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.