BUDAPEST

Budapest, Tuesday January 4, 2011

We opened our curtains to a wonderful white world again. The river was quite narrow and the trees which came right down to the water's edge were all covered with frozen snow. Clearly we were in for another cold day. I went up on deck as Frank had suggested for our arrival into Budapest and although it was a misty morning with light snow falling, it certainly was an impressive sight, as he had promised. The Parliament building was the first massive structure to come into view on the Pest side and then the hilly Buda crowned with the castle.

 

We duly assembled for our tour after breakfast and were surprised at how beautiful the city was, with magnificent buildings in all directions. I suppose we should not have been because after all this city was the centre of an enormous Empire for centuries. Our trip included a visit to the Castle and Cathedral high above the city. It was as cold as......up there with gentle snow falling from time to time. We followed the group leader for a while, but dropped out to examine the shops more closely. Rab lashed out on a little souvenir plate of all things - quite a surprise since we got rid of most of our collection in the Great Move back to Australia. She also finally succumbed to the cold (and my suggestions) and started looking for something to keep her head and ears warm. She found a snood like article in a market which is perfect. Fur lined it has long knitted side pieces that can be used like a scarf. Perfect for keeping warm.

We were back at the ship for lunch and it was proposed that we should spend the afternoon there - just like those old folks in Cape Town all those years ago. Fortunately one of the other couples, Barry and Diane, said they were going shopping and that eventually provided sufficient impetus to set us off with them. We caught the very cold and very old shuttle across to the Pest side, since we were tied up in Buda and the shops were in Pest. After fighting our way past some extensive building operations, we found ourselves in the Vinca (as I think the main shopping street is called). Rab was in her element and I spent a good deal of time watching the passing show in the street as she shopped. I preferred standing in the cold rather than the heat of the shops. There were some sights to see – clearly no 'Winter Fashion' had been established. There were many beautiful fur coats about too, which must really annoy PETA and it was the pale caramel ones that looked the smartest I thought. The young girls tended to wear something similar - tights with high boots or long stockings up to their knees and a mini skirt above with a short coat above that.

At one stage I was leaning on a lamp post reading the paper we had bought for Archie, when a voice said to me "Hello, kind sir." in a suitably foreign accent. It was Hugh and Richard, the gay couple who had proved to be such good company on the trip. They asked if I was waiting to be picked up? They were walking back to the ship across the Chain Bridge and invited us to join them. I said there was no chance of that happening, but we did walk as far as the remains of the Xmas Market.

After browsing around there we had a lovely cup of coffee and shared a homey cake before strolling back to the now very cold shuttle and on tom the ship to do our packing. Even though it was such a short stay and just a glance at this great city, we really enjoyed our stay. We also had a good laugh at a large banner at the Art Museum advertising an exhibition of art which used two very large people as models - I said I couldn't recall us posing as model for those pictures.

There was quite an atmosphere of frivolity as it was the last evening we were all together, with the first passengers leaving at 4.45 the following morning! Most people said they had enjoyed themselves thoroughly and counted the trip as a great success. Of course there were also those who found complaints to dig up but I think they were inn the minority.

They had some Hungarian entertainers on in the evening and whilst I am sure they were very good, I found myself nodding off in the first number and by the time the Hi-Hi-ing dancers had slapped their boots for the third dance I was happy to agree to Rab's suggestion to call it a night - Hugh and Richard having sneaked off even earlier.