A New Year in Budapest

New Year’s Eve can be heavy with emotion as people reflect on the past and anticipate the future. Ringing it in can be joyful or gloomy. Over the years we have stood on both sides of the emotional spectrum as we reflect on relationships, employment, and general self-worth.

Standing here today as we reflect on 2025 and anticipate 2026, we are filled with emotion like everyone else. Our reflection is like looking in Alice’s magical looking glass. As sights, sounds, and smells of our travels dance in our minds. How did this happen? How did we get here? People like us don’t quit their jobs and travel the world. We are grounded, ultra-logical people who followed the societal orders of life (school, marriage, children, divorce, work-work-work). What magical world did we fall into during 2025?

With the crisp winter air, we took the subway over to Vorosmarty Square where we started our Budapest Christmas Market search, but today we were on a new quest. Bundled up we were braving the cold for New Years Eve in Budapest. The markets were still in full swing with vendors selling trinkets and food. Families were milling about. Couples were trying to stay warm by snuggling. The wanna-be fashion models were still posing for the camera. We slowly walked the lanes cataloging the images.

After our Guinness and Irish coffee, we returned to the streets to see that the snow was still falling and had accumulated. As people tossed small snowballs at each other and the children were making miniature snowmen. It was time for holiday food. The paprika sausage with mustard was delicious, but lost its warmth quickly in the snow, so we were forced to follow it with a cup of hot chocolate and a chimney cake. Lesson learned in Budapest…a cup of hot chocolate is the equivalent of drinking a melted chocolate bar; crazy delicious and crazy rich, so we should have shared one.

Greg got a noise maker and competed against the children who were making their own disorderly cacophony in the lanes. His co-worker warned me about noise makers and other toys, and she was right. He’s one of those adorable, but irritating children. And then the magic of 2025 kicked into high gear. Starting small, we felt it on our uncovered noses and wondered if it was real. But before long, we were certain. The pellets turned to powdery flakes and we had snow. Our first snowfall in 2025 and we had the immense pleasure of being in Budapest for this magical evening. Dancing with giddiness, we continued to walk the lanes and soon discovered that cold, wet, tiled streets were very slippery, even with good shoes. We slowed our pace as the snow picked up its pace. Still giddy, we slipped into an Irish pub to warm for a bit.

The Danube River is an amazing place to watch fireworks. Any restaurant or bar near it had reservations weeks in advance. River cruises had some amazing packages with 5-course meals or unlimited campaign, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to pay $300-500 on this trip. If you get a chance to watch the fireworks in Budapest, embrace it. Your best bet is to find a hotel or BnB with a view of the Danube. We’d say it’s probably one of the prettiest places on earth for a fireworks show.