April 16, 2011: Family Day

April 16, 2011: I went to the airport for the second time in two days to pick up my two kids and a friend of my daughter who are visiting me in Budapest and then going to Prague. They will be in Europe for two weeks. The plane arrived on time and we first returned to my apartment where they relaxed after their long flight. After a couple hours we went downtown to begin seeing some of the sites. Strangely enough, the kids reminded me about the significance of today, April 16th -- this was the day in 1988 that Ruth and I first brought the kids home to our house and we became a family. For the first several years we always celebrated April 16th as our "Family Day" by going out to a nice restaurant, but in recent years as the kids' schedules have become so busy, we fell out of practice in meeting as we once did. The kids reminded me of the significance of today so we had a great meal at my favorite restaurant to celebrate. It was great to talk again, and in particular it was great to discuss meaty topics that the kids brought up -- they really are thinking profoundly about what they're doing in life and I'm pleased to hear about their dreams for the future and what they're doing to fulfill these dreams. How much they've grown from the time we first adopted them! Below is a picture of my family and my daughter's friend with the Buda Castle in the background.

As we walked around I found another very elegant building that looks like it's for sale. How stately this building must have been in its time.

 Although owning real estate is an impossible dream for many Hungarians, I look forward to the time when the economy has recovered and these old gems in real estate are owned and fixed up to what they have the potential to be.

We also passed the glass musician on Vaci utca: