Budapest

Beginning with the usual schmaltz . . . say, was that the A train?

[Not to be outdone by the flak we took for the Paris picture, trying to top it from Budapest!  Yup, still working on that 15 minutes of fame thing.  But it was such a beautiful first morning in the capital city of Hungary, how could we not?]

[Hey, Reetz, does Rick Steves tell us where we can find rooster testicles stew for lunch?]

[Reportedly a celebrated writer of some repute.  His birthday was two days prior to our arrival.  Is a belated card appropriate under these circumstances?]

[“3 Girls and a Dog”]

[A lovely building on the promenade and looking back at our hotel.]

[Anne, the Super, and the “Boy with the Golden Legs” (or is is a girl?).]

[We’re heading inland now, off the promenade, and appear to have come upon Varoshaza Park.]

[For the food fanatics . . . ]

[And, Aha, we found it!!]

[I thought it said turn left at the rooster testicles stew?]

[Now I believe this area is considered Deak Square, which includes Varoshaza Park (as I understand Hungarian maps).  Hungarian is like no other language . . . probably the closest is Finnish.  Go figure?]

[We’re walking along a major avenue of Deak Square, which includes a multi-story tribute to the French fry.]

[The first mayor of Budapest, Karoly Kamermayer . . . and his very popular bistro!  🙂   ]

[More of the sights and sounds around Deak Square.]

[This was a Serbian Orthodox church.  We decided to take a look.]

[The Great Market Hall, over 100 years old and over 10,000 square meters under one roof.  And more hanging weenies for the hanging weenie crowd.]

[OK, maybe a bit of overkill here.  We were taking the trolley from the hotel to Margaret Island, and it made a swoop around the Parliament building.  Didn’t know how much more we would see of it, so wanted to give it fair and balanced coverage.  It’s significant in that it’s a beautiful building, the 3rd largest Parliament in the world, and the family Gross would be taking the tour there.]

[We have exited the trolley and are now hiking across Margaret Bridge to Margaret Island. It’s a great day to be a Margaret.]

[The entry to the island park after a rather lengthy pedestrian walkway to get there.  OK, quarter of a mile.]

[What better way to see the island . . . a quadricycle!  All we were told was don’t go on the grassy areas.]

[And my task from backseat left was to capture the color of the area.  🙂  ]

[The entire trip took about an hour.  The Super managed to avoid every pedestrian in her path along the route.]

[Although we had taken the trolley to get here, we decided to walk back.  This is where living in one of the few countries not under the metric system bit us.  We thought 420 km equaled about a half mile!  Anyway, the top photo is walking up “the ramp” out of the park, and the rest are on Margaret Bridge with the Parliament behind us.]

[Parliament, the Olympic rings in Hungarian colors, the Parliament’s dock (?),  and Matthias Church on the Buda side of the river.]

[This is why we’re glad we walked, though it was a too warm, sunny day.  ‘The Shoes.”  A monument to Jews who in WWII were ordered to take off their shoes here and were then shot so their bodies would fall into the water.  It is quite a moving tribute.  We thought we would see this on a later bus tour, but the site was just acknowledged as we drove by.]

[A little rest on the way home is good!  😉  ]

[Chain Bridge.  On the far side left you can see the funicular to the top of the hill.  We had hoped to take it later, but it wasn’t open for the season (?) yet.]

[Flowers and the Super with a friend.]

[“Danube Wind,” an outdoor sculpture on the promenade near our hotel.]

[After a long day of hiking and biking (was this the day Karen registered 7 miles on her pedometer?), a little vino and antipasto on hotel’s front outdoor terrace.  Life is good.]

[Now we’re heading out for dinner.  It’s Budapest Spring Festival time!  Little did we know!  We’re heading to another restaurant recommended by the hotel in the Varoshaza Park neighborhood.]

[Kathy’s moment . . . ]

[We zeroing in on it!]

[The restaurant is Cyrano, the diners are us (Rita and Karen took a pass from the late night dining), my dinner was duck breast in lentils, the Super had pasta with Gouda cheese (she had the antipasto earlier, so this was enough – she pronounced it “very good”), and . . . dessert!]

[The nighttime stroll through the park . . .]

[Followed by a nighttime stroll on the promenade.  Not too shabby.]

[Our hotel.]

I never cease being dumbfounded by the unbelievable things people believe.  ~ Leo Rosten

Up next:   A boat?