Our final day in Budapest. Woke up to another sunny day (although some clouds moved in during the day), How nice to settle a zero balance hotel bill! Another buffet breakfast - not sure that I want to know what these meals are doing to our waistlines, but...will worry about that another day!
Our luggage was left in our room and magically appeared in our cabin when we boarded - the real way to travel! We boarded the bus which drove across the Chain Bridge (which now feels like our friend since we've viewed it every day, walked part way across and taken multiple pictures of it day and night). We went through a tunnel and up a steep hill and there we were on the top of Castle Hill (seems like most cities have such a hill since the castles were built there to protect the Royals from attack). The views were astounding, even on a day that wasn't as clear as we'd come to expect. We had a wonderful guide who shared all sorts of anecdotes and history and was funny to boot. Lots of pictures (some multiples because I loved them all) from scenic overviews. The old Ministry of War building with many pock marks from gunfire in WW II was sobering even though Buda escaped severe damage in the war. Mattias Church was a highlight with its multi-colored tiled roof as was the unusual shaped 7 towers on the Fishermen's Bastion built in 1905 with each tower symbolizing one of the Magyar tribes that came to Hungary in 896. The view from the bastion is considered one of the best in the city and I had no argument with that. Seeing the Parliament on the Pest side of the river completely, without traffic or scaffolds was amazing. We wandered down the steep hill (or I should say the bus did) to another scenic overview, rode back across the river with the excitement building...we were finally going to board the boat and get the River Cruise on the road (uh, river).
We were greeted in the reception area by Lynn, our Cruise Director, given our room keys, and explored our home for the next 7 days. We had splurged on a Junior Suite for this, our 50th wedding anniversary celebration, and found that it was a bit bigger than an average cruise cabin. But, not anywhere near as large as the 'real' suites that some of our new friends had. Nice size bathroom with a real shower (no more narrow tubs to shower in); queen-sized comfortable bed, small desk, 2 chairs near the window (a french balcony window with sliding doors and narrow bars to keep us from leaping into the Danube!). The french balcony was a lovely way to view the scenery, check out the weather each morning and have a bit of privacy when we didn't want to go to the sundeck. The location of our cabin was near the Lido Bar area where there was a community computer with Internet connection (slow), snacks and coffee/hot chocolate/tea all day long and a great place to get early morning coffee (thanks to Art). All in all a comfortable place to stay even without a lot of storage space.
We spent the next few hours attending an orientation meeting in the lovely lounge, viewing our departure from Budapest on the sundeck, meeting more of our companions for the next week and unpacking. There was a welcome aboard reception with the Captain and his staff and a splendid welcome dinner. Service was excellent, food beautifully plated, and a feeling of plain old enjoyment. The perfect end to a lovely day and beginning of the next stage of our trip.
Pictures of/from Buda and boarding the river boat
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