Budapest

Sun., Nov. 15 (Day 14) - On Sunday, we had to "check out" of the Viking ship Embla, since the water levels in the Danube were too low for us to travel by river to Budapest (they pronounce it Budapesht). So we boarded buses for the 3 1/2 hour drive from Vienna to Budapest. We had a taste of how fortunate we've been with the weather when we stepped off the ship. For all of our trip to date, the weather has been around 63 or 64 with total sunshine, absolutely beautiful. That is very rare for here this time of year. Our Program Director kept commenting on how fortunate we've been with the weather. Today it is around 50 and raining - more typical, and what we could have had the whole trip. So we were blessed with good weather. As we traveled by bus to Budapest, we crossed from Austria into Hungary at the border of what used to be a communist country. Our tour guide told us that when Hungary was a communist country, it would take 2 or 3 hours to cross the border. Today we just drove across without even having to stop. As we entered the outskirts of Budapest, the tour guide pointed out things as we passed. She pointed out a mall, and said that it would be closed today since it is Sunday. It is by Hungarian law that businesses have to close on Sunday, unless the owner chooses to open and to be there himself. But he cannot make his workers show up. She said it presents a difficulty because people are unable to get to the malls on work days, therefore the malls are extremely crowded on Saturdays. We drove to a Hungarian restaurant in the heart of Budapest where we had a Hungarian lunch. This consisted of meat soup (yes, they actually called it meat soup), which was kind of a beef broth with a few starchy things of some sort in it. Not bad. The main course was Hungarian Goulash, which is actually a beef stew. Opinions were mixed on the beef stew; I liked it a lot. The side dishes were some sort of pasta-potato type of thing (unidentifiable), and something that seemed like in between cole slaw and sauerkraut, neither of which was very good. The dessert was the best part of the meal, a warm cherry strudel - very good. After lunch, we re-boarded the buses and were taken to the Castle District in the Buda side of the city. The Danube River runs right through Budapest, and Buda sits on one side of the river, while Pest is on the other bank. At one time, they were two different cities. Then they merged and are now the one city of Budapest. The Buda side is hilly, while Pest is flatter. Pest is larger than Buda. And Buda is more residential while Pest is more commercial and also contains the government buildings. The Castle District contains some shops, cafes, restaurants, and at the top of the hill is St. Matthias Church, where many coronations have taken place. There is a nice vantage point across from the church where you can see the river, the many beautiful bridges, and the Pest side of town, a fantastic view. After a short guided tour through this area, we had some free time, and then met the bus to continue a bus tour of the rest of the city. On this tour, we drove down Andrassy Ut (Street) which is called the Champs Elysee of Budapest. We passed by the Budapest Opera House, Hero Square where there are a lot of statues of historical heroes of the city, the zoo, the city park, a Jewish synagogue which is the second largest Jewish synagogue in the world, the absolutely beautiful Parliament Building, some museums, and the famous spas. Budapest is called the "City of Spas" and has more thermal water springs than any other capital city in the world. After our tour of the city, we were dropped off at our destination for this evening, the Intercontinental Hotel, located on the Danube River. We all gathered together in the dining room for a buffet supper. After supper, the Viking people, in an effort of good will since our planned cruise into Budapest could not take place, offered to take us all on a boat tour of the city. This gave us an opportunity to see the city from the vantage of the river at night, with all the buildings lit up, as well as the bridges, the most famous of which is the Chain Bridge, because when it is lit up, it looks like there are chains across it. After the boat ride, we said our good-byes to the new friends that we made, since we were all going our separate ways early the next morning.