Hold a $10,000 Bill

Ok, it's technically not $10,000... it's 10,000 Hungarian forints. And, don't get too excited. 1 Hungarian forint is equal to .005 USD. That's 1/2 a penny, folks. Talk about inflation. So anyway, you go to an ATM and it spits out 1000, 5000, and 10,000 bills. Oh, and they're in pretty colors. It's too easy to look at it and go, "Monopoly Money!"




We discovered the amazing Hungarian forint this weekend when six of us took a trip to Budapest, Hungary. Budapest is a great weekend trip from Vienna because it's only 3 hours away by train. It was the Hapburgs vacation hangout, and it was our vacation hangout for the weekend, too.



Now before you ask why we were hanging out in "Eastern Europe" look at the pictures.










Perfect 70 degree weather right on the beautiful Danbue River. It seriously doesn't get much better than this.


Challenge: use some Hungarian currency. This means you have to go to Hungary. Budapest is a great city because it's foreign enough to feel like an adventure, but still feels like civilization. What I mean by this is, getting to your hotel is a challenge because everything is in Hungarian, the metro looks 30 years old, and it's difficult to navigate the city, but once you get to the hotel, it's a Marriott with a river view.

Budapest is divided into two sides: the Buda side and the Pest side with the river running in between them. Not only does it make the city very easy to navigate, but it also divides things up in a logical way.

The Buda side is located on green, rolling hills that tower up above the river. At the top of the hill sits a Hapsburg Palace that is now an art museum. Built in the typical Hapsburg way, it is like a smaller version of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Additionally, there is a beautiful church, a famous bath house, and several monuments to look at on the Buda side.

Across the river is Pest. The most famous building on the Pest side is the Parliment building, which has a giant red dome. Additionally, there are several restaurants on this side, and it is fun to sit on the river and enjoy the scenery. Another important aspect of Budapest is the bridges that cross the river. It seems like every bridge is important for some reason.

The most famous bridge is the Chain Bridge, or the stone one with lions guarding the entrances. Further down you can see the white Elisabeth Bridge, named after the Austrian Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) who the Hungarians loved, and the green Freedom Bridge.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, we really don't know exactly how many dollars we spent. But, a good way to estimate it is, take off the last 2 zeros and divide by two. So, if you have 1000 forints, you have about $5...