Saturday, December 29, 2018: Day 2; Budapest Tour

Got up this morning at 6:00 am and got down to breakfast before 7:00 am. Buffet style and it was pretty good. Bacon done "American" style.

We showed up in the hotel lobby as requested around 8:15 am. The tour members were assembling and Andrea, the tour manager, introduced herself to us and gave us a packet of information we would need to board the train on Sunday. There appear to be about 20 guests on the tour. The range in age from 13 to ancient. One cute little girl is a junior in high school. Ah, to be young again!

The packet Andrea gave us stated we were going to be in Cabin C3. That's cabin 3 on Car "C". The train configuration map shows eight cars with "C" car right next to the Bar Car. PERFECT!



Lots of other information in the packet. Here are some highlights:

• Laundry service, for a fee
• A doctor will be on board
• Bottle water is provided for drinking and brushing teeth..."Do not drink the tap water"
• Wi-Fi is available but is dependent on cellular signals, i.e., don't be surprised if there is weak or no signal in remote areas
• Meals are served at one sitting
• Bar car is open from mid-morning until the last guest has retired at night
• Their resident musician will be playing in the Bar Car every night
• Beer, coffee and soft drinks are complimentary at all times
• Spirits and wines are complimentary during lunch and dinner
• All gratuities (both on and off the train) are included as part of the tour package
• Accounts must be settled IN CASH ($ or €) at the end of the trip

This last item is interesting. I will talk with Andrea tomorrow. Not knowing how much things cost, like drinks, makes it tough to know how much cash is needed. I have $14 and €155. If drinks cost as much as they did in Iceland, I'm in trouble.

We loaded up on the bus and took off to do Budapest. George, our local guide was a wealth of information. We first went to the Parliament building for a guided tour. David and I were driven by the Parliament building during our recent river cruise, but we did not go inside. This building is the largest Parliament building in Europe. Construction began in 1885 and finished in 1904. The architect was selected based on a contest. The winner designed the Parliament building, the second place winner designed the Court building and the third place winner designed the administration building.

Lots of gold gilding, starting 3 meters above the floor. Below that point it is just gold paint.

We went into the dome area of the building where they keep the crown jewels under constant guard. Gavin preceded the group a bit and says he witnessed the ritual of the guards circling the jewels, which supposedly happens every 15 minutes. No photos were allowed.

Wing off the dome

We were allowed to go into the upper chamber meeting room because it is not normally used. The lower chamber is apparently where all the "work" is done.

Upper House Chamber of Parliament

Smoking is not allow anywhere inside now, but back in the day, it was restricted to the hallways. Throughout the hallways around the chambers were these cigar holders where members of Parliament could "park" their lit cigars to go into the chamber.

Cigar holder

Cut away model of Parliament building

Red Star that adorned the Parliament building during the Communist reign 1946-1990

After the inside tour, we walked around the outside of the building. The weather was perfect today. Clear with a temperature around 40F.

Court Building across the square from the Parliament

"Front" of the Parliament Building facing square

Looking down the square, Court building on right, Parliament on left (out of picture)

Court building, middle of pic (2nd place architect) and Admin building on right (3rd place architect)

Christmas tree on square

We then climbed back on board the bus and headed off to the Budapest Opera house. This building is being renovated and was supposed to have been finished by the end of 2018. It looks the same outside as it did when Dave and I walked by it back in August. This time however, we got a guided tour of the inside.

Outside of Opera building

Lobby of Opera building

When the Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth (Sisi) attended the Opera, they entered through the royal entrance and went up the royal stairway. 

Royal Stairway

At the end of tour of the Opera, we were treated to champagne and a special private performance by two of the Opera's singers. They sang four or five songs from several operas. They were very good!

Then we were off to the Buda side of the Danube to have lunch at the Halaszbastya Restaurant at the foot of the Fisherman's Bastion. While David and I were allowed to enter the Matthias Church during our river cruise, today we were not.

Matthias Church

The lunch was a delicious three course meal. Salad, duck breast with sweet potatoes and a Maracuyá (passion fruit) cheese cake. Any color of wine you wanted and espresso to finish the meal. Gavin got to try his first espresso...I wish I had had my camera ready to capture his facial expression.

During lunch, Gavin and I chatted briefly with Andrea. On the question of dinner attire on the train, she said we could wear anything that we wished. The only truly formal event is the gala on New Year's Eve.

The lunch took about two hours. The last item on the agenda for today was to drive up to Gellert Hill for a final panoramic view of the river and city. 

Being the weekend and such fine weather, it took quite awhile for the bus to get back to the hotel. Tonight, we can eat at the hotel restaurant anytime we wish and the tour company will foot the bill up to $100/person.

We had a very nice dinner. Gavin had a Wild Boar Pâté, Hungary Goulash, rainbow trout and mashed potatoes. I had escargot, scallop and chestnut soup, octopus and scallops with sauteed spinach and mushroom.

Wild Boar Pâté

Escargot

Scallop in chestnut soup

Rainbow Trout

Octopus and scallops with sauteed spinach and mushrooms

I encouraged Gavin to get the Wild Boar Pâté because I wanted to try it. I did not think he would eat much of it. I WAS WRONG! I got a very small taste of it. I shared a bit of my octopus with Gavin. Between the octopus and the Pâté, he preferred the Pâté.

Tomorrow we start the train portion of the trip.

Thursday/Friday December 27/28, 2018; Day 0/1: The Road to Budapest

Tonight we are checked into the Four Seasons Hotel Budapest. It has been a long day. The Turkish Airline flight left IAH at 9:00 pm on Thursday. We had good seats in Business Class. The seats reclined completely so we were able to get some sleep. Gavin said he slept well. I maybe got a couple of hours. The staff on the Boeing 777 must have been in excess of 20 people. They really made a big deal of dinner, a four course meal. We both had the filet mignon. It was midnight before we were able to flatten out our seats. They even made up each seat/bed for us. Too much food and wine. They woke us a couple of hours before we landed and fed us a hot breakfast.

We arrived in Istanbul right on schedule, 5:30 pm local time, 8:30 am Houston time. We had no problems getting off the plane and headed straight for the gate for the short flight from Istanbul to Budapest. Well, the only problem we had was when I asked Gavin if he had his passport. He said that he did not have his passport. I spent the next 10 minutes frantically searching through my bag for his passport. I finally asked him again if he was sure he did not have his passport. He finally woke up and said that he did.

Gavin in Istanbul airport

The flight from Istanbul to Budapest was a two hour flight. We departed at 7:00 pm and arrived in Budapest at 7:00 pm (two time zones difference). Again, we were in Business Class and again, they tried to wine and dine us to death. We had no problems getting through Immigration or Customs and met our Golden Eagle represenative (Geroge) who arranged the 30 minute drive to the hotel.

The tour hosted a dinner starting at 7:30 pm. We did not get to our room until 8:30 pm so we decided to forgo the dinner, looked around the hotel a bit and then went out for a quick walk.

Hotel Lobby

Hotel Lobby

Hotel Lobby

It was very chilly with a stiff breeze. I took Gavin over the Vorosmarty Square which was decorated for Christmas and to show him where the Hard Rock Cafe was located.

Gavin got all his shopping done for the family at the Hard Rock.

We got back to the hotel and had an information package give to us and got a call from Andrea, the tour director. She invited us down to the lobby and we told her we would just meet her in the morning.