We all slept in a bit today to catch up from our late late night. However at 8:30 we left the hotel to catch a bus down the hill and head to the Pest (pronounced Pesht) side of the river. We boarded the bus which is built for about 25 people and generally occupied by at least 50. We were fortunate to get seats right away and not much of a crowd. However, after two stops later we determined that we had gone the wrong direction and were at the end of the line. We got off the bus and walked across the street like this is what we intended to do and caught the right bus going in the right direction. Again we got seats being that this was the first stop of an empty bus. Good planning.

We got off the bus at Roosevelt Ter. which was dedicated to Franklin D. Roosevelt for his role in WWII. We then proceeded to sniff out the closest bakery(California Coffee Company) and ended up in front of St. Stephens Cathedral which is the largest Catholic churh in Budapest. It was built in the 1890’s which is rare for any cathedral in this part of the world. We had our breakfast and coffee and moseyed on down the street.

Our morning walk was through all of Leopold Town which is the old town of Budapest. We went to the old market, but given that this is a holiday weekend, it was closed. Been there, done that, got the credit and moved on. Went by the US Embassy, took a photo which they then told Ken D that no photos allowed. We went to Liberty Square which the US Embassy faces out to, and many high end apartments surrounding a park like area. The Soviet War Memorial was located in this park and they had built the memorial to their dominance over Nazi rule. We then moved on to our walk and headed to the Imory Nagy bronze memorial. He was credited with combating communist rule in Hungary shortly after they killed him.

From here we could see the Parliament buildings and walk past them, but again no activity due to the Holiday weekend. We walked by the Holocust Memorial which is 50 pair of bronze shoes on the edge of the Danube where 50 Jews were shot and dumped into the river. We now were walking along the Danube. Not much going on here either. That concluded our Leopold Town walk.

We now headed to the Pest Town Walk. We started this in Vorosmarty Ter. It was at this point that we reached out by text message to Fran, Mary Lou, Dennis and Glenda to see if they wanted to meet for lunch. We continued our journey along the route and heard back the affirmative about an hour later. We would meet them at 1300 after their morning bus tour. Julie Ann was our walking tour conductor and kept us to task to check off every checkpoint. We saw lots of the newer Pest streets with shopping, restaurants and bars. We walked by City Hall, the Prominade along the Danube which the most colorful part of the Danube in Budapest, the Deak Utca which is the fashion street, but “unfortunately” all stores were closed. The crowds began to build and the day went on.

We ventured back to Vorosmarty Ter. and listend to a violinist and clarinet duet play classical music…quite entertaining. Fran texted me and said that they would like to meet for lunch at Franz Liszt Square. We agreed and began the one mile walk to meet them. We met for lunch with Fran, Mary Lou, Dennis and Glenda at Café Vien in Franz Liszt Square. Very good.

From there we split up for the rest of the day and all went our in own direction. We walked back to the river but opted to catch a bus back up the hill. This time the 25 capacity bus had about 80 people on it when we tried to get on. We offered our payment to the driver and he motioned that he had no change and we should get on. Free ride-always good!  It is difficult to keep hands on every pocket you have something valuable in and hold onto the safety bar at the same time. Now we know what a sardine feels like in his final moments. Anyway, it was good that it was a short ride.

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and then arranged to meet Fran and Mary Lou at our hotel and go to dinner up on the hill near us. We went to a Hungarian Restaurant Arany Hordo. We had Hungarian Food and Wine and were entertained by Gypsy Musicians. A very pleasant evening (129,680 Forints). Kay had Pork for dinner, Julie Ann had Pike, Ken D. had Pork and Ken W. had Beef Tenderloin Tornadoes Budapest Style. (Turns out that Budapest style is the beef topped off with Goose Liver Pate”: now I know why I waited 63 years to try the Goose Liver!

After dinner we walked Fran and Mary Lou to Fishermans Bastian to see the city lights and then they took the cab home. We talked to the Concierge about getting us tickets to the Madonna Concert which we thought was tomorrow night. She said we were too late as the concert was tonight. She then went on and told us that she was sworn to absolute secrecy that Madonna and her team were staying at our hotel tonight. I told her to send Madonna up for a glass of wine after the concert.

We then retreated to the Danielsons Suite to recap our day. We encourage you to blog us back if you receive this in the newsletter form. Tomorrow will be more of Budapest and then boarding the boat where we will stay in Budapest for two more days before departing.

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