Budapest Monday 8th October

Opera House

Parliament

St Stephens

Chain Bridge by night on the river cruise

Andrassey

The pools - after the sauna On the way up to the top of the hill to see the independance monument

Hero's square, with momument to the unamed soilder

Dinner in the evening - look at the hungarian doll I brought, I am told the red dress means she's from Budapest.

Fishermans Bastion Horse and cart ride

Women of Liberty on the hill

We woke up refreshed after more than 6hours sleep for a change! Today was a 'free day' which meant no organised tours. Lots of us went first to the thermal baths and had a lovely soak and sauna. The sauna was full of Hungarian people and it was so hot! not like the ones in NZ! A Hungarian lady was trying to communicate with me, something with me about my feet, I think it was because i had no jandels on - everyone else did! She told me to sit the next level up, then when I got out of the sauna she told me to get into the plunge pool - which was freezing and very unpleasant - everybody was laughing at me as i shrieked when i got in and hurried out. Then I was told to have a shower - i just did what I was told! I think I got it right, but it was funny! We then headed out to see the sights of Buda and Pest. We walked over the chain bridge, went to the Parliament buildings - which are fashioned after the London ones. We looked at the palace, castle hill and walked around Fisherman's bastion - it's called this because it used to be a fish market. Now it has Disney themed buildings on it. There are 2 hills that overlook Budapest. One is the one above called 'castle hill' and the other end is a hill with an Independence monument on it - a statue of a lady with a palm leaf proclaiming the freedom of Hungary. it can be seen from almost anywhere in town. There are heaps of museums in Budapest - more than anywhere else. We didn't have time to go to any and the spy one, which we wanted to go to, was closed on Monday, so a bit disappointing. We looked around numerous churches including the famous St Stephens and the Opera House. We walked down the Andrassy, which is fashioned like the Champs elysses in Paris, with a monument at one end. The monument is called Heroes Square that honours the Millennial Anniversary (1896) of the magar conquest. There was also a Labyrinth that ran underneath the palace, we went to walk it and started, we got about 5 minutes and I freaked out, it was ark and scary so we quickly left - me with Josh in tow! At least I got a refund! In the afternoon we took a horse and carriage ride around Castle Hill and saw the Magdalena Church remains, it was bombed in the war and only a bit remains. We ate dinner at a Hungarian restaurant trying Goulash and Paprika potatoes, as paprika is the national spice. After dinner we went ot a Hungarian folk dance concert - it was amazing, especially the men, they move their legs really fast and do a lot feet and leg slapping. We ended the evening by taking a cruise down the Danube and seeing the sights by night - so beautiful. All in all an excellent experience of Budapest.