Day 2 - embark on Danube cruise in Budapest

5-30 Thursday

from the OAT itinerary: 

Day 2:

Arrive today in Budapest, where you'll be met at the airport and assisted to your private Grand Circle river ship, which will be your home throughout your Black Sea cruise. If you began your European discoveries early with our optional pre-trip extensions in Prague, Czech Republic or Vienna, Austria, you will join the main group today.

Tonight, meet your fellow travelers over dinner, followed by a scenic cruise through the center of Budapest.

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We had a good night's sleep and used the funny looking machine in the room. State of the art electronics? Had to read the directions twice. James had coffee and I had tea. The cups are strange too but actually very good. Double glass walls. The liquid is hot but you can hold it without your fingers being burnt.

Since we are not met at the airport by our tour director we had asked Monika in the email when we could embark on the ship. After 12 noon! Today is the day for the cruise to start (ending June 11).

But we are still in the hotel. We are not big breakfast people and don't really want to pay $20 each in the hotel. We walk down the street a little (past where we had dinner last night) and there is a delightful little "hole in the wall". It's already after 9 am but we each have an omelet. The bread is fantastic.

We have till 12noon to vacate the hotel room that we decide to go over the bridge to find a belt for me. When I had packed back home I didn't think I needed one but my brand-new jeans are very giving and now are so loose that they are uncomfortable. 

There is a lot of construction in the town center but this sign ensures us that there are still shops open. Ha-ha. 

The shopping district is lovely. I love pedestrian streets. I was not willing to find a belt in a boutique to pay boutique prices but ... there was a C & A. Yeah. We asked a saleslady whether they had belts and she told us very grumpily in the back of the store. We found one and wanted to pay. The grumpy lady was also the cashier. I made her smile twice. It was fun. The belt is keeping my pants up. Success!

The weather could be better. It drizzled on and off. But it didn't discourage us at all. We went back to the Buda side on a different bridge and walked back towards the hotel. 

What is it with this "mile-long" bench? It was opposite one very important old building. We guess we will find out when we are taken on the official city tour.

At 12noon we have to vacate the hotel room and called for a taxi to bringsus to the ship. We had a little excitement first because the taxi driver drove (even though we showed him in writing where he had to take us e.g. where the ship was) in the opposite direction. We said "no, no, no" and after he turned it was all ok. 

We were welcomed and assisted into the ship. All was great from then on. We were registered and shown to our cabin. All very nice. We were just in time for lunch. Not many people had arrived yet. It was a buffet except for the soup and the freely flowing house wine. 

We were told that there would be a shuttle into town center at 2:30 pm and 3:30 pm returning at 4:30 pm and 5:30 pm. We decided to go with it. For all the travelers on board there are 3 tour guides. Alex (blue group) was the one in the bus to town. He gave us some introductions and then we were on our own.

We had heard about the Opera House and decided to go there. The tours were on the hour but the 4 pm was sold out and the 5 pm was too late for us so we managed to buy tickets for Saturday afternoon when we knew we would have some free time. We were happy that we could do that.  We saw a little of the Opera House and are very excited.

After that we decided to go to the St. Stephen's Basilica. James' words: "Very impressive but not memorable". 

It was very difficult to give an impression about it in photos so I took a VIDEO which was difficult too. (2:01 minutes)

After that w wandered back to where the bus was waiting for us. It was the earlier bus at 4:30 pm and because of the traffic took some time to get back to the boat. It was nice because we had some time to get ourselves organized a little. We got the passwords for the internet. It's quite weak but better than nothing. At last I found out that Sarah was worried about us because she had heard about the accident on the river here last night. Yes, we had heard sirens but didn't know what it was about because we never turned the TV/news on. Looks like a Viking Ship and a dinner cruise boat had collided and 7 people were killed and 21 are stilled missing. So sad but luckily it was not us. The river is running incredibly fast/strong after all that rain. I was able to text Sarah that we were o.k.

The first official gathering was at 6:15 pm in the lounge. The captain spoke about safety.

At 7:30 pm was dinner. Very nice. You could sit wherever you wanted and we had a very lively conversation with a couple from Panama City, Florida.

Lentil salad.

Main course you have a choice. I had the fish.

Dessert you had a choice too. We both had cheese fondue. It was lovely and I have to remember that when we have guests.

We had a quick look one deck higher. Surprise, it was kind of a sundeck. Very nice. There was some fireworks somewhere and a building which changed it colors.

We went to our cabin and found a bottle of champagne which was complimentary since we are "repeated" guests who get the better rooms/cabins and special treatments. Well, quite nice. 

Time to turn the light off now.