People travel from place to place in many different ways. If something is close by, people might walk or ride their bicycle. If something is far away, they might take a plane or train. The weather and seasons can change the way people travel, too. If it is raining out, someone who rides her bike to school might take the bus instead. But in the summer, it can feel nice to walk to the store in the fresh breeze instead of taking the stuffy, hot subway. That is why there are so many ways to get from one place to another. How many kinds of transportation do you know about?
Budapest is the capital city of Hungary. It has a lot of different land features like a river, caves, hot springs and big hills that roll through the oldest part of the city. These hills can be really hard to climb up, especially if you are trying to carry something. With each step that you walk up a hill, whatever you carry seems to feel heavier and heavier.
To make the journey of going up to the top of the hill easier, the city of Budapest built a funicular. A funicular is like a railway or tram that is put on the side of a hill or mountain to help people go up and down much quicker. At first, this funicular was only made for the king and queen to use to get to their castle.
