River Cruise 2018 Day 4

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Today we transfer to the boat in the late afternoon. Our original plans were to head for the Market Hall for some last-minute window shopping, but we sleep in and find ourselves not in a mood to rush around. So after breakfast we pack up, check out, and make arrangements for our transfer.

It's now about noon and we have a few hours to kill before pick-up. I elect to strike out solo for the Parliament, arguably the city's signature building, which we have already seen from a bus and from a boat, but not close up. I head north to Eiffel Ter, which boasts a beautiful unknown church on one side and a huge modern glass-and-steel train station on the other. Then I jog south briefly to connect with a street that heads west towards the river. Along the way I marvel once again at Budapest's marvellous architecture. Virtually every building is a small masterpiece, and I take several photos.

Diversion to talk abut the Hungarian language. Unlike English, the other Germanic languages, the Romance languages and the Slavic languages, Hungarian is not an Indo-European language at all, but rather Fino-Ugric, related only to Finnish and Estonian in Europe. That means one cannot use knowledge of cognates from, say, French or Russian, to figure out what words mean. Everything is in a new code. I have already learned, for instance, that "ter" means square and "ut" is the abbreviation for street. Happily, English is essentially a second language here and information is often presented in both languages.

Arriving at Kossuth Tér, the square in front of the Parliament, I take in the graceful lines of the magnificent structure. Built between 1884 and 1904, it is an immense structure with 691 rooms and 365 towers, one tower for each day of the year. At the south side of the square is the requisite statue of a famous person on a horse. This is actually Francis II. Great view across the river to the Buda side. We are directly opposite Matthias Church and the Fishermen's Bastion, which we visited yesterday. Heading back, I take a time to visit an underground museum beneath the square that commemorates the massacre of almost 100 citizens at this site in October 1958, considered the flash point for the ultimately unsuccessful revolt against communist rule. A respectful and sobering memorial.

On the walk back to the hotel, it strikes me how young the population seems to be. I have gotten used to grey heads predominating back home, but here the majority are teens to 30-somethings. Unsurprisingly, then, there is a youthful vigour to the city that is very attractive. I also notice that people take the time to put their garbage in designated bins—a small thing, but indicative of a sense of civic pride. On the negative side, at least a third of the people you meet are smokers.

Another interesting thing we've noticed is the prevalence of kick scooters, by which I mean non-motorized skate boards with a steering handle. Users range from kids to adults. In the morning and evening, it is common to see adults in business attire using scooters for the commute. Quite a few bikes, too, but not as many as we expected. The use of helmets appears to be optional.

Back at the hotel, we connect with our friends and wait for our van to arrive. Uneventful trip to the ship, the Scenic Ruby, on the Buda side. As you probably know, river-cruise boats are long and narrow, due to the constraints of locks and bridges. The Ruby is 135 metres long and only 11.5 metres wide. We have a great cabin on the third level, with a balcony. No smaller than a room on a sea-going cruise boat. Very intelligent use of space. We settle in. It's now supper time. Looks like the food will be great. By the way, this is an all-inclusive cruise, so anything you want to eat or drink at pretty much any time, all you need to do is ask.

In the evening, the Scenic Ruby takes us on a lap around the Budapest harbour. First we sail north all the way to the far tip of Elizabeth Island, then circle around the other side of the island all the way south past even Gellert Hill, then north again back to our berth. At night, all the major buildings and bridges are lit up with lights, and the sights from the ship with the reflections dancing in the water are absolutely breath-taking. The centrepiece is once again the Parliament. What an incredible structure it is.

Happy to retire to our little cabin on the Danube.

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Photos

Parliament from land side
Budapest, Hungary

Statue of Francis II, looking west across the Danube
Budapest, Hungary

Parliament once again, this time at night from the water
Budapest, Hungary