Sightseeing Around the City

Last weekend we had the privilege of hosting Jack's cousin Paul and his wife Trudi as well as another Paul who is the new director of Eurasia for CRWM. Since Budapest is such a beautiful city and the weather was so beautiful, we tried to show as much as we could in the short time we had together. We haven't shared some of these sights on our blog for a while, so we thought you would enjoy seeing them again as well.

The interior of the dome at St. Stephen's Basilica

St Stephens...we went up to the top (see the railing half way down on the dome) that's where you get a great view of the city.

Here we are with Paul and Trudi afterwards

Parliament 

Matyas church (it's been under scaffolding for most of our time living in Budapest)

Kalvin Janos (John Calvin) statue at Kalvin ter with Paul and Trudi

Paul and Jack with Szabadsag bridge over the Danube in background

View of the Danube and Erzsebet and Chain Bridge 

This was the first time that we saw guard's in front of the Presidential Residence.
They even had a kind of "changing of the guard" routine.

View of Parliament at night

View of Matyas church at night

The Hungarian opera "Hunyadi Laszlo" began on opening night with all the opera singers entering the Opera House from horse drawn carriages coming down Andrassy Boulevard. A band accompanied the entrance. The entire opera could be seen on a screen on the outside of the opera house. There was seating outside for over 1,200 viewers to watch for free. It was a very festive atmosphere!

The arrival of the opera singers to opening night performance

Opening night at the opera house

You can see a video we took of the procession by going to 

http://youtu.be/dCqJnagEWcw