Month: October 2023

I read this declaration in a travel guide and it’s true.
I felt it the minute we drove into the center of the city.

A river runs through it

The architecture is grand and imposing

The Seine or the Danube?
The tree-lined Chemps-Elysées or Andràssy Street?

Fisherman’s Basion, Castle Hill Complex.

Opera performance

I’m having problems placing pictures today, so the photos will be out of sequence with the text. My apologies!

Back to reality! We had things to do, places to go.

First priority: how to get on the ship tomorrow!

We needed to know how to get on the bus to join the ship, since it is docked in a village forty miles from here because of the low water.

An astute Viking agent mentioned on the phone last week that there was a Viking service desk at the Hotel Intercontinental, so we taxied over to find out what to do. We had gotten misinformation earlier in the day with an email from Viking, giving us the phone number to call the ship; when I called, the representative there said we would have to pay for our own fare since we did not use the Viking hotel. This didn’t seem right. Thank goodness for Maria, the agent on the phone last week.

We got to the hotel and found a very long Viking service desk with competent people! What a relief! We spoke to a charming fellow who marked the location on the map and gave us the times the buses would be driving to the village where our ship, the Gymir, will be waiting for us. Sound complicated ? Yes. Traveling is not for sissies

We had a tour of the Hungarian State Opera House at 1:30, so we strolled over, stopping at several places along the way. We checked out a grocery store and enjoyed seeing what people eat. I’ve never seen Hello Kitty cereal before!

We stopped for a decaf cappuccino – the sisters’ coffee of choice – at the elegant café Callas, across from the opera house ( thanks to neighbor Rich for giving me the card) and got involved in a chat with a delightful English man and his wife, who also bought tickets for the tour.

The tour was fantastic! We even were given a short performance at the end with selections from Opera’s Greatest Hits, including “ La Bohème” and “Rigoletto.” Delightful! See photos above and below.

After the tour, we taxied home to rest my weary bone-on-bone hip joint and catch up on some long- neglected sleep.

A couple of hours later, we taxied over to the Fisherman’s Bastian area of the Castle Hill complex for views of the city. We did some souvenir shopping and ended the evening with a delicious chicken paprika with dumplings dish accompanied with a refreshing cucumber salad. My drink of choice was a Kir Royale; the sister had a Coke zero. The photo will be below because I can’t figure out how to put it here!

I was surpringly pain free so we strolled the Danube and saw more views before heading back to pack and get ready for life on the ship.

Fisherman’s Bastion

Chain bridge by night

Dinner at the top of Fisherman’s Bastion

Time for breakfast! We will join the ship today. Fingers crossed!

I don’t remember it being so difficult before.

it’s Friday October 13 at 1:48 AM. Budapest time. I’m wide awake. Yes, we’re here. Everything was smooth sailing, so to speak: car to the airport, an almost eleven hour flight to Munich in Premium Economy section . We had a five hour wait until our flight to Budapest. Lack of sleep and a loss of memory (“where-did-I -put it” syndrome) don’t help.

it’s old age. Old bones. Stairs hurt my bum knee. Have to rest.

We opted not to stay at the hotel chosen by Viking because of costs and are instead at a charming small hotel called the Boutique Hotel Victoria, on the Pest side of the riber. We’re in a room with a view of Patliament and the bridges from our 7th floor perch. We had goulash soup at a cute Belgian brasserie next door.

. Unfortunately, the ship isn’t here because of low water levels, so we have to go to the dock Saturday to catch a bus to get to our vessel. There is a contact number. We saw a Viking representative at the airport who told us to take a taxi to the dock between 10-11 AM. I will try calling to verify.

Even though I’m struggling, things don’t seem so bad when I look out the window.

I’ll try to get back to sleep now. As Scarlet once said, “ Tomorrow is another day!”

The sister and I are about to set sail on the beautiful blue Danube this week. Today is packing day. Tomorrow we fly to Munich, then change planes to land in Budapest, where we’ll spend two nights before embarking on a two week Viking cruise, completing our journey in Amsterdam.

Our ship will not be awaiting us on the beautiful blue Danube because of low water levels so we will be bussed to another city about sixty miles away for boarding .

if you watch Masterpiece Theater on PBS, you’ll be familiar with all those beautiful ads. Marketing works! I’m looking forward to time in Budapest and Vienna. We already have tickets for the tour of the Budapest opera house. I long to see Melk Abbey.

We will be in veranda stateroom #203, which is the number of my classroom many years ago. Is this an omen? Will reality be as good as those gorgeous scenes we see on TV?

We’ll find out.