Central Market!

​I forgot I hadn’t told you anything about Central market! It was crazy, huge, and packed with people! Still, I enjoyed walking through and seeing the various items for sale, along with fresh meats, sausages, cheeses, and breads. I can’t imagine the locals shopping here often because of the heavy tourist traffic, but it sure seemed like they were!  Amazing to sit back and watch people walking around. I enjoyed some local cheese strudel while I did just that. 😊

For lunch, I stopped for a bit and ordered the “Taste of Hungry”. It had some sort of layered potato casserole, a stuffed cabbage roll, the popular Hungarian goulash soup, and the infamous shredded cabbage salad. The only two worth eating entirely were the cabbage roll and the fresh cabbage slaw. Both were delicious! I have yet to find cabbage slaw in these Slavic countries that I dislike!

Off Again

​I’ve done a fantastic job of checking off the things I had put on my itinerary before leaving for Europe. Today I will visit St. Stephen’s Basilica, and then find the funicular that will take me back up to the castle district on the Pest side. My Google maps is easily accessible within Wifi range of the hotel, so I’m taking screenshots of the streets I’ll need to watch for during my travel down and back again. It will be fairly straightforward today, as St. Stephens is on the way to the funicular. A double plus!  And I’ve got my ride pre-booked to the airport early tomorrow morning, so all that is left beyond having one, last adventure filled day in Budapest is packing up! And I’ve still got a glass of wine to enjoy while I do that. 😃HAPSBURG wine 😂😂👏👏!  Marie Antoinette was a Hapsburg 😃😱!

My breakfast fare has typically been half protein and half carb…energy and stamina! 👏👏👏🤣

I will miss these lovely breakfast buffets when I leave. I wonder if I can convince Dean to start cooking breakfast for me…🤭 

And in going through my pictures, I can’t remember if I posted this lovely one from yesterday…

Miracle Machine

​These must be a thing in Europe, because every single hotel I have stayed at had one! You push a button, pick your choice of coffee and it’s delivered into a cup within 30 seconds😱🤣👏👏👏👏😂😂!

Running on Empty

​I am wondering if my eSIM has expired somehow… I could not access Google Maps enough to be useful today.  Fortunately I was able to find my way back to my hotel when I was done in 😂. Needless to say, I am a little bit beyond exhausted. Lots of steps today, but it was a peaceful and low-key day not having to adhere to a schedule.  I stopped at Aldi on the way back to my hotel, which was started by the brother of the man who started the Trader Joe’s conglomerate, believe it or not! Although the two are not at all alike, I was able to pick up some cheese, sliced meat, and a fresh baked roll to enjoy for dinner. I still have Hapsburg wine that I’m working on, since I won’t be taking it with me, so that was a treat!  

So right now I’ve got my feet propped up and I’m watching Hungary‘s version of ‘Border Patrol.’ It’s quite entertaining, because although I can’t understand a word that is being said, I get the gist of it…that  people are in trouble for trying to sneak things into the country. 😂😂😂 

It brings to mine the horrific experience I had at Charles de Gaulle airport this time around. Charles de Gaulle is rarely easy to navigate from past experience, but while trying to make a short connection this time around, there was a lengthy line to go through security all over again, even though each of us had just gotten off of the international flight from MSP. I was told to take my liquids out of my suitcase, which I did, and even though they were already in a quart sized, airline approved bag, the woman helping me took a sandwich sized plastic bag and told me they needed to be put in that. Of course, they wouldn’t fit, so I was left arguing with the lady, and I finally told her that my contact solution is considered a medication so I needed a separate bag for that. She tossed one at me 🙄. After those two bottles had been removed, I was able to barely squeeze the rest into the sandwich size bag I had been given. Needless to say, I am using up the liquids I did bring over, because they are nearly empty anyway and without any liquids in them, thus reducing my liquids on my return to roughly 3 bottles, as I will once more go through Charles de Gaulle.🙄 If at all possible, I will avoid going through Paris at all costs in the future because it’s rarely been a pleasant experience!

But alas, I digress. I will blame it on my fatigue. I took several beautiful pictures today, and the Holocaust Museum was very sad, but a beautiful memorial to those who perished in the death camps. The synagogue was beautiful as well, so I was able to end the morning on a happier note. 😔

Some pretty from my walk-about 💕

And I saw this at the Aldi I went to! This is the liquor factory we went to yesterday…UNICUM!  And the family name is ZWAK 😃. 

I’m not sure what this is, but I think it’s a barge of some sort. Definitely not a people mover. 😊

And would you look at that beautiful blue sky? It’s been nothing but since I arrived here! Way back on the 21st!

This is the perimeter wall at street level of the castle compound (Pest side). There are steps going up into the palace complex, but I didn’t have the energy to climb up there today. 😂

A beautiful memorial to a Hungarian Saint. 

I wondered if this was the servants entrance😱!

All in all, it was a wonderful, relaxing, and enjoyable day. Tomorrow will be my last day in Budapest, and I haven’t quite decided what I want to do. There are still a few things on my list, so I won’t have difficulty choosing, I’ll just have to be selective. But for now, I will call it a night! Know that I love you all dearly and look forward to being back to my home country once again.💕🤗💕

OOPSIE😳!

​Guess I didn’t realize the confusion having my room keycard re-done would be, seeing as how I am technically in Vince’s room 😬😂!  When I initially checked in, the gentleman told me just to stop down and have my keycard refreshed so I didn’t have to change rooms and pack up all of my belongings, only  to check in again later this afternoon. But then when Vince , tour director, tried to come into my room, which was actually HIS room…

(Vince 😂😂)

… we decided rather than go back downstairs and get everything sorted, we would just swap room keys. I hadn’t realized that his name would still be under room 214, and my room would still be under 216.😂😂  So when the young lady asked, “What was your room number?” I said, “Now that’s a funny story!”   I tried to keep it brief and help her understand the rationality of just swapping room keys rather than going down after a long day’s drive and having them figure out what went wrong 😂.  It took a few minutes, but she eventually gave me a NEW key to room 214 😂👏👏. But you can be assured that I secure myself in with the deadbolt every evening! 😂😂😂😂

Return to Israel

​Now that I am happily on my own again, I will visit the Jewish synagogue this morning. It is the second largest synagogue in the world, second only to the one found in New York, I believe.  Just around the corner from that is the Holocaust Museum. I will visit that afterwards to get a perspective from Hungary‘s viewpoint. The Hungarian Jewish population was more fortunate in that by the time the Germans made it to Hungary, the war was nearly over (1944), so most of the Hungarian Jews were spared.  

There is also a museum in the home of the former KGB of Hungary. I may or may not visit that, depending on my time. Today will also be a stroll through Central Market, just to see the local wares, artisan goods, and popular street food. I canceled my remaining two solo tours, one of which was a Danube River, cruise, simply because I hadn’t realized we had one already scheduled with the group, and the second was a food tour, which is the night before I leave, and I intend to be in bed long before it would be over, as my flight departs at 6 am, so that means an airport transfer pick-up at about 3:30 am 😬. But leaving on the early flight was the only way I could make it home on the same day. And I’m looking forward to getting home. 💕

Some scenes from yesterday 🤗…

Michelle and I snuck off to try a couple of appetizers at a local Jewish restaurant. Hands-down, the most friendly and kind servers and restaurant staff ever. And I mean EVER!

I just love the beautifully decorative manhole covers in Europe! Especially when they remind me where I am😂😂👏👏!

There is a very popular liquor which was created and nurtured in Hungary. I’ll have to remember the name of it as the day goes on, because it slips my mind just now.  But this was one of the oak barrels the liquor is aged in, and which survived World War II. Apparently, the Germans, towards the end of the war, when they were making an attempt to destroy Hungary, were gathering all of the wood available to use for fire to destroy bridges, and structures. For some reason, they skipped this barrel, and it was speculated due to its massive size. It is the largest one in the ‘aging cave’.

Just couldn’t help snapping a shot of this! Can’t imagine having this face greet you every day 😂😂😂!

😂😂😂 A sign in the chocolate shop we visited. Not sure what the significance is in Hungarian, but it was on a lot of marketing signage. 😂

Street views of the parliament building💕.

Above is a photo of the wall around the palace complex on the Pest side of Budapest. 😊  

We were all wondering, who’s minding baby!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I was always so grateful for Michelle‘s bright and vibrant clothing! I could easily spot her in any crowd 😂😂😂💕. 

Off to breakfast now! 🤗☕️🍳

Goodbyes

​In just 30 minutes we will begin our  farewell dinner. It has been an amazing last day in beautiful Budapest. We started out on the ‘Pest’ side, and ended up on the ‘Buda’ side. Believe it or not, they are considered two, unique and separate cities. Hungary, like Austria and Czechoslovakia, has also has a tragic history.  But I won’t go into that now. Instead, I’ll cut the blog short tonight, but I’ll be able to write more freely since I’ll be back to being a solo traveler again as of tomorrow morning. To be truthful, I am looking forward to that.💕

Last night we enjoyed a Danube River cruise, so I will post some of the beautiful shots I was able to get on the deck as we returned to the dock. 🤗

This is the parliament building, in all its splenfor!

A wonderfully enchanting evening was had by all!🤗