budaPEST

Days 20 to 24 - 4 to 8 June
Why budaPEST?  Because we spent very little time in Buda (the hilly part of the city, over the river), and a lot of time in Pest. Far too much happened in our time in Budapest for me to cover everything sequentially, so this blog will take a thematic approach, and the first theme is Lea's 60th birthday.
Theme 1 - Lea's Birthday
Lea's birthday got off to a great start when John gave her a lovely pair of garnet earrings. Then it was off to breakfast. A singing, dancing, rubber birthday cake, delivered with some pomp by the crew, set the tone.

Breakfast, and the crew delivered a singing, dancing (rubber) birthday cake - Lea knew she was in for a big day

Phase 2 was morning tea, and gifts from Lyn and Peter, and Maggie and Peter.

Next gift

Not another present!

Almost before you could say "It's time for lunch" it was time for lunch - and another gift.

Lea was genuinely moved by the beautiful words in the (joint) card, written by Joanne

I think Lea liked the garnet necklace from the Walters and Kings - a tasteful match for John's earrings

Lea's birthday celebrations were completed at dinner, when the crew delivered a birthday cake with much pomp and ceremony. Everybody who celebrated a birthday during the cruise was given a cake at dinner on their special day - all cakes were paraded around the dining room to music and clapping.

The pyrotechnic birthday cake delivered delivered by the crew - yes, thats flame shooting out of the candle

The gang

Ryan, Garry and Pavel, three special staff expressing their devotion to Lea

Ryan performed a couple of magic tricks - including turning small pieces of foam into a heart (not a real heart)

Theme 2 - Budapest Buildings
As we sailed into Budapest, after breakfast, we went up on deck and were almost blown away by the view. Not blown away as in 'actually blown away by a very strong wind'. But blown away as in 'very impressed by the view' (I love the precision and clarity of English idiomatic expressions). Budapest is a very beautiful city - the river is lined with impressive buildings that have the 'wow factor'. There were other impressive and beautiful buildings as well, and some are highlighted below.

Parliament viewed from the Danube

Closer view - a bit like the British Parliament with St Paul's Cathedral stuck in the middle

A former palace, now a museum, up on the hill

A view down towards the Parliament from the Museum

Front view of a big covered market

Interior view of the same market

Exterior of St Stephen's Cathedral - near our hotel

Interior of St Stephen's Cathedral - certainly ornate

Front of an 'Art Nouveau' museum that we visited

Exterior, rear view of the Great Synagogue - not overly ornate

Interior of the Great Synagogue - quite a bit ornate - it's the biggest synagogue in Europe and hugely impressive

View of a small white truck, spoiled somewhat by the Budapest Opera House behind it

Interior of the Opera - no phantoms were sighted

Another interior view of the Opera House

Row of seats in the Opera House - note the vents under each seat. Either: a. ventilation, or b. essential if you had to sit through an entire Wagner opera and didn't want to miss any of it. You decide

A coffee shop above a bookstore, near the Opera (and our hotel)

An old, almost-derelict building in the Jewish quarter - it housed a small market

Front of a building showing the standard method of construction in Budapest - brick framework covered with plaster to look like stone - beautiful when new, not so impressive when old

Another old bit in need of repair. You didn't need to go far from the main roads to find older buildings that were in serious need of maintenance

Theme 3 - Food - we were, after all, in Hungry (sorry, that should read: Hungary)
We left the ship on Friday, sad to say goodbye to the wonderful crew and the food (we actually did say goodbye to the crew, but I saw nobody speak to the food). However, since we were all suffering from 'boat bloat' (the alarming tendency to stack on weight when dining on board) we vowed to go easy once we became landlubbers again. You can judge our commitment for yourself from the following photographs (not all food shown here was eaten by Rhonda and me, just to be clear).

A modest schnitzel

A modest half a roast chicken with potato dumplings

Somewhere in there is a beef wellington

A concoction of fruit and dairy products - afternoon tea one day

Joanne trying hard to look ladylike while eating a hot dog in the park

Rhonda, Lea and Joanne having a light afternoon tea in the coffee shop above the bookstore

There's fruit in there so it must be good for me

After-dinner treats near St Stephen's Cathedral - each 'petal' was hand carved an applied - simply magnificent

Theme 4 - Rubbish
We saw rather a lot of rubbish in the streets of Budapest, including what looked like evidence of some serious renovations being made to apartments - it was as though the old interiors had been stripped out and simply dumped in the streets.

Saw quite a bit of rubbish in the streets - don't know if there was some sort of rubbish collection going on.

Not an attractive look

Theme 5 - Photographs I Liked - Not Really a Theme
We'll finish with some photographs that I liked.

Interior of St Stephen's Cathedral - some of us attended a concert there - very classy

Rhonda took this photograph of the roof of St Stephen's Cathedral

Just liked the colours and textures of this photograph - taken when four of us went to the park one afternoon

Maggie - in the Opera House with a halo - I swear it wasn't photoshopped

That marks the end of our Budapest experience.  It also marked the end of our Fellowship of the Rhine, as Robin and Joanne, Peter and Lyn, and Peter and Maggie all went their separate ways after Budapest. Next stop for John and Lea, Rhonda and me is Prague.