Em's Trip To Budapest

One of the best parts of my amazing summer was when the BFF, Emily, came to Budapest to visit!  When we were first asked to move to Budapest, Emily was the first person I told (other than Phillip).  I can remember calling her (and being very dramatic...which I often do to Emily) and telling her that my boss had asked me to consider moving to Budapest at work that day.  Without hesitating, she told me that we should accept.  I think it took her about two minutes to come up with the plan of visiting us should we accept :)  Much to my delight....this plan actually happened!  And, not only did Em come, but so did her amazingly cute son, Levi, and her mom, Nancy!!  I could not have been happier to have the Nelson/Coleman family come visit.  I just have to say that I love this family like my own.  That of course includes Emily, but also her entire family, so I was sooooo happy that Levi and Nancy were able to come too.

We were all a bit nervous about how Levi (who was 7 months old at the time) would handle the trans-atlantic flight, but he did great, and he was was really excited to see his Aunt Holly at the airport.  He also did really well transitioning to new time schedule.  He made having a baby look easy :)  Even Uncle Phillip thought so :)

We spent the week showing Nancy and Emily around Budapest.  They loved it, but how could they not?  We loved it because there were several places we took them that we had not been to yet either, so it was a great opportunity to finish "sight-seeing" in our own city.  For example, we took a boat cruise down the Danube River at night so we could see all the bridges and the city at night.  We have always thought Budapest is beautiful at dark, but seeing it all at once by boat was magnificent.  This is a glimpse of the Chain Bridge at night. 

Another one of our firsts while Emily was here was going to the thermal baths.  Since we arrived when the weather was already chilly, we just hadn't had the opportunity to visit the baths.  Now, the locals will go even in the cold, but I don't think this Texas girl could handle that...even if the water is hot!

Here we are on Castle Hill :)

We also made a little side trip to Vienna, so that they could add another country to their "list of countries visited".  Here we are on the train.  Oh, I should point out here that this was my first side trip in Europe without Phillip, so I was a little nervous, but I realized that I could manage the navigation just fine :) 

Seeing the sights in Vienna.  Notice that we had to buy matching (and overpriced) sweatshirts because we were both dressed for the summer and it turned out to be sooo cold.  Next time...I will check the weather.

Just loved my week with this little man!!

Katie and Wilson were also nice enough to invite us all over for dinner one night.  I loved getting to introduce friends from home to friends in Budapest :)  Levi definitely made new friends.

If you want to see more of the historical details of our trip, you should check out Emily's blog.  She is much better at updating than I am, so she captured all the details.  I loved, loved, loved, the time I got to spend with Emily here.  One week was not enough...I had a good cry as she left in the taxi for the airport, but I am soooo thankful that she was able to come and see our home and our city!!