Budapest, Hungry take 2

The next day, we got up, hit a little breakfast at Coffee Heaven (a Starbucks knockoff) , and then walked over the Elizabeth bridge and up Gellert Hill to the Citadel. The Citadel was a fortress built in 1854 and became a significant military object during WW2. The Citadel is now a museum consisting of a bunker and various wax figures from the war. We did not fully understand the history, only that Hungary was occupied by Germans that battled the Soviets as well as the Americans. The Jewish population was hearded up into a ghetto, was provided less than 700 calories per day of food and was eventually decimitated by the Nazis. There were many photos of children that were victims of the war. It was a good lesson for the kids to learn that there are people out there that try to hurt other people and they need to be respectful of other peoples rights and freedoms and defend people that need help. The weather was still bad, so we waited around for the hop on hop off bus so that we did not have to walk any more. We hopped on and got off at the stop for the castle district. The castle district is the old town - a fortified city sitting high up on Buda hill. There are numerous shops and restaurants, as well as St. Matthias church and nearby Fisherman's Bastion. St. Matthias Church is Budapest's most attractive and most famous Catholic church. Fisherman's Bastion is situated on the place of the medieval fish market and the walls protected by the guild of fisherman. We explored the area above ground as well as the area below ground - there is a labyrinth of tunnels below ground that existed from the caveman days. It also served as a military station for 20000 German soldiers during WW2. They have made the labyrinth into a self guided tour of discovery - very fun for the kids. After exporing the labyrinth, we toured the inside of Matthias Church and then caught the bus to the stop for the Parliament building. We had a coupon for a place called the Strudel House. It is a pretty upscale place and its specialty as you might guess is Strudel, which they make right in front of the patrons. We ate a light meal and then ordered up an apple strudel to go, which they gave us on the house. We jumped back on the hop on hop off bus and listened to the rest of the tour. Also included in the tour package were two boat tours, so we decided to do an evening boat tour. By this time, the rain had cleared and it was shaping up to be a nice evening. The tour went up and down the Danube and we got excellent views of all the main sites, as all the buildings are lit up in the evening. Following the boat ride, we grabbed some food and went back to the hotel for some rest.