A long flight. A long layover. But many hours after leaving Newark airport we found ourselves in a boat on a river. There were no tangerine trees or marmalade skies, but this major central European capital doesn’t need any more decoration than it has. Here are some of the sights from the first day.
April 19
Here’s my beloved traveling companion. Next month is our tenth anniversary, and we’re celebrating our second honeymoon a little early.
Our stateroom. We went budget, so we don’t have a lot of space, but we really only plan on sleeping there anyway. The ship has lots of big public areas to hang out in. When we’re not just out exploring the city.
The main corridor of the Central Market.
The Central Market, one block off of the Danube.
If you look at this image and don’t pay attention to the labels, it could easily by Cleveland’s West Side Market. Cleveland is home to a host of eastern European immigrants, and after the failed revolution of 1956 a lot of Hungarians wound up there.
We love going to Central Markets. Here’s Budapest’s. Pretty grand, with a grand assortment of vendors selling meats, paprika, vegetables, paprika, souvenirs, paprika, paprika and pastries.
Dining out on the deck of the ship.
Here’s me, with the Millenium bridge behind me. Hungary was founded in 896, and in 1896 this bridge was built as part of the celebration. The Danube River is right behind me.
The Budapest “Statue of Liberty.” It was put up by the Soviets in the late 1940s, and to Hungarians it was a grim irony. After 1989, when Hungary was trying to figure out to do with this grimly ironic monument, they arrived at the solution of throwing a white cloth over the whole thing for a few days, then pulling it off and saying it was a brand new monument. Thus it was rededicated.
