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Sunday  27th April

Sunrise view from our bedroom window – the sun shines again.

Early Morning from HotelChain Bridge over Danube

Castle from bedroom window in Pest

Leaving Budapest

Breakfast at the hotel in order to save time as we need to get to train station before 9.00 am to take train to Bled, Slovenia via Vienna, Klagenfurt and Villach where we have to change trains.

Scenery south of Budapest fairly uninspiring but improves as we travel further south towards Vienna and deeper into Austria.

With only 7 minutes to change trains in Villach Gail and I had prepared ourselves for a dash that would make Usain Bolt look quite sluggish but on arrival our train to Bled was nowhere to be found. Our panic attack was relieved by a completely unphased Austrian Rail official calmly telling us that the train was delayed by 30 minutes but as it was already at the platform we should relax, get on board and wait for the departure. Almost reassuring to find that railway official apathy and incompetence is a global affliction.

Arrive in Lesce Bled at 6.30 and after short taxi ride check into the Vila Preseren , named after Slovenia’s pre-eminent poet and situated on the shores of Lake Bled.

Villa Preseren – Fantastic location beside Lake Bled

Too late to explore the restaurant scene in Bled so have a fine meal at the hotel and settle in for an early night.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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Saturday 25th April

Raining again!

Finally enjoy a superb at the iconic Gerbeaud cafe just round the corner from our hotel.

Looking thru window at Gerbeaud Cafe

Cookies Gerbeaud Cafe

Quick trip on the Metro to Heroes Square which was built in 1896 to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Magyars’ arrival in Hungary.

Main features of the square are the Millenium Monument and statues of 14 Hungarian leaders representing the nation’s history.

A short away over a bridge we find the vast City Park offering all manner of entertainment to the inhabitants of this beautiful city. Dominating the park are the Vajdahunyad Castle ( vaguely reminiscent of a fantasy Disneyland construction )and the Szechenyi Baths which is THE thermal spa in Budapest. We did not have time to join the hordes of Hungarians, of all shapes and sizes, trying out the various treatments  but the entrance hall to the baths is alone worth a visit. It occurs to me that spa visitors seem to be as oblivious of how they look as the hundreds of cyclists back home who happily don their Lycra. ( please folks Lycra is not for everyone ! )

Back on the Metro to see the very impressive and one has to say over-the-top Hungarian Parliament. Sadly tickets were sold out long before our arrival so we could not view what are apparently magnificent interiors but with its position overlooking the Danube it is one of the city’s main landmarks.

A little Over the Top!

The remainder of the day is spent on the Buda side of the Danube and the elevated position of the Old Town offers many superb panoramic views of the river and the Pest area of Budapest.

As by this time we are feeling the pangs of hunger we seek out a Cafe Ruszwurm which came recommended, again by the helpful Sofia at the hotel. Booked out so we had to make do with some very tasty fruit slices but NO COFFEE.

Buda contains some beautiful old buildings and seems to have escaped the ‘demolition disease’.

Matthias Church is Budapest’s most famous catholic church and it’s unique setting really defines the view of this Castle district. Murphy’s Law strikes again as the church is closed for , we think, a wedding, although as most of the guests are dressed in black. However, one pretty lady is in all-white so she is either insensitive to to the other mourners or the bride!

Mattias Church Buda

Other fine buildings include Sandor Palace, the Budapest History Museum and the National Gallery, all of which offer memorable vantage points from which to photograph the Pest area.

Budapest Police Car
& you thought they were cutting back on the Police Budget in Aus

Dance School performers in Buda

Return to Pest and take time out to quickly view the glorious Dohany Street Synagogue, Europe’s largest and the second largest in the world.

A quick change into more respectable clothes for a return to the wonderful Cafe Kor and another very enjoyable dinner with Steve and Anne. As we are in the first sitting and must be out shortly after 8 pm we only have a couple of hours to discuss politics and solve the world’s problems. The discussion is a success but the solution may require a little more work!

We exchange visiting cards and Steve, in spite of my boredom warnings, asked to become another follower of the Obese Ferret’s ramblings.

During our relatively short stay in this former Soviet satellite country  it has been fascinating to hear the current Russian Foreign Minister state frequently on TV that were the USA take any military action in Ukraine it would be considered an attack on the Russian Federation. His preposterous view was that Russia must protect all Russian citizens ( he means Ukraine citizens who speak Russian) from any aggression. This could set a very dangerous precedent and maybe we should be prepared for Mexican tanks to roll across the USA’s southern borders to protect all the Spanish-speaking Latinos in the case of any aggression against them from their American hosts.

There could also be similar action along Finland’s western border with Sweden where so many speak predominantly swedish.

You will probably find that my musings will become steadily more deranged as our long stay in Europe continues.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret

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Friday 25th April

Sorry, folks I skipped a day and we in fact arrived in Budapest on Thursday 24th! Blame it on jet lag .

Wake up to find that the weather gods are not shining on us again and it looks as though the drizzle has set in for the day. Still we have lots to do so we have to get on with it. First port of call is a very famous breakfast place called Gerbeaud which unfortunately seems to be closed.( we find out subsequently that we had gone to the wrong door which is for the evening restaurant so it’s good to know that our sense of direction remains undiminished!) Press on another street recommended by the concierge at the hotel, Goszdu Udvar, where we find a good cafe for brekkie.

Gail ‘s specs are broken we find an optician to sort that one out before heading to a travel bureau to order our train tickets from Budapest to Bled in Slovenia. Our agent behind the counter is another of those charisma bypass recipients who seem to pop up in so many of these organisations but eventually we do get the travel arrangements sorted out.

A visit to Budapest’s largest cathedral, St Istvan Basilica, is next and it is certainly imposing, if only by virtue of its sheer size.

    St Istvan Basilica

Thinking of our stomachs as usual and book dinner at Cafe Kor which has established a reputation as one of the city’s best quality restaurants offering quality fare at affordable prices.

Weight Watchers model

The rain is putting a dampener on things again so we decide to head off for a relaxing afternoon at The House of Terror! This building is in fact now a history museum which records the truly unspeakable crimes of two regimes, first the Arrow Cross of the Nazi occupation of Hungary and later the AVO and AVH secret police during the reign of the Soviet satellite government. It is confronting to say the least and we have never seen man’s inhumanity to man set out in more graphic detail.

Dinner at Cafe Kor is superb and our evening out is made all the more pleasurable by meeting up with two very engaging Americans, Steve Roth and Anne Lincoln from Davis, North Caifornia. We enjoy the meal and the company so much we agree to book a table for our foursome for the following evening.

Turn in relatively early after a good but very thought-provoking day.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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23rd April 2014

It’s Blog Boredom time again, folks.

Finally set off on our 8 week trip to Europe.

Qatar Airways for the first time and we finally have to ‘come clean’ and confess that we now travel business class on any long haul flight. After all those years of  flying economy, in my case trying to save a large company like Coats Patons money on expenses, Gail and I have decided that we deserve to travel in comfort in our dotage. We had heard some rave reviews on Qatar, especially business class and they certainly lived up to this reputation. Nothing was left to chance and we arrived in Doha in fine fettle an d ready for the 5 1/2 hour flight to Budapest.

Arrived in Budapest shortly after noon and after a cab into the centre and checking into the Sofitel Hotel ( situated overlooking the Danube and the Chain Bridge) we decided to venture out almost at once.

To keep the jet lag at bay we walked across the Chain Bridge to the Buda part of the city and trudged up Gellert Hill,named after Bishop Gellert who was brought in by King Istvan after Hungary converted to Christianity in the year 1000. Sadly, for the Bishop anyway some Magyars decided he was not their favourite person, placed him a barrel, drive in some long nails and rolled him down the hill into the Danube. He was eventually made the patron saint of Budapest, which seems scant reward for being’tenderized’ as Rick Steve, the travel writer, so quaintly puts it! It was disappointing to see the statue to this martyr and the surrounding walls desecrated by so much graffiti and the whole of the park area on Gellert hill looks in need of some TLC.

The top of the hill us dominated by the fortress known as the Citadella and the Liberation Monument  and this vantage point offers a fine panorama over the Danube and the Pest side of the city.

 Back to the hotel for a meal ( by now too jet lagged to check out other eateries) and turn in for an early night suitably drugged up on Termazapan.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.

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