Buda or Pest - Part 2

On our last half-day day in Budapest, we took a lot of photos from behind the windows of a bus. Overall not a bad location, since the day was cold and rainy.

The Neo-Gothic Parliament building in Budapest is a spectacular sight even on a gloomy overcast day. But lit up at night, I should imagine, is heart stopping grandeur. Due to our time constraints, we missed the nighttime view but we did get quite a look from across the river, if a big foggy. Let's call this Reason # 1 why we need to go back to Budapest.

Look kids: Parliament

Ruin bars are the new hotness in Budapest. Seems they had so many abandoned and derelict buildings after WWII that the Soviets hadn't gotten around to repairing that they've been turned into "ruin bars". It is said that they look like just a regular house from the outside, but on the inside, one discovers a boho/hipster vibey place that everyone raves about. Now, I'm not into the "bar scene" in any given city but this had my attention and I really wanted to check one out. However, we completely missed out on Ruin Bars altogether. Weather? Nope. River level problem? Nyet. The ruin bars was not on the list because I forgot to put it there! Finally remembered in Prague that we were meant to check them out and had to consult Google to find out we had the wrong city. Oh well, let's add that to the list of reasons to go back to Budapest, shall we?

Fisherman's Bastion, at the top of Castle Hill, isn't quite all that old, but it is a lovely overlook with a perfect overview of Pest. We had signed up for the optional Castle Hill Hike, but due to the previously mentioned water level situation, this was converted to a bus tour of Budapest on our way out of town. We did still stop at Fisherman's Bastion and it was every bit as amazing as I had imagined, but the day was cloudy, drizzly and just downright nasty. Here is the problem. My photography skills are non-existent, I don't even know what all the buttons on the fancy camera are for. Why do you go to Fisherman's Bastion? To take amazing, wall hanging worthy photographs. Go ahead, I give you free permission to laugh at my lack of pictographic talent at all the shots on this page. But this is reason #3 we'll be going back to this cool city. Preferably at a warmer time of year.

A short drive past Castle Hill, we were directed from the bus to view the "Shoes on the Danube Bank" monument. This is a haunting reminder of the brutal history this city has had to bear witness to. The sculpture was created in honor of the jews murdered by fascist militiamen during WWII. I do want to go back and see this monument in person.

After our tour of the city we were driven to a restaurant for a big lunch. This was also a stationary ship, though this one was in place intentionally. We ate with everyone from our cruise and then, you guessed it, back on the bus. Next stop Vienna.

Buda or Pest - Part 1

We arrived, bleary-eyed in the Frankfurt airport, not much there really, but there was a lovely juice and muffin bar. I couldn't resist trying a new juice that had a name I could not pronounce. I took my juice and stumbled back to my chair to sit in the fog of jetlag and await our next flight to Budapest.

I have absolutely no memory of the flight from Frankfurt to Budapest but it must have gone well as we arrived right on time, and met up with some fellow Vikings. Recognizing one another by our similar luggage tags, we swarmed together awaiting further instruction. Seems to have taken an inordinate amount of time before we were all collected and loaded onto a Viking conveyance to see us to our temporary ship.

Oh yeah, about that. We learned right before we left that we would not be meeting our cruise ship, the mighty Tor in Budapest, as she seems to have been quagmired in Vienna. Instead, we would overnight on another Viking ship, which seems to have been stuck in place for quite some time. The next day we would journey (via 3 hour bus trip) to our Tor.

Well, this low water thing could have been far worse so we'll just roll along with it. The drive into Budapest was absolutely riveting. There were so many communist era "Brutalism" structures still in place, but the closer we came to the city, the paradox of gothic beauty edged in bleak savagery was fascinating.

We arrived at our hotel ship in time for a fine lunch on the terrace. No time to dawdle, off we went on our first Viking tour. Here we are in front of a really old obelisk, I think this was on the grounds of St St Stephen's Cathedral. He was a really important fella.

The trouble with our plan thus far is that we had eaten far too much on the ship, so when set loose among the Christmas Markets, we couldn't couldn't conjure appetite to enjoy the delicious smelling foods.

Here is one example.  Behold the Chimney Cake. like a funnel cake, poured onto a rolling pin and then rolled over an open flame, then topped with anything you can imagine.

Where is my handy dessert drawer when I need one? Damn the luck. If you find yourself in Budapest at Christmastide, don't be like Hilary, eat the chimney cake. Add cinnamon, and have it dunked in dark chocolate. I really cannot forgive you if you pass up this opportunity.

Our tour was amazing as well. They have their very own "Lady of Liberty". The word on the street is that the Soviets liberated the Hungarians (or Magyers as they style themselves) from the Nazi's but then they "forgot to leave".

Did you know that Buda and Pest are actually two cities, separated by the Danube? Apparently, the residents are made up of those who live in Buda, and those who wish they lived in Buda. The statue above is located on the Buda side, while the city center is located on the Pest side. We all caught up now?

We also learned during our tours that the Hungarians are very good at losing wars. One lovely guide  suggested that if one wishes to engage in warfare, one should wait to see which side the Hungarians pick, and then choose the other side. Useful information, to be sure.

Egészségére

We're on our way. Arrived without incident at Dulles, except for the 251 trains, escalators and buses. Have I mentioned that Dulles is my very most hated airport in this country?

We finally had a moment to relax before boarding our flight to Frankfurt.

While waiting for our supper we began to research some essential Hungarian phrases, as we always do when traveling. You know, try to blend in. Hungary being the first country we would visit, we proudly learned to roll our r's for the triumphant Egeszsegere, for "Cheers"! Shortly after this revelation we received another one, far more urgent. We were on "last call" for our flight. Somehow we'd misread the travel docs and missed our boarding time, damn near missed our flight.

Well, happily we made the flight. Hurrying to our seats, we slowed down and trolled the Business Class section, coveting those full recline bed cubicles, and then resigned ourselves to the fact that we were relegated to the Lo Class cabin with its too narrow and too short seats and rows. We fidgeted a bit, then settled in and prepared for our Thanksgiving feast. Oh did I mention we left the US on Thanksgiving Day?

Just like Grandma's house. mmmm, maybe not.

Looking for rain in Bratislava

Five Countries; four languages; three currencies, 7 buses, and countless checkmarks on the Bucket List. Whew what a dream!

Backup, how'd we get here again?

Oct 2 2017, aka, our wedding anniversary, it occurred to me that we were a mere two years away from our 20th. And it further occurred to me that we had not celebrated an anniversary since our 10th, when we went to Turks and Caicos for a week. See how cute we were on the beach in T&C? 

It was decided unanimously (by Yours Truly) that since Jeff handled our 10th, I'd take on the challenge of arranging our 20th and btw, it will be somewhere in Europe. Lets face it, we really aren't the beach bum types. So we each wrote out our top 5 list of dream destinations. The ones we had in common were Prague and Budapest. 

The very next day I was in the office of my travel agent exploring options, when I noticed a brochure for Viking River Cruises. "Y'all got any of them Viking boats going to Prague and Budapest?" Turns out the Danube Waltz was just our jam and the price was so agreeable, we decided to move up our "20th Anniversary Trip" to Nov 2018, which was technically only our 19th but What's Time to a Hog, right? Check out this kick ass itinerary.

On Oct 4, 2017, our cruise was just under fourteen months away. Plenty of time for planning and research, piece of cake! 

Fast forward to around August 2018. As our dream trip approached, I began to notice grumblings in the facebookosphere. Severe Drought in Eastern and Central Europe...low water levels on the Danube...cruises canceled...cruises diverted...ship swaps...long bus detours. Trying not to panic, I began to maniacally monitor the weather in all of the five countries we were visiting. Would we arrive in Budapest only to sit on a bus for 12 days?...To be continued