Birthday in Budapest

I am the oldest of my friends and the only one to celebrate my birthday while abroad. And it couldn’t have been better! My 21st birthday was Friday, October 23, and I was fortunate to have two of my closest friends from home visit me this weekend to celebrate. Since we’re in Europe, they weren’t excluded from toasting with me in celebration and it was fun to introduce them to some good Hungarian wine!

October 23 also happens to be the 1956 Revolution Memorial Day in Hungary (as I mentioned in a previous post). Some museums were free for the day, though we didn’t go to any, while many other places were closed. Fortunately, many places were still open regardless.

My roommate, our friends, and I started at Central Café (one of my favorite dessert places) for breakfast before walking toward Parliament to see the memorial decorations.

Hungarian Parliament

The clouds cleared away and we walked to the Buda side of the city to see some areas we hadn’t yet viewed with blue skies, and then got desserts at the famous Ruszwurm Cukrászda to share.

Fisherman's Bastion

Ruszwurm desserts

The evening brought us to the area near the famous St. Stephen’s Basilica and we decided on an Italian restaurant a block away for dinner. I can finally say that I have found good Italian food in Hungary. From there we headed to the Sziget Eye (Europe’s largest travelling Ferris wheel) in Erzsébet Square. We got a spectacular view of the city from the top with the streets and monuments lit up in the night!

Sziget Eye

From Sziget Eye

To wrap up my 21st, we stopped at Gelarto Rosa for lovely gelato in the shape of a rose before heading back to my dorm for a night of Netflix, wine, and plenty of talking. And that was just Friday.

Gelarto Rosa

My second friend got to Budapest on Saturday, creating Part II to the birthday celebrations. Once we got her from the airport, we had a quick late-lunch/early-dinner at Púder Bárszínház (one of my favorite restaurants in the city) before going to the Hungarian State Opera House to see Swan Lake (one of my birthday presents from one of my best friends).

Hungarian State Opera House

Hungarian State Opera House

Our opera box

I had never seen an opera or ballet before and went into it knowing it was a four-hour ballet and prepared to be extremely confused. We ended up with amazing seats in a box on the first floor and, while we had a little difficulty following (and staying awake) for the first half, we adored the second half. We felt very classy for the night.

We followed the ballet with drinks and amazing desserts at Café Vian, not far from the opera house, where we stayed and talked until just after midnight. It was good that we were not far from my dorm because we ended up watching the last tram of the night drive away, so we walked the rest of the way back. Thankfully, it was a beautiful night to end a fantastic two-part birthday celebration with two incredible friends in an amazing city!