Budapest

I was in Budapest from Friday night to Monday afternoon, and I can tell you that I never saw the sun. Not to mention the fact that I began to feel that classic sniffly, tickly throat cold coming on Thursday night. However, despite these less than desirable conditions, I did love Budapest. I loaded up with Sudafed and Vicks First Defense at the airport on the way out, and the drugs helped me be a trooper. As for the foggy mist and occasional drizzle, my new warm raincoat (with hood - very important) helped me brave the nastiness and get out and about anyway!


I started Saturday by walking across the Chain Bridge to the Buda side and wandered the Castle District, stopping in the National Gallery for an hour or so. Next I saw my most favorite sight early in my trip - Fisherman's Bastion. It was beautiful and the view was nice too. Would have been better in clear skies and sun, but still breathtaking.







I finished the day by continuing my walk down the river, past an additional bridge, the Elizabeth Bridge and back over to the Pest side on the Liberty Bridge for a long stroll up Vaci Utca, the city's best known street according to my guide book. By the time I returned to my hotel, my legs felt like they might fall off. I kind of wanted them to, as badly as they hurt!

[Liberty Bridge]

The next morning, I went to Margaret Island after trying to get into the 10:00 English tour of the Parliament and failing. I made a reservation for the 2:00 tour and headed to Margaret Bridge. I had a lovely stroll around the island, enjoying the church ruins and water tower along the way. The peace and quiet on the island was a quite strange change of pace compared to the rest of the city. My feet were beginning to really hurt, after the miles of walking on Saturday and the walking I had already done on Sunday morning, so I decided to take a bus off the island and back to the city. Then I took the metro back down toward my hotel. It was about that time I decided to make lots more use of public transportation.






I got to the Parliament in time for my 2:00 tour after a quick bite to eat. The building is amazing on the outside and inside! I was expecting a two-hour tour but it was over in about 45 minutes. But that was probably good since I was wiped out. More than the fatigue in my legs and feet, I was exhausted from my cold more than anything. I made a quick trip across the river on the metro for a photo op and headed back to the hotel and had a rest.





Later I walked over to the Christmas Market and down to the river to see if the view had changed. Still foggy and misty, but pretty never the less. The Chain Bridge was lit, so that was nice.




On Sunday night I tried to plan Monday's sightseeing, but my plans were thwarted by the fact that nearly ALL museums (around the world, I believe) are closed on Mondays. Therefore, I made plans to just wander and look at stuff all day. So that's what I did. And had a nice huge Hungarian lunch at Bagolyvar ('Owl Castle'). I didn't eat for the rest of the day! It was delicious.





After that, I went home. Other than some confusion over the transport to the airport (which got resolved) and a very annoying incident with a baby who screamed - at the top of his lungs - for a full hour after boarding the plane, it was a smooth ride.