Budapest, Hungary

We have now moved off the River Beatrice and into the Grand Corinthian Hotel.  This morning's activites involved a tour of Parliment then this afternoon we walked to the Opera House and took a tour inside.  We are now relaxing in the spa.

This is of course the spa.

Here is parliment where all Hungarian laws and government buisness takes place.  The dome is the same height as St. Stephan's Cathedral.

This man lead the 1956 revolution in Hungary against communism, but of course lost the battle and his life.

These bronze shoes along the Danube serve as a memorial to the men and women who were shot along the rivers edge by the Nazis during WWII.  Before they were killed they had to take off their shoes. I guess the shoes were more valuable then their lives.  It was a very sad reminder.

This is inside Parliment.  Stored inside is also the crown of the first KIng of Hungary St. Stephan. They would not allow you to take any pictures of the crown and it was guarded by two armed men, so to avoid being imprisoned in Hungary I chose to obey the rules. You'll just have to come to Budapest yourself if you want to see the crown.

Here is where Parliment holds its sessions.  

The boys relaxing before our tour continues.  There is always so much walking involved with these tours.  

Here is the US embassy. 

Here is Ronald Regan outside of the Embassy.

Here is the beautiful Opera House of Hungary.

I did volunteer myself for National Hungarian Ballet but unfortunatly they had no opening at the time.

This was the subway sign in the oldest subway system in the world. 

Tomorrow we are going to head to St. Stephan's Cathedral and then the Artist Market for some shopping. 

River Cruise Day 7, Budapest

We had such a whirlwind day in Budapest.  We awoke early in the morning for our city tour which started on the river boat cruising along the Danube then ending in a motor coach for a more close up look at some sites.  We came back to the boat in the afternoon for a quick lunch then mother and I headed out to a horse farm about a half hour away from the city.  We took a quick horse pulled wagon ride around the farm then watched an amazing show where the riders performed all kinds of neat tricks on horse back.  Mother said that the Hungarians are expert horseman and I guess she was right.  I've never seen anything like it.  We then took a night tour along the Danube in our river boat to see the city of Budapest lit up at night.

This is the Parliment building that we saw from the River early this morning.

This is Paprika drying outside a window.  Once it is dried enough they will bring it in and grind it into powder.

This is Fisherman's Bastion.

This is Matayas church.  The roof is covered in porcelain tiles made in Hungary

On top of Fisherman's Bastion we had a great view of Parliment.

This is part of Hero's Square it serves as a monument for the hero's of Hungary

More Hero's square

The following photos were taken of our tour of the horse farm

They demonstated several war tricks used in ancient times they rode by and shot targets with bows and arrows and they also threw spears into the targets.  It was quite impressive

They are showimg here the horses sitting down. Often times the military soldiers would use their horse as a seat to rest on.  

This female rider demonstrated several dressage movements while riding side saddle.  Then her horse piroutted around this circular stand.  

This man rode standing up on two horses in the back and three horse in the front as they went around the ring in a full gallop. They say only the castion (Hungaria horseman) can do this.

Here are some night views of Budapest. That is the Royal Palace behind us.

Parliment lit up at night was breath taking.

Tomorrow we leave our ship and head off to the hotel for our extension here in Budapest.  Can't wait  to explore more of this city.

 

 

River Cruise Day 6, Vienna and Bartislava

Goodbye Vienna hello Bartislava.  This morning James and I took a tour of the Schonburnn palace in Vienna while James Jr. and Mother stayed behind to rest up for our next city which is Bartislava, Slovakia.  The palace was quite enjoyable with a beautiful garden and fountain behind it.  Schon means beautiful and Burnn means fountain so that is how it got its name.  It was constructed by the Hapsburg family particulary Maria Theresa.  An interesting fact that I learned along the way Marie Antoinette was the youngest daughter of Maria Theresa.  When James and I returned to the ship we ate lunch and then got on a bus to Bartislava.  Bartislava was once a communist country and there still remains a lot of the communist building (very plain and ugly as our guide described them)  Interestingly Bartislava was never invaded by the Turks.  They only person who ever attempted to attack Bartislava was Napoleon.  There are still cannon balls stuck into the facades of the building from his attack on the city.  We took and lovely walking tour of the old town and did a little shopping.

Our final stop tommorrow will be Hungary!

Here I am outside Shornnburn palace.

Neptunes fountain.

Here is James on the back side of the fountain

We found some Roman ruins on the garden grounds

This is the second narrowest house in the world the first narrowest is in Amsterdam.

This gold emblem in the middle of the street tells you how many kilometers it is to all major cities in the

world

This was the executioners house in Bartislava.

This was a very funny bronze statue in the city street the sign next to him says Man at Work and he's coming out of a man hole.  They say if you touch his head you will never be without money, and if you touch his nose you will have a child. FYI we touched his head.

Here's mother sitting on a bench outside one of the shops we went into to buy souvenirs.

River Cruise Day 5, Vienna

So here we are in the amazing city of Vienna.  The building structures here are massive. Today we took a tour of Prince Eugene's Winter Palace and a gothic style Cathedral.  Afterwards we toured the city on our own.  We enjoyed a lovely dinner then the boys and I headed out to see one of the worlds oldest and largest Ferris Wheels.  We took a ride around it and saw the city skyline from up above.  It was definitely worth the 20 minute walk from the ship to see this up close.  

This is in front of the Imperial Palace

This is St. Michael's wing that was added to the Imperial Palace. Each new Monarch would add a new wing to the palace for themselves.

Here's James Jr. inside the gold room of the Winter Palace

The steeple of St Stephan's Cathedral.

Neptune's fountain

I had to sneak this picture of the Spanish Riding schools stable.  They happened to have left the door open so I couldn't give up an opportunity to grab a photo.  All the horses are on vacation right now the Summer months are too hot for them to train and do shows.

In front of the Museum of Natural History

Here is Vienna's Parliment building made in the likeness of Ancient Greece

St Francis of Assis Cathedral

The view from the top.