Realizing how cold Budapest would be, we packed for the weather; and preparing our wallets for the trip, we devoted some time to memorizing the exchange rate. Hungarians weren't using the Euro, so we had to get some Forints for the trip. Rate was around 200 per dollar.  One Forint, were it possible to have held such an amount, would've been worth half a penny. The lowest denomination we were able to find was the 1000 Forint bill--about 50 cents. It was a lot like our first time in Italy (1994 - 1997), when the Lira's value fluctuated anywhere between 1200 and 1800 per dollar.

The city straddles the Danube Rivier and is the result of what were originally two distinct towns: Buda on the west bank, and Pest on the east. Pest is larger, touristy-er, and poorer.  It's also where most people stay while visiting. Buda rises up several hundred feet within a short distances from the river bank, and all the buildings on that side seem a lot more dominating. Buda is much less accessible to pedestrians, and a cool way to get to the Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, and St. Matthias is the funicular.

Weather was cold and sometimes windy, but for two of our four days there it was nice and clear. Rained/drizzled one day, and heavy fog another.  In all it was good walking weather, and there's plenty of walking to do in Budapest.

Our first day included a guided tour, and for throughout the trip we made good use of the Hop-on, Hop-off bus.  Hop on, take a break, hop off, walk a mile or two.  Works up an appetite!

Big highlight of this trip was the Hungarian cuisine (we did make an exception for our obligatory trip to the HRC).  Goulash, Hun Dogs (standard hot dogs with dried onions & shaved chicken bits), Mulled WIne, Dreher Lager, Kalacs, and lots of confectionary wonderfulness.

The Elizabeth Bridge, the Margaret Bridge, the Chain, Petőfi and Liberty Bridges. And lots others we didn't see.  The Chain Bridge is the town's most famed, but my personal favorite was the green, 'Budai rakpart' bridge.

The ones we explored were walkable - and a couple times we took advantage of that.  They all offer gorgeous vistas.

The blustery weather, combined with trekking to, from, and over (a couple) of these bridges, made the experience strangely enjoyable.  Maybe it was all the forralt Egri Bikavér ...

Vehicular traffic moved slowly, or if not slowly, carefully. 

Then again, it might have been that their cars just couldn't go any faster..

We liked all the different goulashes so much that for the most part it was the centerpiece of every dinner.  Every restaurant had a slightly different combination of spices, but they were all heavenly.

From our whopping four whole days there we learned that, in soup form (more on that in a sec), goulash isn't a thick, beef, beans & noodle concoction.  It's more like a beef stew, or beef & veggie soup, with a few additional spices. Not my tongue is on fire spices; more like that's a busy combo of flavors spices.

Strangely (or maybe not), on two occasions the "goulash" we ordered was everything you'd use to make goulash, except the water. Same taste, same basic combination of ingredients and flavors.  But instead of being soup, it was large platefuls of meat, veggies, and barley on the side.

(That last part must be an acquired taste - we didn't care for it much.  We decided barley in liquid form is much better.)