Arrival in Budapest - Monday, November 6

   Although the flight was smooth the landing in Frankfurt was bumpy, very bumpy. After learning the gate number for the next flight I headed toward the gate. I had a brief stop in passport control, and walked, grateful to be walking almost 5 thousand steps. With a half hour to spare I WhatsApp'd my daughters three. To board this local area 70 minute flight we were ushered to the ground level and taken by long buses on what seemed like a ten minute ride to the awaiting plane.  As with the earlier flight, this was full.

 At the Budapest airport there was no passport control. Thank you, EU. My suitcase was one of the first arriving on the carousel. I went to the "meeting area" and waited a few minutes.  Agnes our Budapest guide, welcomed me and bought a taxi ticket and placed me in a taxi for the ride to the hotel, located on the Pest side of the Danube River.  By the way there were representatives of river cruise companies meetings passengers at the airport, too. Unlike the talkative Dublin taxi drivers, the young man who drove me to the hotel spoke very little English, but he drove a car like my new one, a Kia Niro EV.  He told me he liked it. 

  At the hotel in downtown Budapest I was greeted by Agi, our guide for the entire tour and directed to the registration desk and reminded of the time and place of our first gathering. The room is lovely, with a balcony overlooking trees with changing colors,  room to lay belongings, and good counter space in the bathroom. Eager to meet my roommate I was careful to set out my things so there would be plenty of room for her.

  Our gathering was very good. Agi and Agnes had a wonderful power point presentation of our day's here, guidelines for our tour, personal introductions, and instructions regarding the use if our audio devices.  Initial questions were answered and some discussion followed.  Our guides will be available to help us plan and arrange our free time every day, after breakfast from 8-9. If was here I learned that I will, not have a roommate. Of the 14 in our group only six came as a couple or pairs of females. I am disappointed and happy that I can spread out more in the room.

We shared a very delicious Hungarian supper of pea soup which smelled like fresh pea, hand-made noodles and boneless chicken thigh governed with paprika sauce.  For this welcome meal we had sparkling wine and red and white wine. Dessert was a mildly sweet cottage cheese cake with a whipped cream-like topping. It was a wonderful welcome.

 Then Agnes took us on an orientation walk. We know where to obtain local cash and buy groceries.  We also experienced a metro ride after being shown how to purchase snacks and validate tickets. In addition to the metro there are trams, buses, and trolley buses. We were shown how to read the posted bus and tram maps and schedules.  We walked on a large pedestrian street to the Danube and returned to the hotel by network and walking.

 This was a good first day.

  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday, July 13, 2025 - Travel Day to Kyoto

 We selected breakfast items and picked up some requested items for Kenji rom the grocery store across the street. Karin had already started a load of laundry while I was still asleep. In our room we ate our purchases. I had a banana, a small bag of shelled edamame,and half a ham,cheese and llettuce. It was p,enty to hold me over four our 1130 reservation at a shabu ahabu restaurant.  Karin had researched inexpensive shabu shabu restaurants and found this one out of the main  touristy areas and in a metro mall. This meal had many parts: a choice of broth which is simmered on a burner at the table. On c houses a meat and how much  eat. One chooses  two dipping sauces and what kind of rice,  oh yes. The. There was a large bowl of fresh vegetables some of which I didn't recognize. I put them and the meat into the simmering broth.  With spoons to stir the ingredients there were lots of things on the table. The  meal was delicious,  super deliciou...
Read more

Sunday at the Dome and sore feet

Although it was cool the sun was out, and it was dry. We had breakfast in a neighborhood Cafe which we like. Along with coffee milk I had a lentil and couscous and vegetable salad, and Karin had a Spiegelei and muesli. This is a great way to begin the day. The food and environment, and company were perfect. We walked to the Senenfelder U Bahn station to Alexanderplatz, and we had difficulty locating the bus stop for bus #100 to bring us to the Dom for the 10 AM service.  Road work as well as construction continues in this city.  After asking directions and few times we found the correct stop and bus and made it to the Dom on time. We stated we were international visitors and were ushered a special seating area slightly above the congregation where we were given headphones and an audio device to receive live translation.  The choir was the Swiss chorus which we heard last evening. Throughout the service they sang the Bach Lutheran mass which we enjoyed last evening. It was...
Read more

A New Week Begins in Wermelskirchen

With the homemade muesli breakfast the week began happily. Fresh oatmeal flakes, sunflower seeds, another teaspoon of seeds, one banana, dried prune and apricot pieces, walnuts, almonds, and other nuts, homemade yogurt, and a little milk, Anja let the mixture sit for ten minutes before we began eating.  It was delicious. We then went outside. Anja cut back dead flowers from bushes in the front.  I picked up the material and placed it into a large plastic container.  When the battery hand shears needed recharging we left for Remscheid to do a little shopping. Herbert did his daily physical therapy exercises. He then went grocery shopping which he enjoys and Anja doesn't enjoy. She wrote the list on her cell phone, i.e. Handy, he saw the list on his Handy because the two devices are linked somehow. When he had completed the shopping he wrote on that list page that he had purchased everything. Slick.  Shopping at the Allee Center Anja point out the number of mall shops ...
Read more