The morning started with us realizing that we didn't have to be on the ship until 4 p.m. which gave us extra time to explore and the opportunity to see the few sights we'd missed in Budapest. We decided to start with a little walk back to Buda Castle as when we'd visited before, we had noticed a coin press machine (the kids love them and have been collecting them on our travels) but we didn't have and couldn't get anyone to help us gather the correct change. Since we now had it, we thought we should make the kids a little souvenir before we left Budapest. The problem - how to get back up the hill. Deciding we were too cheap to take the funicular again (it would have been about 12 euro round trip for the 2 of us but at this point, we didn't have enough Hungarian forint to pay) so we walked. These are just some of the stairs we climbed....the things we do for the children....
While we were atop the hill, we ventured into the post office to buy stamps to mail the Budapest postcards to the kids. I accidentally knocked my water bottle out of my bag and spilled it all over the post office floor. Ooopsie...
Then we headed back down the hill, boarded the hop on-hop off bus and traveled on the Red line to see the sights we hadn't yet seen. On the way to City Park, they pointed out these gorgeous mansions along the side of the road, next to the 'Carriage Lanes'. Apparently this section of Andrassy Street was designed with these 2 parallel carriage lanes so that the horse-drawn carriages of the aristocracy would be able to pass into the City Park. The trails were originally covered by wooden planks so the horses' hooves wouldn't disturb the rich occupants of the houses along the trails.
First stop - Heroes Square. Heroes Square features statues of the 7 Chieftains of the Magyars (a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary) and other important Hungarian national leaders as well as the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
While waiting for the next bus, we saw this rather fun-looking bicycle bar touring thing. I could see it becoming a bad idea rather quickly though...
We then headed through the park, past the Szechenyi Thermal Baths (the largest bath complex in Budapest) and came to the New York Cafe which is apparently the most beautiful cafe in the world. It certainly was stunning but we were not feeling wealthy enough to indulge in the 60 Euro tea for two on offer so instead just took a bunch of photos and picked up some doners down the street before heading back to our hotel.
We then had a taxi bring us to the dock so we could board our ship, the Avalon Expression. Unfortunately his English and our Hungarian were not very good and even with showing him the written instructions, he dropped us off at the local boat tour docks and we had to walk along cobblestones and treacherous, narrow paths at the top of stairs down into the river, carrying and dragging our luggage for what seemed like miles (likely only a km or so) until we found our docking location. As we boarded our ship, however, we were greeted by the entire crew welcoming us aboard. I don'thave any photos of it, though, as we were sort of embarrassed and overwhelmed. Check-in was ubeventful but the poor guy who showed us to our room closed the door to show us how to use the key to discover our keys didn't work! He said that had never happened to him before. Somehow we weren't at all surprised. It took 3 people to get us into our room!
Once we unpacked and settled in, we set off for a tour of our ship.
Then it was time for our safety drill...
I don't know why that photo is sideways or how to fix it...
Finally, it was time for dinner. It was the first formal night and we may have had more wine than we should have as the waiters kept refilling our glasses...
Afterwards we walked on deck and thought these unknown buildings in a mystery town along the Danube were pretty.
Sorry, there’s more in the forecast tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteYour trip has been so amazing! You travel like me - seeing as much as possible. You can always rest when you get home, right?