Budapest

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Yesterday, Tuesday, was our last half-day in Kraków and we spent the morning back in the old town including a lengthy stop in a small cafe on a side street. Sitting outside at our table by the pavement/sidewalk was a good reminder that this kind of place doesn't exist in the U.S. The pace here is just a little more relaxed and I like it!

Our flight to Budapest included a stopover in Warsaw and was uneventful besides the over abundance of stinky people who must not have discovered deodorant in this hot summer weather. The forecast is really hot....most days ahead have highs around 97f/36c so there maybe more stinky people in our future.

Today, Wednesday, was a full day in Budapest, and wow, what a beautiful city! Stunning scenery and architecture around the two towns of Buda and Pest on each side of the Danube. We walked for hours from our hotel in Pest over the river to the Castle District of Buda. The funicular railway reminded me of Montmartre in Paris which is perhaps not a surprise since Budapest is known as the Paris of the East.

For lunch Ben went traditional/local and had the goulash, and liked it. Not a single Pain Au Cabbage to be found on the menu. I'm not sure what else is traditional Hungarian food but so far it's better than Polish. After lunch we visited the labyrinths which are a series of caves once used as a prison where Vlad Tepes, known as Dracula, was held during the 1400s. Carys wisely decided to skip the waxworks of Dracula's victims which were pretty gruesome but the Maze of Darkness, a totally dark area in the cave where you had to follow a rope, brought on tears from our youngest family member. Whoops!

From there we headed back home and managed to get caught in a huge rainstorm. We got totally soaked, found shelter and eventually kept walking after it passed. Turns out that it hadn't really passed and 15 minutes later we were dealing with quarter-sized hail stones. Thankfully we found shelter again along with a taxi driver under a promenade. His car survived but the local dent removal companies have a some great months ahead.

This evening we took an evening river cruise along the Danube. Sounds a bit cheesy but it was really good. All the significant buildings are lit and are really quite a sight. There is no doubt that Budapest is a very grand city.

No specific plans for tomorrow yet, but there's a lot more for us to see and do around here. Should be fun!

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[Sprat]

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Man I love the blog.........looking forward to todays update & car photos to be encouraged.......unusual local vehicles pls. Mr.Lindop