Photos from Budapest.

That's right, more Europe. I have hundreds of these pictures and they aren't running out any time soon, so get used to it. It takes me forever to decide which pictures to include in the gallery and it takes even longer to process them all. I want to give a feel for the city, but I also only want to keep the good pictures. Often the pictures I like most are very bad at capturing the feel of a city. The pictures I take in an attempt to capture the city are usually pretty bad. So, faithful reader, when you see a lemon think to yourself that James thinks it's terrible to.

Our great European journey takes us from Vienna to Budapest. The contrast of our experiences in the two cities is quite amazing. Unlike Vienna, it seemed like we did almost nothing notable, but the city captured us. We mostly wandered it aimlessly, stumbling across the landmarks. This is reflected in the large number of pictures with Alyssa in them. Often she was my only subject. The picture below leads to the gallery.

It'd be an injustice to the city if I said we did nothing notable, there are many attractions, but the one I should mention mention is the Szechenyi baths. These are traditional Turkish baths. I didn't take any pictures and I regret it. The great marble building that houses the baths and the old men playing chess would have easily made it into the gallery. My favorite part was the water fountains that spit or pour water from urns and serpent mouths. Men brace themselves while the water purples their back, the gentle cascade of water belying the force behind it. My massage was brief compared to those who stood under it for at least an hour. The water felt like stones and it punched deep into the muscle and afterward wading in the warm water is all I could manage.

Some Americans who were also staying at the Bellevue B&B (which is a great choice if you're ever in Budapest) asked us what they should do for the sort time they were in Budapest. We recommended a place for dinner and told them that they had to go to the baths. The woman, in an educational tone, responded "Actually we have something very similar in Arkansas, they are called hot springs and are located in a town called Hot Springs", and continued to explain that there would be no point in going to them. We mentioned that we have many hot springs in British Columbia as well, even one in a town called Harrison Hot Springs, and they're in the Rockies, which is beautiful, but they are not the baths used by Hungarian kings. They didn't seem to get it. If you're in Budapest, go to the baths.