Budapest II touring the city by day

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Today is our only full day in Budapest and I also realize it is our final full day on board the the Viking ship Hermod. It has become so familiar to us. We walk down the passageways and stop and chat with other passengers as if we have been neighbors for years. We settled in easily and wonderfully and now so quickly tomorrow we leave Hungary, Eastern Europe to begin our journey home. We have one last tour today after breakfast and as we enter the dining room I see it with new eyes thinking this is my last breakfast here. We sit and are waited on by Alex and Polina, it has been exactly this way for the last 8 days but this morning it feels very different.

We are called to make our way to the tour buses and Tom is a little under the weather. He also has some work he needs to complete before we travel tomorrow. As I leave the ship I tell Julian one of the Stewards that my husband is staying behind so I hand over his boarding pass to keep the passenger count correct. Julian says "Is Tom okay?" "Should we check on him?" Now that made me smile. I told him "thank you but he's fine" and I boarded the bus by myself. Roxanne and David walk by and see me "Where's Tom?" asks Roxanne. Then Steve "Hey Roberta what happened to Tom?" I just said he was a little under the weather and worn out from all the tours. Everyone nods in agreement.

Our tour begins on the Pest side (Pest is flat) The first thing Vivien our guide says "I'd like to tell you how to correctly say the name of our city, it is Budapest." (The pest part sounding more like PESCHT with an emphasis on the ending T) Okay now everyone say out loud Budapest." Everyone on the bus repeats is exactly as she enunciated it. Vivian says "Thank you, and that is how we like to hear it."

She begins to tell the sad story of Hungary and how they were always picking the wrong side in their wars. When the Turks came to conquer us the Habsburgs (for those who have read previous blogs on this trip - Maria Theresa Empress of the Austrian Empire) offered to come in and help us, we said okay then they never left! They took our land, (Vivian said there was a law that you could not clink beer glasses together in public unless in doing so you also said "TO HELL WITH THE HABSBURGS!!) In WW I we sided with Russia to kick the Germans out and the Communists took over, WW II we sided with Germany and they lost and the Soviets took over again until 1989. Now we are free. (Same story different country) In the Pest section we drove around Hero's Square, the Hot Springs Spa, the zoo, the circus, the Jewish Quarter and then headed over Chain Bridge to the Buda section (hilly side.). Here we saw the Castle, and the Famous St Matthias Cathedral. (Another UNESCO site) I was laughing at Vivien because on our way to the Cathedral as we passed some souvenior shops she and would pick something up and talk about it like an embroidered tablecloth "zis is what we are famous for and zis is of good quality" or at a fresh fruit and veggie stand she picks up some paprika and talks about which one to buy "Here you zee zis one in zee plasteek?" "Don't buy it." she puts it down and picks up canned paprika "Buy zis one zen you can no have problems with customs." Sound advice but I wondered what the shop owners thought. Once done with the walking tour we did have a little time for shopping, now I don't know about everyone else but I listened to everything she told us at all the stores and shopped accordingly. Everyone knows I'm a rule follower.

While shopping I ran into Shelley and Mark who also wanted to know what happened to Tom. They told me if Tom wasn't up to sightseeing this afternoon I could hook up with them, I'm going to miss them.

As scheduled we were driving back to the ship in time for lunch. (Another melancholy moment, last lunch) We rested and Tom wanted to go out for just a bit. We walked to some of the places I had visited earlier and went back for our final dinner.

We met up with Shelley and Mark in the bar for the final briefing regarding departure tomorrow. Mark and Shelley brought their IPad to show us how they spent their afternoon and told me "don't worry we've already tagaged the ones we think you'll want. Sweet, it just doesn't get better. The download was fast, then Lee the Activiey Directors began the instructions for the next day. Everyone received the same notice on a spread sheet showing your grouping for departure. They arranged everyone by flight times or if they were going to stay in Hungary a few more days. Our room number was listed with only 4 others. Tom and I specifically were to use the gray tags provided on our luggage and put them in the passageway at 6;00AM then precisely at 6:45 meet at the reception desk for departure. I read the entire list. There were tags of every color going out to 3 decks of passengers all going in different directions at different times. VERY IMPRESSIVE! Organized to the end.

At dinner everyone was chatting about what time they had to leave. We all had lived this little part of our lives together and become close with the commonality of our ship and experience. After this we'll all go back to our separate lives with the sweet memory of this trip and the people we enjoyed here...sigh with a tear in my eye.

Tomorrow we head for Paris via Zurich. I'm not really sure why we don't have a direct flight but oh well. I'll probably blog only a tad from Paris. We are definately looking forward to NOT having a schedule for the first time in 8 days.

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Photos

Parliment
I know I keep showing this building but it is immense and stunning to see

Road signs
This just show there are many places to visit here. If Sandy were here I know exactly where she and Tom would go.

Comments

[Mark Dill]

We miss you two! Had a great time!
Shelley and truly enjoyed our time with you both. If only we lived closer I'm certain we'd be the best of friends...who see each other regularly. ??‍♂️? Hoping to travel with you both again in the not too distant future.