Goodbye Odin

All good things have to come to and end, and so we said goodbye to our ship the Odin today.  Since we are staying in Budapest, we didn't have to leave very early, so we left our luggage on board while we continued to explore Budapest.  Frank & I hit the Market while Pam & Jane headed for the Parliment buildings.  Paprika is the big ingredient everyone uses here & I've tasted some of the finest goulash soup here, rich and sweet. There was no better lunch than today, sitting in a sidewalk cafe, a giant tv moved out for all to watch the Olympics, cold dark beer, and the finest goulash soup around. It's weird to think we are in Hungary.

 





Certainly the landscape will tell you this is an exotic place, as well as the language and the food, but there is an old world feeling here. Communist controlled until 1956, so many buildings are in disrepair. Nearly everyone speaks a little English and good thing too, Hungarian is a tough language.  I don't know why learning a few words in Czech seemed easier.

Good thing the beer is good, because they are stingy with water! Asking for it at a restaurant will get you a small bottle - at a price.  No drinking fountains.  We buy bottles of water and try to fill them up at the hotel. The transportation is good here, though also old world.  The 1940's era-looking trolleys run up and down the Danube with surprising efficiency. The buses and subway fill out the rest of the public transportation, with the same ticket good on them all.  Now the money has been the biggest head scratcher for us.  Imagine getting your dinner bill as we did tonight, for 12,500 Forints.  Imagine having 10,000 bills in your wallet! Our dinner bill was 8,075f,  or $35.79 dollars.  Hungary is where my app for money exchange has really come in handy!  I have also used my translator program quite a lot too, esp. for food.  I can now recognize those pretty cans that look like tuna as goose liver!

Duck burger!

I've really missed watching the Olympics this year, but Hungary has them on three different channels.  By golly, this is is the way it should be- they show a sport from beginning to end, and sometimes have a box in the corner to see a second sport.  Of course, the commentary is either in Czech, German, or Hungarian. But I like everything in real time, London is only 2 hours behind Budapest.

We are tucked away in our new hotel now, Monday we head by train back to Prague, and Tuesday start the long trek back to the States.  Overall, it's been an overwheming experience - I had to write a blog so I can go back and remember what we did every day! We did hear that Bruce Willis is in town shooting a Die Hard movie, using Budapest as a Russian location.  Tonight, walking back from dinner, we ran into a group shooting some sort of movie.  We looked for Bruce, but alas did not see him.  But hey, maybe tomorrow?

 Love the way Subway advertises?  These guys just ride around on the bikes, better than standing on the street corner like many American businesses do eh?

 Frank in front of the Elisabeth Bridge on the Danube.

More views around Budapest.  Love the street signs.  They are posted on the sides of the buildings.

Part of the Parliament buildings.

What a shock it will be when we return home - what no menu for dinner? My bed won't magically be made when I return the end of the day? I will miss running to the capachino machine for an afternoon coffee, and dressing for cocktail hour then dinner.

One more thing we saw today that was incredibly moving.  On the banks of the Danube, ther is a place that has all sorts of shoes - all bronzed and permantley attached to the stone walkway.  The story goes the Nazis got tired of sending all the Jews to concentration camps, so tied groups of people together and pushed them into the river.  The variety of styles and sizes of shoes really hit home.