Friday, September 27, Budapest and Buchrest

Spent our last half day in Budapest walking to Margaret Island, just because it was one of the few remaining "must see" places we hadn't hit.  Didn't have time to explore it adequately, but did get the views from the bridge and saw the fountain.  The fountain does an hourly water show set to music.  We heard the Jerusalem March from Nabucco and "Who Will Stop the Rain." Something for everybody.  And that just about sums up our visit.  We saw puppet shows and ballet, churches and synagogues, ate well and ate junk, saw city and villages and countryside.  And we had a great time.

View of Pest from Margaret Bridge

Fountain on Margaret Island

View from the bridge: Buda

Surprise Art Nouveau building discovered on the way back to the hotel.  Are we back in Barcelona?

Got to the airport with time to spare and needed to spend the last of our Monopoly money. (100 forints are about 44 cents, so we had carried around 2000, 5000, 10,000, and even 50,000 notes, and it doesn't feel like real money.) Bought candy at the airport, ostensibly for the kids, but we all know who really will eat it.

Trip uneventful, though not without trepidation when I saw the little Romanian Airlines plane.  Rode into Bucharest during rush hour and the cars look new, the boulevards wide and green, and saw beautiful large residences and embassies and institutions in varying states of repair.  As we came into center city, we passed lots of Soviet era architecture (ugly) and when we walked to dinner found even the nice 19th century buildings are crumbling along with the pavements.  Walking is a risky undertaking what with the loose tiles, projecting metal pieces and dog poop everywhere on the sidewalks.

Had a wonderful dinner but got lost on the way back, trying to take a short cut instead of the major boulevards.  And everything looks different after dark.  Asked directions and one guy sent us in the opposite direction of what we needed, but I'm sure it wasn't deliberate.  Anyway, hadn't realized we're staying in the neighborhood of the Hilton and Radisson and ritzy shopping because we drove in from the other direction. Our place is a small boutique hotel, the Hotel Amzei, with a huge room facing a courtyard.  Thank you, Charlie, for such great advance planning.

22,067 steps (9.4 miles) and I'm sure not even 10% were going in circles