with us!

Statue of Ronald Reagan, symbolically walking against communism.

Inside the Parliament Building

Hungarian Crown Jewels

 Parliament at night!

On our last day, we visited the 2nd largest synagogue in the world (second to one in New York).  There was a touching museum to Jewish people living in Budapest during WWII. 

Inside of the synagogue.  We got to listen to their contemporary band practice!

On our last evening, Megan and I went to see Rigoletto in Budapest's famous Opera House.  Good thing we read up on the opera before going - it was sung obviously in Italian, but the subtitles were in Hungarian.  We had no hope of understanding!

Overall, it was an amazing experience to visit this part of Eastern Europe.  The people were friendly, the architecture was stunning, and the goulash was delicious!