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Published: June 26th 2008
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Budapest
taken from the Bank of the river... "I wanna know..Have you Ever seen the rain.."
As our train pulled away from Bratislava we made our way to Budapest, It was the words of Rod Stewert's song that echoed through my head....and I truely began to wonder of that very same question looking out across the beautiful landscape, Have you ever seen the rain?....At that moment it all seemed so perfect..The sun beamed in through the window and I began to look forward to another Glorious city...
Budapest, It surprised me to be honest but i don't really know how to explain that..I guess it was nothing like what i expected..Nothing like the rest of the cities we visited really. I don't know if it was mostly because of the great weather we were blessed with or what...but it semmed more of a holiday destination, where you could relax and just enjoy the sun if that was alll you wanted! Sight seeing really was hard to do here with the heat! We walked an awful lot but the sun was piercing against our skin...
The first thing that i noticed was that you can't get away really without paying for the public transport. There are two or three men checking tickets at the
entrance's to all the underground openings. Still though, eleven cities and it's the first time we've ever been stopped....Quite a good run in my opinion....
We went to the city park here first! A lot of concrete here but a beautiful park all the same...Next to the park there is the circus,the zoo and the baths, so it really is a bustling part of the city for families especially. We went to the castle next. It was the most fairytale-like castle we've seen yet..I could almost see the hungarian princes' and princesses walking about as I looked around. There's a festival on here in Budapest at the moment. It's basically celebrating the City's culture and history. It was like a few euro to pay entrance in here but it's worth it because that pass did you for many of the museums set up around the city for the festival... You can rent out little boats and row around the castle. All very picturesque of course!
We visited "hero's square" which really is massive. The main road leading down from this square reminds me very much of the same street leading down from the Arc in Paris... There are
Festival Time
and we're happy..well dying with the heat..but happy..:) the tree's on either side and from the centre the whole way down you can see "hero's Square" in plain view...The embassies can all be seen down this street also!
St Peter's Bassilica is beautiful. I even managed to make saturday evening mass here. It was amazing...We just caught the end of a wedding here also as we arrived and watched as the bride threw her bouquet over her head towards the wedding party from the steps of the bassilica.
We walked by the government buildings and then headed the long way home to the hostel alongside the river. As I wacthed the sun go down over the bridges, I decided this was my favourite part of my stay here. I would recommend this walk to just about anyone but make sure to pick the right time of the day...I think the hour of the day can highlight Budapest's beauty quite well...It was peaceful and relaxing and didn't cost me a thing...Ya see these are the most enjoyable moments of our trip and yet they are so simple...At that moment I felt like i was the only one in the whole city, strolling along the bank of the
The Castle
The most "Castle-Like" one we've seen yet..h aha..In Jamsie's own words.. river taking it all in...
That night we ate a big slap up meal. Word of Warning though, the bulgarians here don't advertise the service charge of 10% in most restaurants until the bill is lying in front of you on the table....Something one should just keep in mind I think.
We watched as The Netherlands got knocked out of Euro 2008. It broke my heart so it did, I've been following them through it all right from the very start of our trip! However it was a greater excuse to drown my sorrows with some Hungarian beer...I was somewhat surprised though when they arrived out with a "litre" glass of beer,,,hmmm,,,,,i was not so pleased to see that it was happy hour and that a second free one was coming straight after!
On our last day here we climbed to the very top of Budapest..On the way we happened upon a cave church, FASCINATION. It's a reall fricken cave and a people really do receive mass here and yes it was sunday monring, which meant yet again we were there for mass...Happy Days...ha ha..The walk to the top was one of the most painful walks yet
Moat
You can row around the castle here...very romantic..bless... i do believe...Once we got to the top we could see the "Citadel" standing there, just waiting for all the tourists to reach it, red faced and GASPING for air. Lets just say if someone offered me a bottle of water right there and then, I would of Happily said, NAME YOUR PRICE,,ha ha..thankfully the water was reasonably priced at the top...There is a fort up here you can check out and some stalls and what not. The view is simply incredible. As the walk up was so painful, once we were half way down we decided just to sit for a while., enjoy the view and the sun before taking on the long walk back to the hostel..
Before long we had seen just about all Budapest had to offer and we were heading to get the over night train to Romania. Which was delayed. First one we've seen to be late yet...Surprisingly!
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mary oriordan
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life with out
here i am in ireland looking out at the rain you there enjoying the trip of your life i have enjoyed checking your trip everyday its great you are great with your details i am 41 yrs old i feel i could to that trip one day when i am finished paying for your college and your brothers about 15 yrs away i will do it it is a great blog more people should leave a comment take care love your mam