Budapest (in the pouring rain, of course)

Well, this time I’m STARTING writing my blog after midnight. Luckily, we plan to sleep in tomorrow morning.

We woke to the alarm and 7 and I went and got ready for the day. Of course, it was puring with rain when we looked out the window. Sam made us some excellent scrambled eggs – I had mine Indian style (egg bhurji) while Sheila had plain, but with some Hungarian mild paprika sprinkled on top.

We were dropped at the tram station and headed to Szell Kalman Ter to meet Zsofi, our Budapest tour guide at 10. She was a delightful, tiny, bubbly, pretty young lady who spoke perfect English and was not just knowledgeable, but fun. We spent a fun 4 hours with her visiting the Castle District, Mattias Church, Pest, St. Stephen’s Basilica, all in driving rain. But her personality and entertaining patter helped keep our spirits up despite feeling wet and cold. We hadn’t packed for 50-degree weather and the damp and cold winds kept us chilly. Still, we really had a great day. The cathedrals were just spectacular – each one besting the one before. The decorations and sculptures are truly breathtaking. We ended the tour at the original Ruin Pub. Apparently, there was this area of Pest that was run down and crumbling. Previously graceful classical buildings were falling into ruin. A couple of entrepreneurs decided to rent one of those crumbling buildings and open a bar. Since this was a derelict area, they decided to keep the place in its ruinous form that served not only as an interesting artistic statement, but a practical cost-saving measure. It was a hit. More and more bars opened up in the area (Ruin Pubs), making it the hippest nightlife in town for the younger crowd. Interestingly, the success of the ruin pubs have led to a great restoration and revitalization of the area.

After the day tour, we said our goodbyes to Zsofi and had lunch of goulash and pork loins at a local restaurant in the area called Kazimir. It was excellent. On our way to the Parliament Buildings, we went by the Budapest Opera House and stopped in to find that their final English tour of the day was starting in 15 minutes at 4 PM. We paid for the tour and a “mini-concert” (involving a singer singing a couple of quick arias) and enjoyed touring the spectacular opera house.

We then headed to the Alexandra Book Shop that has an incredible café on the upper floor. The café is housed in a beautifully restored hall decorated in detailed classical style. It felt like we were drinking coffee in a palace. We also had some great cake at the place before heading to our next destination.

We took a tram to the Hero’s Square which all made a lot more sense after getting the great history lesson from Zsofi. I now know the significance of 96 (896 AD and 1896 AD) to Hungarians, the role played by Istivan (St. Stephen) and Mattias in their history and why there are seven horses on the chariot at the square. We wandered around the square and the palace grounds behind it before heading home.

Sam, Anita, Sanjukta and Sid were home for a great Indian dinner and excellent conversation. We had a great time joking and reminiscing while polishing off a couple of bottles of wine.

It was almost midnight when the party disbanded and well after midnight when I started writing this blog.

We had another great, busy day and plan to sleep in tomorrow morning and taking our time before beginning the long drive to Prague. Yes, it rained all day, but I can confidently say there is nothing we couldn’t do or chose not to do because of the weather. We spent the entire day walking around Budapest and proved up to the challenge thrown down by Mother Nature. All in all, a great day.