http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Hungary , Central Hungary en-us Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:01:15 +0000 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:01:15 +0000 Egar and Budapest in Hungary 2 to 5 June 2013After saying goodbyes to Slovakias northern mountains and the eastern provinces We drove south down through Kosice through the border crossing into Hungary. We decided to take the secondary roads to Egar which was a lovely little town in the middle of the countrys wine industry. This is a popular tourist destination for local Hungarians with it http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Buda/blog-790391.html In the last week of April my mum and I spent a few days in Budapest. It had been my birthday present for mums 70th birthday as always an absolutely unselfish present I had never been to Budapest before myself and was eager to go there . We stayed there from the 27th of April till the 1st of May.Mum and I met at the airport in Munich she had flown there from Stuttgart I had come in from http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Pest/blog-790390.html Last night on the way back to the hotel I stop by the grocery store and picked up a bottle of red wine to keep me company while I pack for my return trip home. Boo who. This trip has been far too short.I decided to return to St. Anne church for Mass Budapest Batthyny tr 7 the pipe organ was playing it39s deep rich tones and was accompanied by a choir with robust strong voices. I noticed http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-788266.html Thank You Lord for this Wonderful WorldThank you for my eyes wonderful eyes that see smiling faces blooming flowers boundless balconies blue skies fluffy white clouds dark threatening clouds gorgeous gems massive buildings crowning castles colossal churches dainty delicate handcrafted delights rushing rivers palatial bastions the beauty of the moon and The Handsome Man.I haven39 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-788255.html This morning as I was heading out I passed by the gallery and saw Andrea again. I inquired how her swimming party with her friends had gone the day before. She was very animated and excited to report that they had a wonderful time played poker and she was the big big big winner. Because of her grand winnings she was having a party Sunday which happens to be Children39s day the compliment http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-787784.html Having already decided that I will be returning to Budapest my pace has slowed to one of strolling and pure enjoyment in every site I see. Heading towards that Museum of Terror I take a new direction away from my hotel. Attention to detail is evident in everything. From front doors carved and crafted of massive pieces of wood to ironwork the ironwork is arduously crafted. From accordion gates wh http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-787712.html When I awoke I was a bit brokenhearted I did not hear from Sylvia I tried to reach her to no avail so needed to regroup and make a plan for the day. I had no appointments or reservations so just took my time in getting ready for the day. The photo from yesterday depicting the beautiful canaps in the window drove me to a small obsession today. But more about that later.I started the day late j http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-787519.html Heading back to my rootsMy father39s father39s parents are from Hungary different farm lands... so there you go I39m 14 Hungarian even though my grandfather was born in New York... I39m talking about the bloodI got really lucky and Couch Surfed with one of the few Jewish Hungarian folk in Budapest there are not that many left. He took me around to the Jewish sites and shared http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Buda/blog-787431.html Last night I retired early and lay on the bed for a while working with my pictures and on my blog. When I decided to turn out the light it was about 830. I started hearing a noise an annoying beep beep beep beep beep beep I remembered that I had seen a memo on the desk from the hotel that said Dear GuestsWe would like to apologize for any inconvenience the maintenance work on the front of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-787292.html Awoke and left for the airport at 700 a.m. Flew Scandinavian Airlines with a connection in Copenhagen. Beautiful opportunity to get some pictures of those vibrant canola fields I39ve been describing. Flights uneventful.Arrive Budapest and first thing that catches my eye are the roofs. They are beautiful covered with decorative tiles which I am sure I will discover more about as I explore this http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-787190.html ltstrong stylemsobidifontweight normalgtBudapest HungaryDer Kleine Prinz is tied up on the Pest side of the Danube in the center of Budapest. This is a city of bridges connecting the Buda and Pest sides of the river. The Pest side is mostly flat while the Buda side is clustered around high rocky cliffs. On the highest hill overlooking the city is a statue of woman the Hungarians ca http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Buda/blog-785603.html My thoughts and feelings towards Budapest are very mixed. Let me start by saying I think I had over romantized the city. Everything we had read and or heard about Budapest said how beautiful it was and how much it was the Paris of EasternCentral Europe. What wasnt mentioned was anything the resembled the truth of Budapest. It is a beautiful city in places of course the food is amazing but http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-784599.html After careful consideration and much discussion we decided not to take a third crack at the thermal baths even though Lukas was free entrance with our Budapest Cards. But free doesnt really man free at these places but none the less we opted out to make our last day in Buda less stressful.And what a stress free day it turned out to be. First we slept in Jerry until 10 and me until about 9. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-784411.html The number 1 line of the Budapest Metro was the first subway to be built in the continental Europe. The emperor of Austria and Hungarian King Franz Josef was the first to ride. It was built to celebrate the millennium of Budapest in 1896. It is a short line the runs the length Andrssay utca and the stops hit many of the major highlights of the city such as the Franz List Museum Opera House and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Pest/blog-784305.html Random MusingsFirst let me end your suspense about our run in with the local ladies and young men of the night. Evidently our hotel is in the Times Square of Budapest not the new cleaned up Disney version of Times Square but the real seedy Times Square pre Bloomberg. When we came up from the metro from dinner last night I wanted to see if I could access the ATM I could not figure out how http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Buda/blog-784125.html The trained arrived in the station at just before 1 pm. When we stepped off the train we were greeted by 2 things both not pleasant. The first and most noticeable was my dear friend humidity. I do not like humidity fortunately it wasnt Deep South or Chicago humid. The second thing was the obnoxious taxi hockers. The literally tried to take your suit cases out of your hand before you eve http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Pest/blog-784023.html The coach journey to Hungary was pretty uneventful there were actually people at border control this time although they didn39t say anything about lack of visa for Slovakia. Fiona and pretty much everyone else on the coach fell asleep except me I ended up chatting with Chris and Emma which was nice We got to Budapest but I can39t remember what time. We had a little drive through the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Pest/blog-783183.html I haven39t covered that much mileage during the past couple of weeks. That39s because wherever I go I keep bumping into great people who look after me and feed me beer. My three day stint in Budapest has now turned into a 5 day rest period as I don39t wish to be charged for being drunk in charge of a bicycleLooking back at the past two weeks I have travelled through some wonderful citi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Buda/blog-782432.html Buried three seats deep next to the window nowhere to run nowhere to hide it was obvious that after 5 minutes of airtime that I was going to need the biggest piss ever to grace my 30s with. Window seats really are a wretch at times. The gauntlet before me was that of a small Hungarian boy and his much larger grandmother with coats and dishevelled clothing splashed all over the place. I can o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-781590.html Day 51 of 146.That leaves 95 more days of adventures But let39s talk about the last 6 days.Last week I was in Rimini Italy a town located right beside the country of San Marino. Regen and I chose this spot as our base of operations for exploring the mountainous town center. Rimini itself was quite the strange place being set up as a huge party town for the hoards of summer tourists mostly http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-780892.html