Our first full day in Budapest began at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which turned out to be very comfortable — a welcome thing after several busy travel days, a late arrival, and a food court dinner that will not be receiving any international culinary awards from Kirsten.

We mostly spent the day walking around the city, getting our first real feel for Budapest. The weather was sunny and around 20°C — comfortable for late April, though a little windy in places. As we wandered, we came across a small event in a park with children performing Hungarian dancing. It felt like one of those pleasant travel surprises you do not plan for but remember later: local families, music, costumes, kids dancing, and the feeling that the city had casually opened a little window into itself.

Those unexpected moments are often what make a city feel real. We did not have tickets. We did not schedule it. We simply turned a corner and found children dancing in a park, families watching, music playing, and Budapest offering us a small gift.

Later, we walked to the Széchenyi Thermal Baths, one of Budapest’s famous bath complexes. The baths are fed by natural hot springs underneath the city, and spending several hours there felt like the perfect antidote to travel fatigue, museum legs, and Kirsten’s recovering ankle.

The first indoor room we walked into was beautiful and ornate, setting the tone right away. Inside, there were pool after pool after pool — at least 20 on one side alone — each with slightly different temperatures and settings. Outside, the warm thermal water felt especially good with the breeze in the air. The middle outdoor pool was closed, but there was still plenty to enjoy.

Kirsten especially loved the hot springs, while Normand loved the look and atmosphere of the place — the architecture, the grand yellow buildings, the open-air pools, and the whole scene of people relaxing in warm mineral water in the middle of the city. It felt less like going swimming and more like stepping into a grand old European postcard where everyone had agreed to wear bathing suits.

The water was rich in minerals, including magnesium, and felt deeply relaxing. After soaking in the hot baths, we even tried a cold plunge, which was refreshing in the way that jumping into cold water is “refreshing” — meaning your body briefly questions your decision-making and sends a strongly worded message to your brain.

After the baths, we went for Israeli food, which was a nice change of pace and much more satisfying than late-night airport-adjacent fast food.

Then we continued walking through the city, passing St. Stephen’s Basilica and the Ferris wheel. Along the way, we found one of Budapest’s most dangerous discoveries: chimney cake ice cream cones.

The cone was made from the same sweet, spiral pastry style as Hungarian chimney cake — caramelized and slightly crisp on the outside, soft inside, and shaped into a cone. Ours was filled with creamy ice cream and topped with freeze-dried raspberry. Budapest seemed to have these chimney cake and ice cream shops everywhere, with all kinds of flavors and versions, and it was very easy to understand why. This was not a snack. This was a structural achievement in dessert engineering.

As the day continued, we walked toward the Danube and visited the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial, honoring Jewish people who were killed there during World War II. It was a quiet and sobering stop, especially after such a warm and lively day. The shoes along the river created a powerful contrast with the beauty of the city around us — the Danube, the bridges, and the Parliament building nearby.

We ended the day near the Hungarian Parliament Building, one of Budapest’s most striking landmarks. From there, we made our way back to the hotel in two different styles. Kirsten and Teyauna walked back — including Kirsten limping along on her hurt foot — while Zakary and Normand took electric scooters.

In fairness, the scooter team did not exactly fly home with flawless efficiency. It took a little while to get everything set up, so both groups arrived back at the hotel around the same time. Still, Zakary and Normand had the glory of scooters, while Kirsten and Teyauna had the moral victory of walking.

Our first day in Budapest gave us a little of everything: local dancing, grand thermal baths, mineral pools, Israeli food, chimney cake ice cream, a moving memorial, the Danube, Parliament, and an end-of-day scooter-versus-walking race that somehow finished in a tie.