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- - Mike &
Groverlee's - -
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We arrived in
Budapest today! What an incredible city; I am so
glad it was saved as last. Right away we piled
on the buses. I think every civilization has
come to this city and left something and rebuilt
something. There are breathtaking buildings
everywhere, plus the autumn colors now make it
all the more magnificent as does the Danube! The
castle is so wonderful and it circles the most
incredible church. We all flocked around to get
pictures by it and from one of the seven
lookouts to the city. We all ooh'ed and aah'ed
at the view thinking this must be
the most wonderful view of the city! Cameras
clicked and people jostled for the best look.
We then took a bus tour of the city so we were oriented to what we would go back and visit later. it cost a US dollar to use the public bathrooms here, but they are clean and so worth it! our next stop was the covered market!
We then took a bus tour of the city so we were oriented to what we would go back and visit later. It cost a US dollar to use the public bathrooms here, but they are clean and so worth it! Our next stop was the covered market!
The market
itself is in a beautiful brick building with two
floors, and inside it is quite magnificent. The
building itself has beautiful and unusual
architectural effects, and then you add the
rainbow of colors from the beautifully arranged
fruits and veggies, meats and spices! It is also
very clean. I know I'm reusing some of the same
superlatives to tell about Budapest but there
aren't many other breathtaking words I know
without a Thesaurus!
We boarded the bus after an hour and beat it to the ship so we wouldn't miss lunch (Heavens forbid!!!). We listened to a port talk, and then took a walk with Irina to the pedestrian street and Leona, Jerold, Janet and I did some shopping. Before we came back we decided to save a bathroom dollar and buy a treat at McDonalds and use their bathroom for free... you just needed to show your receipt and the lady let you pass. They all bought sodas and I got a small ice cream cone. We grabbed a table and were talking and laughing and a worker dressed in McDonald blacks walked up to our table and scolded us in Hungarian. I told him we didn't speak Hungarian! He put his finger to his lips and spit out "Shhh!!!" We all stared in disbelief.. this was Mc Donald's for heaven's sake! I didn't know they had a no laughing and talking Gestapo in there! So we almost got kicked out of the Hungarian McDonalds! We walked back to the ship, anxious to meet up with Vic and Michael to find out about their "Beer Bike Tour". There was a message that he would be back late as he wanted to catch the concert at the church. St. Stevens is on the Posh side with us. He came back after another hour to say he didn't want to go to the concert for the tickets started at 30 Euro and went up rapidly from there, but he did get some great pictures!
The beer bar was pretty funny. It was a moving bar with eight people sitting on barstools with bike pedals. The sober guy maneuvered the bike while they provided the "engine". He said he and Vic drank a lot of beer but got a huge workout, especially since two people didn't have any pedals! A crazy way to see the city. Well, at least you're not stuck in a bar in this beautiful city... you're out seeing the sights, drinking all the beer you can manage and pedaling your butt off.
 Rain!!!
But still Budapest continues to wow us. The
optional tours today are about the Jewish
Community. I didn't sign up for any as it is
always a downer and I didn't want any memory in
Budapest to be like that. We walked down the
bank of the Pest where there are many shoes.
These were the shoes of the Jews that were lined
up and shot and pushed in the river... men,
women and children. Luckily many survived and
were pulled from the river. Now people put rocks
in the shoes. I removed two from shoes and
replaced them with new rocks so we could send
Janet's sister Carol a few rocks from Budapest.
I hope the rest of the day will be on a happier
note....maybe laugh so much we will need the "Gestapo"
from McDonalds to shush us!
Parliament By the time I got
showered, washed and dried my hair, and wrote the
journal ....still a full day behind....it was late
and the pillow was calling my name. My legs are much
improved...I worry about the plane ride home though!
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I
know this makes Michael sound like a bit of a lush,
but they were both experiences he wanted to try.
After dinner Michael went to a Ruins Bar with a few
from the ship. This was a place in a neighborhood
that was not rebuilt during the revolution. Young
people took the buildings in the rubble and made a
humungous bar with bands, Hooka-pipe rooms and
places to drink and visit. It is decorated with all
the stuff that was being thrown away... bathtubs,
old stoves, beat up bikes, etc. hanging from the
ceiling... sort of a Madison Bear Garden gone
Ghetto! The pictures looked pretty gross to me, but
he said it's a pretty popular place and he had a
hard time finding rooms that weren't full of people.
"Interesting, weird, and wild", seemed to say it
best, but they mustn't serve many strong drinks
because even after that and beer bike he was stone
sober.....could it be the exercise?
As
we were returning to the ship for warmer coats and
gloves, Michael discovered that he had signed up for
two of the Jewish tours instead of just one, so off
he went with the group leaving Janet, Jerold, and I
to explore on our own. I had read that some other
travelers has enjoyed the Hop on, Hop off bus so we
decided to buy tickets. We found that you could only
buy a two day ticket and it was very expensive...
5000 Forints each which is about $25.00! We were
already committed so pooled every bill and coin we
had and managed to get three tickets with not enough
Forint left for a trip to the bathroom! We climbed
on the red bus and toured the whole line. Some of it
was what we had seen earlier but a lot was new and
the tour headsets were spoken by an American which
made us able to catch every word.
When
we got back to the boat everyone showered and
changed clothes but I just pulled on a dry blouse
and scarf and called it done so I wouldn't miss the
Captains Champagne Party and last Port talk. We met
for our last time in the lobby with everyone and the
captain and crew for champagne, then upstairs for a
beautiful five-course dinner. We all had the sirloin
except Janet who had a vegetarian dish. Boy is that
gal disciplined! She has stayed as iron-free as
possible while we all stuffed ourselves on bread and
shrimp!
