Doomsday or Happy Dance Day?

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This morning I woke up with optimistic hope; I had to believe that my passport would come in, and I was to call the Embassy between 08:30-09:00 (so, is 08:31 OK??). The previous evening we had gone for a nice long walk along the river; expel some stress energy and continue to explore the beautiful city of Budapest. We walked down to the parliament building (which is an incredible feat of architecture, no matter how many times I see it) and I wanted to get some more photos of the shoes along the riverbed. These shoes are representative of the Jewish individuals who were forced to take off any belongings of any value (including shoes) before they were shot and their bodies fell into the Danube. Yes it's horrible to write that, but we also need to remember in the hopes that that level of atrocity can not occur again.

I had also forgotten (stress I'm sure) that we had gone walking along the pedestrian street the previous evening, all the way down to the local market, where you could buy anything from a banana (which I did) to delicious Hungarian light chocolate layer cake (another fav of mine from childhood) and a side of beef (passed). We also got stopped by a dead sea cream shop (for lack of better description) and an adorably funny and cute Israeli that worked there. She had us in stitches in no time, convinced us to come into the shop to try out dead sea salt scrub and we both loved it. She was so engaging that we ended up each buying one container for a silly amount of money, not because we needed it but because she was so fabulous at her job that we couldn't say no. So she said we were the best clients she had met in days and gave us a free Hungarian Fissage.

The early evening light was exactly what I was hoping for to try and capture (again) the severity of these shoes, and I wanted to do them justice in a photo. Hippie patiently enjoyed the scenery while I crawled around on the ground, looking for 'that shot'. I'm not sure if there is some anniversary recently; but several shoes had flowers, notes, and candles that were recently put there in memory, so it added to the somberness of it.

The next morning I phoned the Embassy, got her voice mail but thankfully she phoned back a few minutes later and YYYYYAAAAAAAAYYYYY my temporary passport would be ready by 1pm. OMG I did the happy dance, hugged Hippie almost to death and squealed all the way down to breakfast. Then we went on a full fledged exploration of the city on foot with several destinations in mind. (Insert Ned Happy Dance #1 of the day)



First off we went to go see the St. Stephen's Basilica (from the outside only - after all - catching on fire really ruins a holiday), then we wanted to find the bookstore that our guide from the day before had mentioned. They had a large English section, plus an amazing coffee shop and beautiful architecture inside. Plus I was told about a book called Ballad of the Whiskey Robber; about a famous Hungarian thief that shares my father's name, Attila Ambrus. I had to find it to see what it was all about (and Jay if dad's not reading this don't tell him - it's a secret LOL!). After walking along the busy street we did discover it, and wow, it was stunning inside - and wait for it - not only sold books but wine too! With a coffee shop on the second floor. Need I say more? (Insert Ned Happy Dance #2 of the day)

After that we decided to wander back towards the Buda side to give us lots of time to get to the Embassy by 1pm, as there was no way I was going to be late. Well, we had wandered quite a bit further than either of us had realized, and while we chose to walk along the river to the Embassy; didn’t realize that construction would put us WAY downstream of where we needed to be, but it was all fenced off. We ended up going to the following bridge and working our way back, me slowly getting into a slight panic again. Made it in time, much to my relief and after a few more signatures, I received my shiny white 2 paged temporary passport! (Insert Ned Happy Dance #3 of the day).

Walked back to the Pest side; grabbed some absolutely delicious Thai food (Insert Ned Happy Dance #4) and then grabbed some wine and water and made our way back to the hotel. Shortly after we boarded the bus to get to the pier (we were far too heavy with all our liquid) and next thing, The Luminary River Cruise was about to begin!

I had reservations about how painful the check in process would be but it was so seamless, and we were in our cabin in no time. Leslie Shaff from Globus had left us a wonderful present of wine and beautiful flowers, a warm gesture that made the day even better. Explored the ship, checked out the other cabins (just got to be nosy) and all the public areas and was already loving the size and intimacy of the ship. Got settled, opened up our floor to ceiling windows and grinned at each other from ear to ear. This was going to be A.W.E.S.O.M.E!........... (Once again lots more photos if you scroll down)

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Comments

[Lesley Fenton]

Helpful
I will be in Budapest this July. This was helpful and as usual an excellent and entertaining read.

[Kathy Chambers]

Your Blogs
Hi Ned: Thoroughly enjoying your blogs and always looking forward to the next one ! :o)