Central Europe Day 2: Budapest

After a wonderful breakfast at the Hotel Casati, we met with Dorca, our private tour guide. She was a young lady in her twenties who escorted us to key places in Budapest and taught us how to use the metro. We visited St. Stephen's square again then went inside the Opera for a quick look. We then walked to Nagymezo Street, which was like the Hollywood Boulevard of Budapest. Here we say bronze inlays in the sidewalk of the shoe prints of famous Hungarian film stars and artists. We also saw the original photography studio for the Habsburg royal family that has currently been restored to be used as a photography exhibition studio.

Traveling down Andrassy street, we visited the House of Terror, which was the former headquarters for Nazi and Soviet regimes who used to imprison, torture and kill anyone who disagreed with their regimes. There was a replica of the Iron Curtain in front of the building as well as part of the Berlin wall. Many small portraits were posted around the building. These were pictures of revolutionaries who were assassinated during the 1956 revolt against the Soviet occupation. We did not have time to tour the museum, but it will be top priority should we ever return.

Dorca next took us to Heroe's Square where we were faced with a statue of the Archangel Gabriel and mounted chiefs from the 7 Magyar tribes that founded the original Hungarian territory. Behind the statue are 14 statues devoted to various Kings and rulers of Hungary.

Next we headed by metro to Városliget Park and the Széchenyl Baths. The park was beautiful. It was filled with a re-constructed castle complex that depicted various styles of architecture. It was built for a millennium celebration in 1896. The baths were interesting, but we vowed before the trip that we would not be packing bathing suits in order to enter into the thermal springs of Budapest. It seemed like many seniors frequented the baths, although Dorca mentioned that she had been there a few nights past. To each his own.

From there, we ventured into a cafe for coffee, cake, and a restroom. This was a welcomed rest. It was such a hot day in Budapest. The shade felt good. We needed our energy for our next adventure took us by bus to the castle district on the Buda side. The bus took us up the hill into the district where we walked to the castle and saw mounted soldiers, quaint streets, and spectacular views of the city from the walls of the castle.

Dorca then led us to the Fisherman's Bastion and St. Matthias church. This was a beautiful area. The wall of the Fisherman's Bastion contained 7 towers that represented the 7 Magyar tribes. We got many beautiful pictures from this area. The white limestone buildings seemed extra bright in the hot sun. Dorca left us up here to explore.

We decided to make our way down the hill on foot rather than take public transportation. We made our way down the hill and spent some time at Buda Castle, which is now a museum district. We did not stay here long, as we were beginning to falter from the heat, so we grabbed some water and gelato before finishing the trek to the bottom of the hill. We crossed the Chain Bridge on foot an once again found ourselves on the Pest side. While walking back to our hotel for a rest and cool air, we came across some kind of international parade that ended up in St. Stephen's Square. There was also what appeared to be a feminist demonstration in the square as well.

It rained while we rested, yet it was still warm when we ventured out to see the Parliament building. We ran into the statue of Ronald Reagan on the way. I made Pam pose for a picture with him. After all, we must tolerate those who are of different opinion with us, right? The Parliament building was beautiful. We ended the day with a bottle of white wine, and dishes of sausage with ratatouille, stuffed cabbage with sausage, and baked eggplant. Yum!

Central Europe Day 1: Budapest

Meagan, Pam and I met in Philadelphia to board our international flight to Budapest. After an 8 hour flight we finally arrived and were eager to stretch our legs. We passed through Passport Control and were met by a man holding a sign with my name on it. He helped load up our bags into his car and took us directly to our hotel in Budapest. The Casati Hotel was centrally located, tucked away on Paulay Ede Utca (street). Our room was modern and spacious with a small balcony attached. It was large enough to include a sitting room, which spoiled us right off the bat! Since we arrived before the room was ready, we stored our luggage and took to the streets, each of us jet-lagged.

Pamela was our navigator and she didn't miss a beat! She often referred to a Rick Steves guide book as well as our instruction booklet from Go Real Europe. It wasn't long before we were calling her "Little Ricky", much to her dismay. We explored Andrassy Utca, a large shopping street, where we exchanged dollars for Forints and found a cafe for coffee and a sandwich.

Next, we made our way to St. Stephen's square where we toured St. Stephen's Basilica. Stephen was the first king of Hungary (975-1038). He was baptized in the Christian church and was sainted after his death. He is the patron saint of Hungry whose saint's day is celebrated on August 20. Supposedly his right hand is preserved for all to see in the reliquary of the church. (We opted not to see this.) We did, however, pay to go to the top of the basilica where we saw stunning views of the city.

After finally checking into our room and freshening up, we made our way to the Danube to purchase tickets for the 5:00 day cruise down the river. This was a wonderful introduction to the city as we saw many landmarks from the Pest side of the city as well as the Buda side. The Pest side was more modern, dating from the 19th and 20th centuries, while the Buda side held older landmarks that were still preserved, such as the fortress and abbey. The highlight of the cruise though, was the glass of cold beer and red wine they served us, followed by fresh-squeezed lemonade. The beverages and the cool breeze from the river refreshed our weary, jet-lagged bodies. It was just what we needed!

We ended the day by having dinner at the Kisharang Etkézde restaurant where we enjoyed the typical local specialties of mushroom goulash and chicken paprikas. Then it was early to bed!

Central Europe, June 9-20, 2018

Happy Birthday, Meagan and Pam! Let's go to Europe to celebrate!

And so we did. We custom-designed a tour through Go Real Europe, a travel company based in Prague. It was perfect! We spent 12 well organized days traveling through central Europe, primarily visiting the cities of Budapest, Vienna, Cesky Krumlov, and Salzburg. We also visited the smaller towns of Melk and Dürnstein in the Wachau Valley along the Danube, and traveled to the lake district of Austria for a brief visit to the quaint little town of Monsee. All of our hotels and transports from city to city were pre-arranged. We had a private guided tour in each of the major cities and private cars and shuttles taking us to our hotels. Who could ask for more! It was so nice not to have to travel with large groups as we explored each city. What a great way to celebrate a 40th birthday! Where shall we go to celebrate the 50th?

Back To The Cold

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving this paradise and heading into the snow and ice of Ohio. Well, we will probably only make it to Kentucky, but I can't imagine it is very warm there. We have had a great 6 weeks and have been blessed to be able to do this. We visited Mary and Jerry one more time today. We got to laughing at the way we have been almost free-loading on this trip to Destin. Jerry was making fun of the way we had to pay next to nothing for our penthouse. We realized we even free loaded when we visited him. They couldn't remember the combination to the beach-access gate used by their condo, so all of this time we have been breaking into the gate used by the condos next door to him. This afternoon, while we were sitting there free loading, a man brought a table down and told us they were going to have a wine and cheese party FOR US later in the afternoon. We thanked him like we knew that we were entitled to that, without letting him know that 2 of us were from a different condo and the other 2 were just simple free loaders. We laughed hysterically after he left. Jerry started calling us squatters, which made us laugh even more! We will have stories to tell!

The best thing about being in Destin is seeing my sister, Barb. It has been too long. Our lives are totally different, but we discovered that we laugh alike, look similar, and even have mannerisms that are the same. We are proud of our heritage and eager to share our family traditions with those around us. Thank you Mom and Dad, for making all of this trip possible. I wouldn't be surprised if they were looking down on us smiling at the sight of us together. That always made them happy!

Barb's Transformer Car

Aunt Barb has a really cool hard-top Volkswagen convertible. After our boat trip on Saturday, she demonstrated how the top went down. I didn't have my camera ready in time to put the top down, but I was able to get it going up. I hope you enjoy all the moving parts!

Destin Boat Trip

It was close to 70 degrees Saturday, so Tony thought it would be a good day to take the boat out. We traveled along the harbor then went out near the ocean to anchor down for a while. Mary's dog Icky went with us and did fine on the boat. I seemed to be the only one having problems with motion, so I was under the influence of Dramamine. We had a great time. Barb and Tony are always gracious to take us out on their boat when we come down here.

In Search of Margaritaville

Friday we walked the beach, had lunch at the Boat House with Mary and Jerry, and walked along the Harbor Walk investigating the shops along the way. Our mission was to find Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville to buy T-shirts for friends up north. The Harbor Walk also had docks with boats used for fishing excursions and tours. We saw a lot of people coming back with the catch of the day. The fish was cleaned on the spot, which attracted several pelicans. We got a great picture of them, as they did not seem too afraid of all the humans in the area. They concentrated only on the fish that were being cleaned.

We finally found Margaritaville and were able to make our purchases. We caught this great picture of Earl's shopping experience and enjoyed the Florida sun in the chairs outside the store.