BUDAPEST

Things I have noticed about Budapest - and the I am not insulting anyone here, just my observations:

• The public Transport system seems to work really well and can probably give London a run for their money.
• Pedestrian lights are timed, no buttons to press.
• Metro workers are quite militant and there is no room for error, we got off 2 stops too late and had to pay to go back.
• Majority of Hungarian people are really friendly.
• Most young Hungarians can speak English
• Budapest is a very sophisticated city with beautiful old baroque buildings, probably more than any other big European city that I have been to.
• Vibrant City, with a great night life
• The city never sleeps
• Lots of beggars but they hardly ever approach you
• A lot of grey apartment blocks outside the city, left over from the Communist occupation
• Bottled water is Cheap, a 500ml is no more than 40c at the Spar
• Cigarettes are Cheap about €3.80 compared to €9.80 in Ireland - Derrick is in his element
• The Stall guys near the metro don't haggle you, if you don't want to pay that price then don't buy it.
• Too many beggars rummaging through the dustbins ... so sad

To be continued ...
 

Day 6 .... Austria, Vienna and No Appel Struddel :)

We managed to leave the apartment at 8:00 a.m. this morning, and it was already hot when we left!  The drive from Budapest to Vienna is all on the Autobahn and according to Google Maps a 2 and a half hour drive, but considering that you can really go as fast as you like in the fast lane that is not really true, I think we made it in about 2 hours.

I haven't been to Vienna since January 1985 and when I was there it was January, -27 degrees Celsius and snowing.  We had a day to go and explore and it was so cold, that we got as far as St. Stephens Cathedral, and headed back to the hotel, sat by the fire and drank Whiskey. 

So this time, we drove right into the city centre, when we saw that the parking garage was charging €4.70 an hour we decided to find parking somewhere else, we found a little side road on the far end of the river, but at least we didn't have to pay for parking.

It was so hot, I am sure it was close to 40 degrees Celsius we felt like we were melting.  I was quite surprised that they had a place with drinking water where you could fill up your water bottle and cool down with a gentle spray.  We walked around what seemed like hours, the cathedral is under renovation so you could not see too much.

Eventually after taking many photographs, a couple of ice-creams and loads of water, a few souvenirs, (I was tempted to get the T-shirt "There are no Kangaroo's in Austria" for Wendy), we headed back to the car, it was scorching. 

We left Vienna and Austria and headed back to Budapest, we stopped in Gyor but it was just too hot to even think about walking around, 38 degrees Celsius at 15:30 in the afternoon, so we picked up some supplies and headed back to Pest and our lovely apartment.

I just never knew a person could sweat so much, by the time we climbed the stairs, I could ring the sweat out of my clothes.

Even the cold shower I took about an hour ago is no longer relieving this hot body!
 

Day 5 ... Margaret Island, Pest, Hungary

The plan was to go to Vienna on Friday, but maybe a good thing we didn't.  The city seems to be pretty quiet on a Saturday.   So instead of heading out in the car, which was probably a good thing too as the traffic seemed murderous.   I googled the swimming pool on Margaret Island and it was relatively cheap, cheaper than Aquaworld, so that was it descision made.

I wrote down the directions from Google maps:

From Déak Ferenc Tér take the M3 Subway towards Ujpest-kozk
-> Go 2 stops and get off at Nyugati Pályaudvar 300 HUF each
-> Walk to Nyugati pályaudvar M
-> Take Bus Nr. 26 Arpád hid M (8 stops) 350 HUF each after first having to find out where to buy the ticket, so had to go back to the Metro get a ticket and then wait for the next bus.  Metro tickets are used for both the bus and the underground.

Getting pretty good at this, except we didn't get off at the right stop, but that wasn't a problem we walked back, it was a beautiful walk through the park, very leafy with an ice-cream stop on the way.  You can also rent a bicycle or a Golf cart to travel around the Island, something we need to do.

So arrived at Palatinus Strand - the huge complex is fed by the Margaret Island thermal springs and consists of three thermal pools, an extra-large swimming pool, a smaller artificial wave pool, a water slide.  We spent most of the time in the pool cooling off, had a really nice shwarma for lunch and then headed home at about 7 PM.   Again needing a shower by the time we got home!

Really nice relaxing day.  

Britta's Bay - Summer in Ireland 2013

I just wanted to add some photos I took at Brittas Bay on Sunday, we had a week-end of Beach and it was awesome!  I never knew the sky could be so Blue ... Audrey phoned on Saturday evening and made the suggestion, at one stage while waiting in the 2 km tail back we almost gave up going, but luckily we pursued - Audrey brought a BBQ and we had burgers and sausages and I had the bottle of Frozen Margarita that really went down a treat.

I have never in all my life seen so many people on a beach, but we have all been starved of a summer for so many years that we all made the most of it, while it lasts - Long live summer ....