[ intro music song ] B-U-D-A-P-E-S-T
[Jessica's voice] This is our second visit to Budapest
although it's a little different than the first...
C: Hello! J: Hello!
C: I'm wearing too many clothes.
J: Yes, this is rather warm, isn't it?
C: Yeah, different to last time when it was like -10. J: Minus 12.
[laugh]
J: It's really cold! C: Aww
C: It was, I think on the average in the daytime was about minus 6
J: It was great. C: But in the evening it got to like minus 12
J: We just got frozen and our faces hurt, everything hurt.
C: I know.
J: But now, today it's 32 degrees!
[ Jessica's voice ] Budapest is the capital and most popular city of Hungary,
J: With one third of the country's population
living within the metropolitan area,
the city is one of the most beautiful in Europe.
And as a architectural treasure trove with Baroque, Neoclassical and Art Nouveau builidings.
Overall, it has an fin-de-siecle film
for it was the city's late 19th century 'golden age' that most of the city was built.
J: It is 11:30, we have not yet left the house for our morning excursion.
C: The plan was we'd get up, we'd go out in the morning
before it got too hot and come back after lunch, have a little rest
and then go out again, late afternoon
catch the sunset, stay out for dinner.
J: We did decide that our family motto should be:
"We got distracted."
because-- yeah C: Yeah
[ music starts ]
J: [to Claudia] Thank you I can't get my foot--
My feet are very sore because we walked around yesterday and now I can't fit them into shoes, so
Going well.
J: Alright, so I had to buy new shoes to fit my feet in.
[ music starts ]
[ Jessica's voice ] Saint Stephen's Basilica is a roman catholic church built in 1905
and named after the first king of Hungary, Saint Stephen the First
who's incorruptible right hand is said to be housed in the reliquary.
J: The architectural style is Neoclassical with a Greek cross ground pattern.
It's one of the most important church buildings in Hungary,
and one of the most significant tourist attractions in Budapest,
as you can tell from the crowds.
J: I got to indulge my passion for sugar-free ice cream,
and Claud got to indulge her passion for photography and cameras.
C: You were like: "Claudia that lens is uh... unnecessary"
J: I did. I did.
She bought this lens and then I told her she couldn't buy a new sofa.
'Cause she bought the lens, and it was the price of a sofa
C: Actually, I was going to say:
"You can't capture memories with a sofa"
But you can
[ laugh ]
J: Well, you can certainly be comfortable in the evenings, can't you?
C: Yeah, but at the end of the day you just throw the sofa out, when it starts looking a bit gross,
and you've got chewing gum stuck around the back of it, 2p's in it, and crumbs... and dog sick
J: Alright you made your excuses.
[ music starts ]
[ Jessica's voice ] Public transport in Budapest is shockingly excellent.
Shocking because we're English and thus pleased when a bus is even vaguely on time.
J: The city has buses, trams and a metro line that can provide a comprehensive,
and efficient service around the city.
Also, incredibly well priced as you can buy a one-day, two-day or three-day pass
that allows you to use all three for the price of, at most, a coffee in London.
J: They're also mainly electrical and cut down on congestion which
inspired Claud.
C: You know, you can split the bus route in London, J: Yeah.
C: so you have it starting from the outskirts into central London
C: This is the electrical buses, that have--
J: It would certainly be quieter and smell less.
J:--two buses, or three buses C: Yeah, yeah. You shouldn't have to pay again right?
[ Jessica's voice ] Taxis crisscross the city but they can be a little pricey.
Uber doesn't work in Budapest.
(Yet. Maybe. Who knows.)
But, they do have Taxify which you should definitely get if you don't speak Hungarian.
Because whoa, those pronunciations are hard.
C: Where we going? You've just said. J: City--city park.
C: Ok, yeah. J: I mean it has a name, but it's in Hungarian.
C: Why are you wearing your sunglasses inside?
J: Because I'm cool.
[ both laugh ]
J: Should never get sunglasses with no SPF. C: We were like--like The Blue Brothers.
C: but we're not with the cool-- J: Yeah.
C: no, we're not cool.
C: We are the J: Rainbow sisters.
C: Rainbow sisters!
Rainbow sisters, high five!
I'm boomeranging here on my own
[ both laugh ]
C: Hey!
J: If you're a fan of architectural mashups and fairytale buildings,
then you have to visit Budapest's city park.
Where there is the most remarkable castle.
It was built in 1896 as part of the millennial exhibition,
to celebrate the 1000 years of Hungary since the
Hungarian people took control of the Carpathian Basin.
J: Hello! Today we've come somewhere truly truly beautiful.
It's a castle that I cannot name.
I mean I'm gonna study up and now say it in a voiceover.
We've come to
J: Claud is very much enjoying all of the oportunities to take photos
[ Jessica's voice ] The castle was designed to feature copies of several
landmark builidngs from different parts of the Kingdom of Hungary
and as such features different architectural styles:
Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.
Originally, it was made from cardboard and wood, but became so
popular, it was rebuilt from stone and brick
between 1904 and 1908.
The Gothic Revival Parliament building is equal heights
to St Stephen's Basilica and together they are the two
tallest builidings in Budapest at 96 meters high.
This equation of height symbolizes that worldly and spiritual thinking have the same importance.
Current regulations prohibit the construction of any building taller.
It's the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary,
and a notable tourist destination, although
we were far too hot to do much sight-seeing.
J: Oh!
J: Ohh!
So wet!
[ Jessica's voice ] High on a hill, Buda is the western part of the capital,
featuring a fortress and palace originally built in 1247.
In the 15th century while Pest, across the river, was mostly
Hungarian, Buda had a German majority
It later became part of Ottoman ruled central Hungary,
and by the middle of the 17th century
Buda was majority Muslim.
In 1873 it was unified with Obuda and Pest
to form the unified Co-capital of Austro-Hungarian Empire.
J: Okay, we have an hour of freedom from babysitting,
so we're gonna go have a little date.
[to Claudia] that means you. C: Oh! J: Come!
J: We're packing up to go, but I just had to show you this before we leave
Due to what can only be described as, an administrative error,
we've been sleeping in twin beds this holiday.
Twin beds.
C: Normally that would be fine because you can just push them together
and make like a big king-size bed
J: Except for this
pillar.
J: Between them.
So what we've been doing is pushing them as close
as we can get-- I say we, it's just Claud, Claud does the pushing
I don't push anything. We pushed them together every single night
so we can be slightly closer, still separated by a pillar though.
And every day the cleaner comes and moves them further apart.
C: No snuggle for you!