The day finally came -- November 1st. We arrived around noon, got a taxi, and headed to our hotel. After a while, the taxi started going uphill toward some castle looking structure. The four of us were like... are you thinking what I am thinking? "Are we staying there??" My mind was going back to my memory of when I made the reservation for the hotel...I knew the hotel was called the Castle Hotel and in a good location. What I didn't know was... it's a superb location -- castle district and a UNESCO World Heritage site. If we could, we probably would have screamed in the taxi. Our smiles were so big and we couldn't believe what a great deal I found! Later, we checked in and found that our room was a specious loft without a kitchen. Instantly, Josh and I said "OMG...it's so cool
After lunched at a very busy yet interesting local cafe/restaurant, we started our first day sight seeing at the castle district since it's close to our hotel. We were instantly drawn by the beauty of the Mátyás (or Matthias) Church. We all took out our cameras and started snapping away and taking pictures
Colors of the clouds were changing by the second. Josh was trying to snap a picture of the stature while Jun was taking a picture of him taking pictures. It's all about catching the moment...we realized that's what Jun likes to do. We enjoyed the sunset however our excitement had gotten us tired. We went back to the hotel and took a little nap before our evening birthday celebration for Josh.
The birthday celebration contained two parts - a symphony concert at a palace and a late dinner on a boat in the Danube river . The concert was...hm~ let's say... just okay until the conductor came out for the curtain call. On the second curtain call, the conductor started conducting and asking for the audience's applause for the encore. He was tricky with the tempos and conducting in a very exaggerated manner with the audience. It was totally unexpected and fun. We were all very happy and laughing so hard for how the concert ended.
Light illuminates from buildings, bridges, boats, and streets created such a beautiful view. The picture on the right was taking on the deck of the cruise after we were super full.