Day 3-4: Just Liz and Rachel (November 13-15)

 After a long day of travel, I arrived in Budapest Sunday evening and took a car to our Airbnb. My driver didn't speak any English, but Rachel was at the apartment to meet me and it was so great to watch her talk to the driver in Hungarian and pay him in Hungarian forint. The Airbnb we reserved (for about $100 per night, which felt very reasonable from my side, but was clearly a pretty high-end in Budapest) was really lovely. Rachel had suggested we stay in the Újlipótváros neighborhood (District 13), strategically located near the Danube across from Margaret Island. Rachel and headed out for a stroll and got me a month-long transit pass for free access to all public transportation -- which is quite responsible. We hopped on the 4/6 for one stop to the middle of the bridge to get the breathtaking view of Parliament, which was particularly so in the strangely eerie, foggy night. 

We walked back to the Airbnb and when to Babka for dinner, though we already had reservations there for later in the week.  We split a shakshuka which was quite delicious!

Rachel had school on Monday and also a concert she had to attend Monday night, so I had a day largely to myself (and a lot of work to get done). I went for a walk on a lovely walk on Margaret Island and then figured out how to take the H5 out toward Rachel's school.

Water Tower on Margaret Island

She met me at a stop halfway there for lunch. We ended up at the Zoo Cafe (which we didn’t realize but there were some good clues: we sat by the aquarium, a dog settled down by our table, and there was an iguana across the room). When Rachel headed back to school, I took advantage of the free wifi at the cafe to get some work done and then made my way back to the Airbnb to work some more. I went back out to the 4/6 to meet Rachel and travel with her to the part of town where her concert was to get a quick bite at Pizzica. I worked the rest of the evening until Rachel came home.

Tuesday was a rainy day, and Rachel's classes didn't start until later in the day. We both had work to do so she took me to this really cute bookstore cafe she had discovered.

We stopped at Aran Bakery first to get lunch treats and I ordered a hot apple drink that was delicious. I commuted with Rachel out to AIT to get a sense of what that was like. It is quite far to do every day but the public transportation is so good you never have to wait for more than a couple of minutes for the next train. Her friend Tiffany was on the same train and when we got to AIT, I met Jenny and Catey too. My neck was a little sore from all the travel I'd been doing so I took advantage of my alone time to get a Thai massage at a place right next to our apartment and worked while waiting for Rachel and friends to be done with school.

I took Rachel and her roommates (Jenny, Catey, and Fatima + Tiffany who is an honorary roommate who lives alone nearby) out for a nice dinner at a restaurant directly across from their apartment but that they'd never been to. It was super fun!

We got back to the apartment in time for Julia's arrival late that night.