Casey decided she wanted to travel this weekend and the closest, easiest places to travel are the suburbs, reachable by the HÉV train (a commuter train that's affiliated with Budapest's public transport system, BKV). She and Voula decided they were going to Szentendre, a small, touristy town famous for its museums about a 40 minute train ride away using the HÉV, and invited the usual crowd of us to come. Our adventure started when Mihály called me at 10 on Saturday morning to tell me we were meeting at the HÉV train at Batthyány tér at 10:30. I hadn't even really gotten out of bed yet so I was a little late. It didn't matter; Casey, Voula, Mihály and Aaron were all there already, they'd bought my ticket already (only 500 ft round trip!) and we made the 11 o'clock train, no problem.
The train ride was relatively short and pleasant. The commuter train doesn't come with any real amenities, but it was only a 40 minute ride, so it didn't matter.
Szentendre is a pretty town, made even prettier by what a gorgeous day it was.
The Danube? We've got one of those in Budapest, too! I was struck by how similar the Danube looked to the Willamette on this stretch of river.
Something that comes part and parcel with tourist attractions is really weird souvenirs. Like unauthorized nesting Shrek dolls.
We wandered into this church because the back door was open and we heard music coming out of it. We followed this stairway up (decorated with these weird boyscout murals) and found ourselves in a balcony overlooking a private wedding rehearsal. We were asked to leave... oops.
We picked up lunch in Szentendre, then took a (really really cheap) bus to Skanzen, an outdoor living history museum about 3 km away. It featured different villages set up to demonstrate different eras in Hungarian history. These paths went through the whole museum and you could pay to take a horse drawn carriage ride through the whole thing.
A kitchen in a dirt-floored, thatch roofed cottage.
The mill.
Sheep on the farm. There were lots of other animals; horses, goats, chickens, donkeys, cows AND KITTENS.
There were several churches, but this is the only one I went into.
Hand decorated ginger bread cookies for sale. I bought a cookie too, but it wasn't fancy so it was only 60 ft as opposed to 180.
While the museum was interesting (albeit a little underwhelming), the museum playground was awesome. 
Aaron on the climbing net.
Casey playing on the structures
Voula being all... upside down... and stuff.
Mihály trying to get on top of that bar so he could walk on it. He managed it after a few tries.
These scarecrows were all over the place, in different manners of dress.
The interior of the water mill
We found stilts! A very helpful man was in charge of the wooden toys area of the museum. There were homemade wooden yo-yos, bats and balls, and most importantly, STILTS.
Mihály had used stilts before so he was pretty darn good at it.
Voula was a beginner, but she picked it up quickly.
"Why hell there, abnormally tall man, how are you today?""I couldn't be better, Mihály!"
The boys being bored/boring on the HÉV home. But as Mihály said, "When you're cool, everything bores you."Now for some non-Szentendre/Skanzen pictures:
The sweet, expensive euro jeans I got at H&M. Whatever, they were totally worth whatever I paid for them.
The neighborhood College International is in is flooded with cipö bolts... including some really cheap Chinese import places. This pair was around 1400 ft. I mean, they're not the most comfortable ever, but $7??
Oh yeah, and that's me... in case you forgot.
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