Day 3 - Budapest

The drive from Vienna to Budapest was uneventful but pleasant.  After an extremely circuitous route and probably an illegal park, we found our way to the top of Castle Hill.  Our first stop was Fisherman's Bastion.  We were blown away at the view of the Danube River and the City of Pest.  Particularly impressive was the Gothic-styled Parliament Building.

As we were walking around St. Matthias Church, we were surprised to see a student marching band accompanied by soldiers on horse back in period garb.










One of the things we were looking forward to was a bakery treat at the Retesvar Bakery, located in an alley behind the naked lady statue.  Due to the continual construction in the area, the bakery was closed











                                                                                                                



After a leisurely walk down to the Royal Palace, we finished our Castle Hill visit with lunch at Mezeskalacs Kabezo.  Don't ask us how to pronounce it, but the food was great.



                                     







After lunch, we crossed the Danube into Pest (in the car, not by boat).  As it was getting close to dusk, we drove past some other sites including The Chain Bridge, Heroes' Square, Freedom Square,
Vajdahunyad Castle and Szechenyi Baths.



















Via another circuitous route, we found our hotel, the Mercure Korona.  While Lisa and Debbie started the blog, Bill had another tete-a-tete with the hotel clerk to find a store to purchase some wine.   He was told something about a zebra, and thought the store was named Zebra.  It turned out the Hungarians use the term zebra to mean crossing the trolly tracks.  The store was actually called ABC and was right across the street.

Once again, Bill had a tete-a-tete with the desk clerk, Kalman.  Bill complained about the room temperature and Kalman promised he would use his special tool to open the windows for us. 

We concluded the evening with dinner at Pesti Vendeglo.  Everyone's dinner was outstanding.  We were entertained by an Eric Clapton guitarist.  Lisa finally found a drink she loved; they called it the Smiling Pest.  It was so good, she had 2.  We enjoyed goulash, dumplings, porkolt and carp.  We ended dinner with chocolate souffle, Hungarian style, and Kruskovac (pear brandy).

Upon returning to the hotel we found our rooms much cooler.  Thank Kalman.