Budapest

Do you ever stay in one place? Well, can't say that it seems to be the trend lately, but I swear, as my adviser would agree, I must I must lock myself up in a nice little room and write now:) At least that is if I ever have any intention of finishing this things called a dissertation!
But since I had a conference in Sarajevo this past week, I thought that it would be a nice idea to see a little of the area also. And in such a historically political volatile region what an interesting few weeks it has been!
Jae-Eun a dear friend and myself ventured first to Budapest. What a beautiful city Budapest. Our first glimpses of the city were at night as you can see from the photo. So first of all, Budapest is two cities (Buda and Pest, was I the only one who did not realize this?) And at that has only been Budapest since 1873, before that it was under many different rulers and names. The Romans called it Obuda, then the Turks came in for a few hundred years and then the Habsburg Austrians defeated the invaders (the Turks), but decided it was such a beautiful place that they would stay for a couple hundred of years. Most recently, Hungary was occupied by the Nazi's during the second World War but have recovered and are now one of the newest members of the EU.
If you don't need a little history brief please skip to the part below:)

These two cities are of course separated by the Danube River. The big lit building in the picture is the Palace which is on what is known as Castle Hill (well at least in English it is:)