This is the Széchenyi Bath in the city park (every word in Hungarian that has an S, is always followed by a Z – such as Szupermarket and Szauna. Which makes us wonder why they need the Z? or the S? Couldn’t they just pick their favorite of the two?). We read up on the baths in Budapest (there are a lot of them) and read that this one was the best. A bath in Europe is like a huge swimming pool and a bunch of hot tubs that are fed and heated by hot springs (although some are ice cold – where is the fun in that?)
This one looks like a huge palace, and has three big pools outside that are of varying degrees of warmness. The inside has all sorts of things like mud baths and carbonic acid baths and hot tubs and cold tubs and massages and stuff. But because we had kids with us, we opted for a warm pool outside in the nice 65 degree weather… 
Elora was so excited to go “swimming in a castle!” Elora met another little girl who was American, and they had a great time playing together at the pool. Elora referred to her as “The girl with the Nemo suit” even after we learned her name… 
Chris was trying out for an Herbal Essences commercial. Ollie thought Chris looked pretty silly.
Here is what happens when we let dad play with Ollie in the pool…
And he was apparently having a great time! Hopefully he didn’t swallow too much mineral filled hot spring water… The baths are supposed to have healing powers (kind of like Phoenix tears), and their websites all list what minerals are in the water. Mostly the pools just taste and smell different than a traditional pool… Elora says the water is salty. Chris does say that not only did his back pain go away, but also his fear of heights and dislike of broccoli have also been cured.
