From my photos at Flickr Produced by Kayakman Media

Szamos Marzipan Museum and Confectionery
(Marcipán Múzeum Cukrászda)

Some times you just have to ignore the parental dictate to not play with your food. Or maybe there's an exception to the rule when it comes to marzipan. Especially since some compare this confection to eating a sweet play dough. Regardless, not far from Budapest in nearby Szentendre there's a museum that celebrates what can be done when you play with this food.

Marzipan consists primarily of sugar and ground bitter almonds, though occasionally it is flavored with rosewater. It may be best known as the overly sweet part of some wedding cakes. But flowers and such on a cake is nothing compared to what's been created by two master Hungarian confectioners, Mátyás Szamos and Károly Szabó. Surrounded by "pictures" of Hungary's kings and queens, is a 160cm tall model of the Parliament building. Elsewhere you'll find international famous personalities (one's even life-size!) and cartoon figures, dinosaurs and other animals, a fairy tale carriage, a pirate ship, and more. Everything is sculpted entirely from marzipan and some pieces took 200 hours to create.

Which may mean you will be longing for a taste after your tour is finished, so it may be a good thing that the entrance/exit to the museum is through a marzipan shop. And if you've got a sweet tooth you can easily spend more in the shop than you do for the admission to the museum since it's fairly cheap.