I knew ski jumping looked terrifying and dangerous from seeing it on television, but seeing it in person brought the fear factor to another level. At the museum, we learned all about the history of ski jumping (i.e., people who decided to try it must have been really bored...and not at all afraid of serious bodily injury), and we also went on a ski jump simulator.
Holmenkollen is also, coincidentally, the place where I learned that there's not enough money in the world for me to try ski jumping.
The jump hill was pretty spectacular, and there was even a zipline high above it, which neither Keith nor I had the guts to try. The simulator was enough for us. I was just amazed that people weren't screaming on the zipline as I would have been screaming my head off.
From atop the jump, we could see so much of the city. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, and my iPhone camera didn't truly capture what we could see.
After the ski jump, we headed to the airport and hopped (see what I did there?) a plane to Budapest, Hungary.
At the airport, we got sucked into a conveyor belt sushi restaurant because I had always wanted to try one. Plus, it just looked so fun! And I must say, it was. I'm pretty convinced everything you want in life should magically appear before you on a conveyor belt. Imagine the possibilities...
These were some of the vegan selections:
We were both so excited to go to Hungary. I had never been there before (while I had been to Iceland and Norway in the past), and Keith's ancestors are Hungarian.
The flight was uneventful, and once we landed, we gathered our bags and made our way to where we were staying.
Rather than staying in a hotel, we decided to go the Air BnB/rent-a-room route. We were so glad that we did!
We met Miss Elizabeth (no, not the WWE character; this one was the owner of the room), and she showed us around her place. The building was so pretty, and it was located in a great neighborhood on the Pest side of the city. There were tons of restaurants and grocery stores around there, too.
The room was really modern, and had its own entrance and kitchen. Miss Elizabeth had it decorated super cute as well!
Talking to Miss Elizabeth was interesting as she didn't speak much English, and we speak no Hungarian (I did, however, learn a few pleasantries before the trip, but that's about it). I don't think I've ever been so thankful for google translate as I was then since we used the app to take turns speaking to the phone, and then it would magically translate our words. Thank you, 2016!
After checking in, our mission was to find food! Hungary is significantly cheaper than Iceland and Norway so we decided to go all out, rather than grabbing convenience store snacks.
We settled on this traditional Hungarian cafe called Hung(a)ry? (harhar), and I had my first vegan Hungarian meal (paprikás krumpli).
It was really hardy and quite good! The Hungarian beer was certainly nice, too.
Our server was a super nice guy named Meisha, and at one point, he even joined us at our table. We were the only customers in the restaurant since we arrived rather late, so the three of us shared stories and laughs.
With our bellies full, we walked around for a bit and planned out our first full day in Budapest. Already I'm enamored by the city's beauty!
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