September 28

Tuesday, September 28
This morning we bid farewell to Budapest and started our journey to Vienna. Tom had everyone well organized and we left on schedule at 8:30. Our journey would take us through the Hungarian countryside via the Tihany Peninsula on Lake Balaton. This lake is central Europe’s largest lake. Although it is not particularly deep, it is about 70 km long and is about 5 km at it’s widest part. In the summer it is very popular with tourists from all over eastern Europe and from as far away as Russia. It is a popular wine district with excellent white wines being produced. We stopped and visited the Tihany Benedictine Abby. The Abby dates back to1055 and contains the world’s oldest document featuring the Hungarian language. There is a museum located in an adjoining building which featured a collection of photographs by a leading Hungarian photographer. This collection concentrated on life in that part of Hungary between 1960 and the present time. The pictures showed the people and their life styles. Lunch was arranged at a small restaurant in the village afterwards. Afterwards we headed to Vienna after dropping our local guide off near the Austrian boarder as she was returning to Budapest by train. We arrived at the hotel about 6:00 pm. We are at the Hilton Vienna Danube, situated on the river and we have a huge room on the 4th floor looking out over the river. An other fabulous property. Tomorrow is a full day with a city tour most of the day followed by dinner at the Schonbrunn Palace and a classical concert. I will report on the day in a later entry. Internet time is not free and the charge here is 10 euros for 1 hour. So I have to make the most of the time.

Sept 27 Budapest

Budapest Monday Sept 27
Today was a free day for us to do what ever we wanted to do. I was not looking forward to spending a day following Gale around every store in Budapest. We took the bus and subway from the hotel to the downtown area with out getting lost. We compromised and while Gale wandered through a variety of stores I wandered the back streets looking for new sights that had eluded us on our prior visit to the downtown area. This worked out well as Gale got to do more shopping and I got to see more of the sites. We had an enjoyable lunch of stuffed cabbage and sausage at a small cafe on one of the side streets Afterwards a short subway trip back to our hotel and we once again took advantage of the thermal pool facilities. We got to spend some time with our tour manager Tom Jacobson. He is a retired school teacher who currently lives in Windsor. He does tours for Senior tours as a contract Tour manager. He is originally from Hungary and has a great personality. Everything is very casual but he manages to move the tour on without any complications. So far Gale and I are really impressed with the quality facilities that have been arranged for this tour. For the evening dinner and entertainment, a cruise on the Danube was arranged. A small river boat picked us up at the hotel dock and we cruised down to the downtown point of the river and back. There was champagne offered as we embarked the boat and an excellent buffet spread followed with wine. After seeing the buildings and bridges from high above the city on Saturday evening, it was a special treat to again see the same sights from the river level. The cruise lasted approximately 2 hours and it was a fabulous way to bid farewell to Budapest. After 4 days everyone has got to really blend in and we are really enjoying our new acquaintances. Back to our room to pack for an early departure in the morning.

Budapest 26 September

It is 4 days since we left home and this is the first time that I have made time to put our first entry for this trip. Although we left Ottawa 30 minutes late last Thursday, our pilot managed to make up the time and we arrived early in Frankfurt. A quick turnaround had us on our connecting flight to Budapest and we were at our hotel by 11:30. The Danubius Spa Hotel is a great spot to call home for our stay to Budapest. Our room is very comfortable and has some great spa facilities. There are thermal springs on Margitsziet and they feed several pools in the spa. Our jet lagged bodies were in appreciation of the warm soothing pools. There are 41 persons in our travel group and they arrived at the hotel at around 5:00 pm and Gale and I really were glad that we made our own travel arrangements. All of the people on the trip are senior folks and come from all across Canada. We are joined by 8 other people from the Ottawa area and have folks from Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Montreal, Toronto and London. We have had a chance to meet most of the people we have a great group to travel with. Yesterday we had city tour of Budapest and saw many highlights of the area. The architecture of the old buildings is very impressive considering what the Hungarian people have been through. There is still quite a lot of original buildings and a great deal of restoration has been undertaken. We were taken to the main city market building where we experienced where the locals do their shopping. Lots of fresh produce and butcher shops and also a chance to sample some of the local foods prepared in small booths. Gale and I had a local item called Langos. At home this is very close to a beaver tail except that it was loaded with fresh cheese, sour cream, onions and many other optional ingredients. Not exactly diet fare. We were later taken to one of the oldest coffee and pastry shops where we sampled a selection of Hungarian pastry and a strong coffee. Later that evening we were taken to the Citadel Restaurant which is in a restored military building high above the city. The views were spectacular at night with all of the historical buildings and bridges across the Danube being illuminated. The food was traditional Hungarian and there were folk dancers and musicians. I think it is impossible to have a meal without Gypsy musicians. By now we are getting a bit tired of violin serenading.
Today we left the hotel in the morning for a tour of the country side around the Danube Bend. This is the area where the Danube changes direction as it winds its way through Hungary. We visited Esztergom where the center of Hungary’s Catholic church is located . The cathedral and surrounding buildings was most impressive. We had lunch at a neat restaurant situated high above the Danube (more Gypsy music) and then on to a small artisan village called Szentendre. We only had one hour to wander through the village and look at the various shops and local handcrafts. Of course I was happy to only spend one hour but there were several complaints about the lack of time for the women to go shopping. Gale and I are enjoying the trip so far and it is so very different form what we have experienced in the past. It is nice to have some one else do all the planning and driving. Tomorrow is a free day and we will head back in to the center of Budapest to revisit the area that we did not have a lot of time to see on Saturday. (By now I am sure that you have figured out that means shopping) I have attached some pictures of the trip so far so enjoy. The next entry will probably be when we get to Vienna.