Budapest

We finally found someone willing to drive us and our ginormous instruments to our hostel.

Budapest is a beautiful city. We loved seeing gorgeous couples make out unabashedly at the airport, the park, the market, and the street corners. We did NOT, however, love smelling all the cigarette smoke.

The 11th Hour Cinema Hostel on Magyar Street. Right downtown. Our room slept nine and was more of a studio apartment then hotel room.
Exchanging monies became a highlight of the trip. Xander and XuMei wanted to see every denomination. These are Forint and it took nearly 4000 of them for the four of us to have subway sandwiches.
XuMei and Jolene bonded on this first night and spent many hours exercising their ESP muscles with each other.
The restaraunt was smokey but wonderful. Despite this menu item:
Most of the food was delicious. The bread on the table looked like cresent rolls but tasted like homemade pretsels. I have never liked beer but loved it in Hungary. Goulash came in it's own cauldron swinging over an open flame. And (sorry, Ma) was nothing like the elbow noodles with spaghetti sauce I had come to believe was Hungarian Goulash! XuMei ordered the pasta with cheese and we fought over who got to finish it. It was the embodiment of my fantasy food: Bacon Cheesecake.
The kiddo-pies were so tired after filling their bellys, Chris carried the already sleeping XuMei and Xander got a shoulder ride on the bands tallest member Hank Bankenbaggy.