St. Olaf Budapest Interim 2015: A Very Hung(a)ry Sunday

Today, my small group ventured to the Budapest Zoo after breakfast. The zoo was very large,

and featured all our favorite animals such as lions, giraffes, and elephants, as well as some exotic

creatures we wouldn’t find at home. We were surprised to discover that many of the exhibits

were open, so the animals could walk around on the paths in front of you!

A friendly lemur welcoming Miranda to its open home at the zoo

The bat enclosure was a bit scary because it was dark and there were little animals walking around

After our zoo adventures, our search for lunch happened to lead us to Hero Square, a famous

location full of significant figures in Hungarian history.

Hero Square

After lunch, we played café roulette by randomly selecting a subway stop and a direction, and

then walking until we found a café to relax in. The fates were in our favor, as our game of chance

led us to the California Coffee Company, a cute coffee chain with delicious treats and American

prices!

Hot chocolate and a piece of chocolate with a hardly any muffin to it

After our afternoon fun, we went back to the hotel for a short break before the next event. While

some of our group went to the opera, and others went to the baths, five of us attended the

Orientale Lumen, a concert at the Szent Istvan Baszilika (St. Stephen’s Basilica) featuring The Orthodox Singers Male Choir and the Saint Ephraim Male Choir.

Baszilika

The basilica was beautiful, and the concert was nothing short of awe-inspiring, with the small

choirs filling the large space effortlessly.

A moderately surreptitious choir picture

Happy concert goers

I (Chloe) used this morning to catch up on some much needed sleep after an exciting and exhausting first week.

Miranda and crew had already left for their exciting trip to the zoo so everyone still at the hotel went across the street for lunch at Kélet, a really cool coffee shop with packed bookshelves on every wall. I wasn’t too hungry so I ordered one of the baked good specials (a crescent) and a cappuccino.

Delicious art

I’m used to straight black coffee back home, so discovering a picture made of milk in my drink was a nice surprise. After lunch most of the group went onto the oh so exciting task of doing laundry, a necessity in polite society. After washing our clothes, a group of four of us adventured to the famous Szechenyi baths in the center of Budapest to wash ourselves and relax. The there are 18 pools in total, 3 of which our outdoor. It was such a nice night that we didn’t even bother with the indoor pools. It was incredibly relaxing to just float in the hot water and talk; think of it like a giant hot tub party. The lack of chlorine was really nice, especially for me, someone who is allergic to chlorine. When we got out of the pool it felt like we had gained a considerable amount of weight, not from excess water, but from having the water there to support us for over an hour and then it suddenly being gone. Everyone was fairly tired afterwards so we went to get pizza and watch the Barcelona v. Athletica Madrid game. When we came back to the hotel, Professor Berliner had bought traditional Hungarian chocolate cake from apparently one of the most famous shops in Budapest.