Second Saturday in Budapest

Good Morning (it is 6:23 am here!)

As you can tell, my body's schedule as adjusted to the time. I wake up about 5 am here just like I do at home! I thought that perhaps since I am walking so much each day and in a 9 hour later time zone, I might sleep in -- but no! I am glad I will have Tuesday and Wednesday to get adjusted before going back to work.

Yesterday we took the River Ride which was like the Duck ride in Seattle, except it is enclosed and air conditioned :) The ride was 2 hours long and started at Roosevelt Square (ter). This is a square named after FDR but no monument of FDR is in the square! Roosevelt Square is right along the Danube by the Chain Bridge. We took the Metro 1 (our metro line to the hotel) to the end for the first time to get here. When we came up the stairs we were right in front of Cafe Gerbaud and the H & M store!

The Chain bridge is the oldest bridge in Budapest -- or at least the original Chain bridge was the oldest bridge. Since ALL of the bridges were blown up in WWII, I am guessing many of the bridges are just about the same age since they had to be re-build after the war.

Gresham Palace is also along Roosevelt Square. However, it is now the Four Seasons Hotel.

Back to the ride. It was good to go by some of the bulidings and monuments we had not been able to get to on our own and to see some of the others from the water which gives a totally different view. Our guide did the tour in English and German! Before we started she went through the bus and asked each of us which language we would like to hear the tour in. Besides having to say everything twice, she had to do it in 2 languages. I suspect she is not paid enough!

When we "splashed down" in the water, they played the music from 2001 A Space Odyssey! We definitely were of interest to all the people on the sides of the river. I think there were as many cameras pointed at us as there were pointing out of the bus at the monuments!

After the ride, we stopped by the Four Seasons to see inside and to use the lady's room. Which was very nice -- I took pictures! It had individual cloth hand towels and hand lotion!

We were then going to stop by Gerbaud for dessert. However, we wanted to stop by the Great Market Hall for one last Langos and a few more trinkets. So we hailed a taxi and went to the hall instead. This time we also walked through the meat and produce floor. They had live music and several people with samples of stuff in the middle of the main walk way.

I also went down one more floor where they sell fish and pickles. You can get live fish there or at least they are alive before you buy them! That floor also has a Match grocery store. I found Pepsi Light there. Carrie was very happy when I returned with them. I also found some hair conditioner for Carmen.

Deak Ferenc Ter is the meeting point for the 3 metro lines. At that square there is our new favorite Starbucks -- CoffeeHeaven. We picked up a couple club sandwiches for dinner with the plan that we would go to Cafe Gerbaud for dessert.

When we got to the Opera House stop for our hotel, there was a giant screen set up infront of the Opera House and they were setting up a tent with snacks and beverages. Not that we gave it much thought!

So about 8:00 we headed out for Cafe Gerbaud since we now knew all we had to do was go to the end of our line! However, Andrassy street was closed as was the small road from our hotel to the Opera House. There were chairs in the middle of Andrassy and a crowd watching the big screen which was of the opera singers inside the Opera House. It was a big celebration for the 125th year anniversary of the Opera House. In addition to the big screen, they had a green laser shining from the the building across the street that drew designs on the the outside of the Opera House building -- I took a movie!

The Callas which is on the corner by the Opera House had a few tables free on the sidewalk so we decided to take advantage of a one in a lifetime experience and had dessert and drinks while listening to the opera music. (Carrie had overheard at the front desk that the Callas had not seats free until after 10 pm) I had a Grand Marnier dessert and Grand Marnier to drink. Carrie went with the Baileys combo!

So, if we do not make it to Cafe Gerbaud today...

Last night the air conditioning stopped in our room -- not good. We had to sleep with the window open and with the light blocking shades open so some of the air could get into the room. Hopefully they will get it fixed today while we are out. As I was sitting here, the staff person who came to our room last night at about 10 ish was putting newspapers out at 6 this morning! I commented to him that he must work all the time! Which was a good thing since he then asked my room number so I am pretty sure he had not told anyone last night about our air conditioner!

We have had wonderful weather. It shows today that it will be 24 C. which is about 75 F. It shows that it is supposed to be cooler starting Tuesday -- we are leaving just in time!

I am not sure what we will be doing today besides connecting with Carmen in the late afternoon. We have a bag of stuff for her from the stuff we packed that we did not use. Things such as extra kleenex, zip lock bags and of course, Carrie's stash of Luna Bars! We are each keeping 2 incase we need them between here and Seattle. We ate one on our way here during the 3 + hour delay in New York.

More tomorrow morning...