Budapest - Palatinus Baths and Gelarto Rosa

The day started with a new discovery for Reyka. She is rather fond of Chimney cake. Of course, it's bread covered in sugar! We visited Margaret Island to the Palatinus Baths. Ordinarily I'd spend most of my day in Hungary in a spa, but it's too hot for Reyka so instead we found a cooler bath on Margaret Island. It was nice, the children's pool was shallow enough for Reyka to explore around. Lunch stop opposite the baths for my last langos of the trip, then a walk back to the taxi. On route, Reyka fell fast asleep in the baby carrier. All of this city exploring wore her out. She was asleep for the walk, the taxi and then the ice cream at Gelarto Rosa. The ice cream is a picture. I chose white chocolate and lavender on the outer petals, and chocolate and chilli on the inner. Yum.

Back to the airport for our flight home. An early evening flight so we thought we would put Reyka in her PJ's for the flight and she would sleep. But Reyka had other plans. Back home after a great 40th birthday city break.

Budapest - My 40th birthday

It's arrived, my 40th birthday. The day started with my little family singing Happy Birthday and opening cards. I found an artisan macaron café which was a short walk from our apartment so we had breakfast there of great coffee and macaron's. At Chez Dodo, you watch them being made in the window and eat in lovely surroundings, with Rebel Girls pictures on the wall. If I was going to have a café, Chez Dodo is exactly what I'd like to have as a business.

We visited St Stephen's basilica and Reyka was mesmerised by the orante ceiling. It's more stunning than I remember. Reyka loved wandering around and smiling at the tourists. I lit a candle for mum to say my thanks to her. After all, I didn't do anything on my birthday, they should really be about our Mum's.

Our lunch stop was at the New York Palace for an afternoon tea in an incredibly luxurious surroundings with a Hungarian folk music group. Reyka was asleep for the whole thing. What we did find confusing was that there weren't scones! One layer of rolls, two layers of cakes. But they did give us wonderful fresh orange juice.

We took a taxi to our next stop for the birthday day of non surprises (I organised the day, so it was a day of surprises for Ali really). It as a fair way out of town to the start of the Children's Railway. It's a railway completely run by children. They do the ticket office, the conducting, the signals. There are justa  few adults to supervise operations. It's really surreal to see children conductors, children saluting the train, children as the station managers.

Off we went through the countryside in Budapest. It was so refreshing to be out of the city centre. Reyka enjoyed chugging along the tracks. A surreal but wonderful thing to do. I have always been intrigued about the Children's railway so very happy to have done it on my birthday.

Back at the apartment we were shattered so had dinner of some other favourites of mine. Cottage cheese chocolate and chimney cake.

Budapest - Visiting a Cat Cafe

Sometimes Apple Maps fib to you, and this was one of those days. The apartment kindly provided tea, coffee, fruit and wine...but we needed breakfast. So, off I went on a mission to find us breakfast. Over 45 minutes later, I returned with Hungarian croissants, Pick sausage and Karavan cheese. All things I used to adore when I visited Hungary. So breakfast was a trip down memory lane.

We started the day with the bus tour. Reyka was asleep for most of it. We stopped off at Central Market which I don't remember ever visiting which is surprising, it's stunning. We had Langos for lunch (fried bread with cheese) and continued our bus tour. We stopped off for a boat trip on the Danube to see Parliament and Margrit Island. Reyka seemed more fascinated with lying on the rug and running around swooning all of the tourists.

For dinner, I made a reservation at the Cat Café at the end of our road. I've never been to a Cat café before, it's amazing. They wander around, they sit on your table, you are allowed to stroke them. The best bit was watching all of the reactions of our fellow diners. I think you could probably tell that we are dog people. Our fellow diners were swooning over the cats and completely enthralled by them. Dinner of flat bread and chocolate cake, then back to our apartment.

We are staying in an Air BnB which is just a few minutes walk from St Stephen's basilica. It's designed by an interior designer and you can tell, it's absolutely stunning and amazing for a family. They thought of everything! A proper baby change mat, a proper cot instead of a travel cot, a high chair...Reyka loved exploring such a wonderful apartment.

Budapest - Back somewhere familiar

When deciding where to go for my 40th birthday, I had a brainwave, back to Hungary. A country I've visited many times, back to the city where I spent my 22nd birthday while inter-railing in 2001, and back to somewhere where I have a very very very limited vocab.

The trip didn't start well. I had not been able to get out of bed for the last 5 days due to awful tonsillitis. So, I was actually packing for our trip in the morning of the trip! I had never done that before. For Iceland, I had started packing two weeks before we left so I didn't forget anything. So I felt awful, we were late leaving, awful traffic and then we were diverted which increased our journey time even more!

 Strangely, we parked in exactly the same space as we did for the Iceland trip a few weeks ago. We got through security without a hitch and headed for the Aspire Lounge. It was ok, quiet but the food wasn't that great this time. I wouldn't book it again, this was just a treat for my birthday.

By this time, my head was pounding and I felt awful. Ali left me at the gate and ran back to the terminal to get paracetamol. Then they called for families to board first! I had everything, Ali was running back to the terminal and I had her passport! She ran back, just as the last group were boarding so we completely missed priority boarding  which added even more stress to the day.

By the time we arrive in Budapest, I had had enough for my first day out of bed so we treated ourselves to a taxi from the airport. I have never ever had a taxi from the airport but for £21, it was definitely worth it.

We were late landing but had a reservation for dinner at Hungarikum bistro so pretty much dumped our bags and headed out the door again. Goulash, duck leg, chicken crepe in paprika sauce, gnocchi, apricot cottage cheese cake and apple strudel. Yum.

Back to the apartment for a well earned rest after a huge day.