Budapest....all I can say is "WOW"

My feet are killing me...I even have a blister...but who cares. Budapest is awesome and if you ever get the chance...GO! My only regret is that this tour was mostly a bus tour.  I say "mostly" because buses are banned from old town Buda and we did a walking tour there.  Pest, while not quite as cool, did have some awesome sights and many of my photos did not come out well through the bus window (I need to invest in a polarizing lens). I did take over 100 photos, so a selection is shared here :).

Anyway, did get up at 5:30am and made it to the bus with plenty of  time to spare.  We had a fairly small group (only 9 people) and a whole bus, so plenty of room.  There were a few Americans, a Canadian, a Brazilian, couple of Filipinos, Italians, Australians, and a girl from Switzerland.  Most of us spoke English, with the exception of the Swiss girl (who did speak *some* English, and the Italians...who spoke some English as well).

The drive to Budapest is 3 hours and there is no stopping at the border as both Austria and Hungary are part of the European Union (although the old border gates are still there).  Lovely scenery once we got out of the city.  Lots of farmland in the early stages of planting...or newly planted.  Again, as in England last year, rape flowers where blooming  (rape seeds are a crop harvested for bio-diesel...and for canola oil as well).

Interspersed were towns and villages with steep red-tiled roofs.  There were also lot and lots of wind farms. It appears that Austria and Hungary get a lot of their electricity from wind power.

As we approached Budapest (from the Buda side) it began to get hillier as it had been mostly flat most of the way.  First we crossed over the Chain Bridge into Pest and headed to the center of the city.  Our first stop was Hero's Square (Hősök tere).

This is the column in the middle of the monument.  We had 30 minutes to wander around the square, so I didn't go far.  Flanking the square is the Museum of Fine Arts...which looks like any museum you'd see in any large city.

On the other side if the palace of art...which has a cool mosaic at the top.  You can see St. Stephen in the center...he is the first King of Hungary.

We then loaded back onto the bus and headed back to the Buda side of the city.  In the old city, in what used to be part of a monastery, we had lunch in a quiet little restaurant. For most, it consisted of traditional Hungarian Goulash soup, Chicken Paprikash with noodles, and a biscuit with apricots covered with chocolate and cream.  As the soup had pork in it, I was offered a vegetarian option which was a creamy mushroom soup with walnuts in it.  It was all super yummy.  My Oma used to make Chicken Paprikash and it was very similar.  She didn't use tomato or green pepper...but it didn't change the taste much.

When we were done, we met with our local tour guide who took us on a short walk through old city Buda.

Much of Buda was severely damaged during the Second World War.  This is one of the few buildings that hasn't been restored.  Our guide told us that the government has been promising to do it for the last 25 years or so.

This is the view down the main street.  If you look closely at that third building, it is painted with a colorful pattern.  This is authentic to how it would have appeared in Medieval times.

This is the Holy Trinity Column in the middle of Old Buda. 75% of Budapest is Catholic.

This is Matthias Church, named after King Matthias who was married here and also ordered the transformation of the main tower.  All of the Hapsburg kings were crowned here (remember, it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire) which is why it is also known as The Coronation Church.

I really thought the ceramic tiles on the roof deserved another look.  Pretty, right?  We then hung out a bit on the Fisherman's Bastion, an area behind the church overlooking the Danube.

These two falconers were there with their raptors and you could get your photo taken with them.  That bird on the right is HUGE.

This is a view from the Fisherman's Bastion looking across the Danube at Pest.

Also from The Bastion, looking at Parliament.

These two guys were also there, playing music. We walked back down the street toward the bus and went into a shop with traditional Budapest embroidered goods.  Of course I bought a table runner...

Back across the bridge to Pest, where we did the bus half of the tour.  We actually went around in a few circles and I didn't get too many really good photos.

Apparently, my reflexes are really good because I got this shot of St. Stephen's Basilica as we drove by.

This is from the other side, and you can see some of the 12 Apostles that appear round the back part of the roof.

Also, Hungary has the second largest Synagogue in the World.  The largest is in New York.  Tried very hard to get a good photo, but got a lot of bus window glare and we drive very close to it...so this is the best I have. It is absolutely beautiful.

After we drove around a bit, we were dropped off in the center of town to wander about on our own.  I did seriously consider going to the Basilica, but wanted to get my souvenir shopping done first.   Kind of ran short on time, so decided on a snack instead.

Yes...the shopping.  I got a ceramic jar of Hungarian paprika shaped like a...paprika pepper.  Also, an embroidered - shirt, hand-painted eggs for my Christmas tree, a couple of other hand-painted kitchen items, a small ceramic hand-painted pitcher...and a couple of gifts.  I also found a Lush store....wooohooo!

I headed back to the bus early in case I got lost...because I know myself.

The lot where the bus met us was RIGHT next to the Danube....the freakin' DANUBE!  I had to take a bunch of photos....here's a good one.

Everyone piled into the bus...and it was Goodbye Budapest.  In rush hour...LOL.  We also got our bus pulled over on the way back by Hungarian Police doing random passport checks (mostly, they are looking for people smuggling things like alcohol and tobacco...and using fake passports).  They were especially fascinated by the Brazilian passport in our group (guess they don't see too many of those).

We headed back out on the highway.

Past more little towns with red roofs and big churches in the middle.  Back into Austria

With the giant  wind farms that had me so fascinated.  Here you can also see the rape flowers.  We got back to Vienna around 8pm and I walked back to my apartment from the Opera.  Tired, ouchie feet....but what a great day!

Sleep now, tomorrow is my birthday and I am determined to have a Viennese Breakfast at the Museum Cafe (where lots of artists and writers hung out).  I think St. Stephen's Cathedral and maybe some more Klimt too.