Tyler: Margret Island

Brent and I love Sunday's in Budapest because it means church is at two and we have plenty of time to go out and explore before hand. On Sunday morning we decided to head out to Margret Island. This is the Island in the middle of the Danube, which separates the Buda and Pest sides.

While walking to the Island we had to swing by Parliament to see how we go about buying tickets. I will probably be making the trek to Parliament at 7:30 am one of these days :( to get us tickets :)

Here is a closer view. There will be more Parliament pictures later this week I am sure!

Once we arrive at Margret Island we found this cool flame thing.

On the inside were a whole bunch of random items carved in. I still haven't decided what I think it all meant.

Brent found that there used to be a monastery on the Island. He told us that a King promised God his daughter if he could win a war. He won and so the King gave his daughter to the monastery on the Island. Later, he wanted to take her back so she could marry another Prince but she liked it so much she decided to stay! These are the remains of the monastery.

All of the buildings were crumbling down.

Tyler and Brent enjoying the puddles. Tyler did this all in heels.

I always wonder what fountains like this looked like back in their hay-day. I bet they were gorgeous, but now they are just covered in graffiti.
On the way back we found this ruined building.


I love finding little holes to hide in!

Margret Island was really cold, I wish we would have made that journey a month ago, because the fall colors would have been AMAZING!
After we finished the Island we were running late. Luckily, both Tyler and I packed our church clothes so after our 7 km walk we hopped the tram to church, changed out of our muddy clothes and got to thoroughly enjoy the Primary Program. Tyler went to Young Woman's with Kelli Salter, who afterward told me I needed to stop being cheap and let Tyler ride public more! I swear I just forget that 3 km is a long way! Either way, the message was received and we are taking the metro and trams a lot more from now on!

After church we made burrito's (homemade tortilla's) and watched HP two and three! It was a great Sunday!

Tyler: Arrival, Cemetery and Christmas Market

So this past Friday we had our niece, Tyler, come to stay with us for about two weeks! She came at the worst time (weather wise)! Last week is was beautiful out everyday and she came when we got out first snow! We love having her here, I just feel terrible being outside all day everyday!

She flew in Friday morning and after her plane was delayed for an hour we headed home. It was a 30 minute bus ride and a 20 minute metro ride. A first time for Tyler on both. That first day we didn't do much. Jet lag is killer but Tyler handled it really well. While Brent was in class We just walked around and got a feel for the town!

Day two was much more exciting. Brent and I heard about this huge cemetery that we have been dying to go to , so we dragged Tyler along. On the way we stopped by the Opera house! Brent bought tickets for he and Tyler to go see Xerxes on December 8th. I decided not to go because it really wasn't my thing. The Opera house is truly amazing so even if Tyler doesn't enjoy the show, she will enjoy the surroundings!

As we were walking to the cemetery we found a fire truck. Pretty similar but these look much more plastic-y than the ones in the U.S.

A church we passed along the way. We were going to go in but it was closed. It seems that all the churches we have tried to go into over the past couple days have been closed, it is a little irritating!

I think this statue is of the pied piper, but who actually knows!

A cool Asian monument that we found walking. There was a gate in front of it, but Brent found it anyway! Nice work Babe!

This is a church that Brent has had circled on his map of places he wanted to go, and we happened to stumble on it by mistake! This was a lot of fun to look around!

Brent and Tyler seeing if anyone is home!

An Angel praying outside the church. This was one of Tyler's favorite's!

Here is the front of the church. I love that the apostles are carved out in the archway and I love the statue! It is so gorgeous!

After a 6 kilometer walk in the freezing cold, we finally made it to the cemetery! We walked down the eastern side first. This looked like a military graveyard to us. All of the dates were in the 1940's, so we wonder if it was a communist or Nazi party graveyard. It looked very majestic in the snow, our wet feet didn't really agree with my outlook though!

This was a cool head stone we found. I don't know who is buried here, but I am wondering if he is actually apart of this mosaic.

Down the middle of the Cemetery are two identical monuments with domes. Here are the paintings in the top! I love these mosaics!

One dome from another. Brent and I kept trying to get out of Tyler what she thought of this, since it isn't very common in the U.S., and she said she thought it was cool. I am not sure it has hit her that she is somewhere with a lot more history than home!

A tradition for Brent and I is picking out our headstones. Here is Tyler's!

Mine is a little run down, but with a little work I think it has the potential to be the hang out spot!

And Brent's... A little Ostentatious don't you think?
We did find a huge monument (consisting of about 8-9 murals like this one) in the cemetery, which makes me pretty sure that this is a communist/ Nazi party cemetery. I still could be very very wrong though.

After the cemetery we stopped by Tesco. Every time we stopped the cart, Tyler was sitting on the ground. She would find a good excuse to do so, but I don't think we accurately prepared her for how much walking we really do. With groceries in hand we took the metro home to give her feet a break!

Brent and I eat in a lot, so Tyler was ready to help! We made pizza. This was Tyler's first time making pizza dough! Looks great to me!


While we waited for the pizza's to cook Tyler played one of my favorite childhood games... LEMMINGS! Cade and I really got into it later that night and were helping each other the whole time! Basically, we are all hooked!
The final presentation! They were delicious!


After that we went to the Christmas market! I loved it there! It was huge, freezing, and more walking! Tyler found a ring and a purse that she loved and bought. We plan to make many more trips back to the Christmas market before we leave.
On Wednesday we are all going to see Harry Potter 7 Part I. You will not believe how surprised I was to hear that Tyler has not read the book and NOT EVEN SEEN THE MOVIES?!?!?! Christi what do you do with these kids? So that night I got out movie 1 (which we are borrowing along with all the others) and sat her down to watch it! I plan to have her caught up by Wednesday. Plus, after a big day of sightseeing a little Harry Potter just makes you feel good!

It was a big day for Tyler. I don't think Brent or I realize how much we walk or how used to it we are. The freezing cold didn't help much either! I really enjoyed seeing the cemetery and having Tyler here to experience it with us!

Branch Thanksgiving

One of the huge blessings of living abroad is that us Americans stick pretty close together. The Saturday before Thanksgiving our branch decided to host a thanksgiving dinner. Although not everyone from our branch is American it seemed fitting.

Everyone was so great about bringing amazing food.

After the feats Brent and I decided to go to a place called the Palace of Miracles, which is basically a smaller, less supervised version of OMSI! We had such an amazing time!

At the big table.

This is a thermo-scan of Brent and I. One of my arms is noticeably warmer than the other!

this car has square tires and was driving on a curved road... Have we ever thought that maybe we did it backwards? Lila is loving it!

We made everything into a competition. Jared rocked the quickest response time with Brent in second, Kelli in third and myself coming in last. It is okay I got my revenge very last!
Brent did this running station three times. He had to get under 2 seconds. Turns out he went fast when he didn't start in the holders.


Brent and I become one... weird!

The Salter's are so much fun to hang out with! They have really made this stay in Budapest feel like home! This Thanksgiving I sure had a lot to be grateful for!

food, Food, FOOD!

A few weeks ago, Brent and I had the pleasure of baby-sitting the children of some friends while they were off on a much deserved vacation to Athens. The girls were amazing, adorable and well behaved. We didn't even have to deal with one melt down!

To show their appreciation the Salter's took us out to Wasabi! This is a place that our Branch President, Brandon, told us about. It is a Japanese Buffet on conveyor belts. There is a conveyor for hot food and one for cold. Each plate had one or two little items or a small serving of something. It is a pretty spendy place so Brent set a goal to eat at least 50 plates, strictly to make sure he got his monies worth... I will tell you in a minute if he accomplished his goal.

Some of the amazing food they had was Teryaki chicken, sushi (about a dozen kinds), fried rice, cream deserts, chocolate filled pastries, fruit soups (amazing), fruit, some Indian food and much much more!

Well Brent smashed his goal with a whopping 70 plates, and I haven't felt hungry since Friday! Dinner was a great 4 hours of eating and talking. The Salter's are some of the most interesting and fun people I have ever met! They have been practically everywhere in Europe and talk as if it is no big deal! We are going to miss them terribly when they are gone! ( I need to get pictures of them!)

On a separate note, last week Kristi and Cade (the roomies) decided to have a bread bowl week. They made one giant soup and ate it each night for dinner with a new type of bread bowl each night. Of course this made me super jealous (as I usually am of their dinners) so this week I was inspired to make a soup of my own!

Presenting my Potato, Cheese and Bacon Soup!

Although I love potatoes, cheese and bacon I couldn't justify having no veggie intake for a week, so I added peas, broccoli, corn, carrots and onions. To account for the extra veggies I put in an extra cup of milk and broth which worked out splendidly!

The recipe was really straight forward and after figuring out how to make chicken broth from Bouillon cubes I was set to go! Brent was super helpful taking orders! It turned out AMAZING! We had it for a second time tonight and it just keeps getting better. I am totally excited for another serving tomorrow!


Food is such a wonderful thing! I have learned to make so many different things from scratch and I just keep getting better and better! I am always surprised at how much easier it is to cook than I expect!

City Park and the Palace

I have been a terrible sleeper. Last Friday night I could NOT sleep. I laid in bed eyes wide open until 4:00 am, then I watched a movie until 6:00 am, and then I was finally able to fall asleep. Well the night before Cade, Kristi, Brent and I decided to explore City Park, and I was not about to be the wet blanket! So off we went to the City Park of Budapest.

This is a statue of George Washington donated from the Hungarians in America. I love that the Hungarians that are living in America... If they are living in America why would they care about a Statue in Budapest?

This is the market in city park. We expected a small little market, but this place was huge!

So at the turn of the century for the world's fair Budapest-ians built a palace out of cardboard in many different styles. Well after the fair the people enjoyed it so much they decided to build it for real!

We didn't go inside because it was an Agriculture museum... but the outside was gorgeous!

This is the statue of Anonymous... yes THE Anonymous! This is the guy who would always sign anonymous in place of the name. Notice the quill in the hand.
This pond is actually across the street from the City Park but it was a lot of fun. I am going to take bread down to it at some point! There were also 4-5 ducks sitting in a straight row, not moving. I was about to fall in on this picture so I didn't have much time to look around and see if they were fake or not!

City park was really fun! We didn't get even close to visiting it all so you bet I will be going back again! I am really enjoying my time here. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous!
The overall day was amazing! It was so nice to be out and about! You would think with only two hours sleep I would be miserable but I actually really enjoyed my day!

Krakow: An Evening of Relaxation

After we finished up at the salt mine and made it back to the city, we had about 5 hours to kill before our train left. Normally, 5 hours is nothing, but it was FREEZING outside! So we stayed pretty close to the train station.

We did make the fifteen minute walk into the old town to go shopping for some souvenirs. I am pretty happy with what we got! Of course I managed to get a spoon as well as a pen for Blair! This pen has a cute little dragon on top!
Attached to the train station is a huge mall. This was a very nice and warm way to spend our time. We were starving so for dinner we split some KFC "Longers" (like the snack size but longer) and McDonalds French Fries. We tried to get more authentic food but we didn't have enough cash and most places didn't take a card. After dinner we found an ice cream place. The Deserts in Krakow were amazing!

After dinner we wandered, and relaxed for a few hours until I found a polish hot dog place I had to try. They cook the bun, which looks more like a sleeve, then squirt garlic and ketchup into it and then insert the dog! It was SO delicious! I really wanted another but they didn't accept a card and we were out of cash. I think it would help my weight loss if this situation would happen more often!

Finally our Train Came. Sleeper trains are an awesome way to travel. You may not have much room, but you barely notice you are sleeping. It also makes you feel as if you never really went to bed though. I enjoyed it but I think I would prefer a plane any day!

Krakow was a really fun trip! It brings my country count up to 12. I am glad we got to explore a new place and especially learn so much more about history! This may be our last trip until Geneva in December! If anyone has fun ideas of where we should take another side trip just let us know!