Meng's Travels: Buda+Pest = Budapest

Budapest has two parts: Buda and Pest. Buda is the hilly area west of the Danube River. Pest is the flat section that is west of the river. At one time they were two separate cities but they are now one city called Budapest. The city is quite similar to Prague and Vienna, since they were all part of the Habsburg Empire for a few hundred years.
We got into Budapest after an 8-hour train ride from Ljubljana. It took us a while to find our hostel but we were pleased to find that it is located on a street that has a lot of restaurants. However, we were not happy when we checked into our hostel and the owner told us that her internet service was not working. She had an air-card with her small netbook and that's why I have not been able to post anything from Budapest. Also, the hostel is really an apartment where she and her boyfriend lives and she converted 3 rooms into rentals for backpackers. It is a little dark and in an old building. This is the worst we've encountered in our month of travel so far.
The next day we joined a walking tour, similar to what we did in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Our energetic tour guide, Sarah, explained a lot of history, culture and some of the places to stay away from and where to go eat or drink. We started out and spent about 2 hours on the Pest side, then walked over one of the bridges to the Buda side, where we walked up to the St. Matthias church and the castle district. We ended up in a cafeteria where local food is served at a low price and huge quantity. Sarah told us not to expect Hungarian food to be healthy. They use a lot of meat, fat, lard, etc, and that's why it taste so good. In spite of that, I don't see a lot of overweight people around the city. It's probably because they walk a lot.
One thing we noticed is that there are a lot of Chinese fast-food restaurants in Budapest. Hungarians love them because they are cheap and good, usually less than the equivalent of US$5 for a big plate of rice or noodles and a meat dish. Panda Express will have some stiff competition here.
The most impressive things about Budapest are the buildings, bridges, river, churches, castles, etc. One thing we can thank communism for is that they didn't have money to tear down all these 19th century buildings and a lot of their architecture have been preserved. In the afternoon, we took a walking tour of the Jewish District. At one time there were a lot of Jews in Hungary but after WWII, they are down to 10% or about 100,000 of what they used to be. We walked around what used to be the Jewish Ghetto until the Nazis sent a lot of them to the concentration camps. It was very interesting learning about their history and contributions to Hungary.
We also went to the Central Market, about 5 minutes from the hostel. Not only is it very clean but they sell a variety of stuff: meat, produce, pickles, souvenirs, etc. I love going to markets when I go to a new place because that's where the locals congregate. You see what they buy and what they eat. One surprise I had at this market is finding an Asian grocery store in the basement run by Hungarians. For those living in Phoenix, it's like a mini-Lee Lee Market. They have just about everything, including all the different sauces and spices and noodles. We also had lunch at this market and they serve authentic Hungarian food at local prices.