This morning Agnes, our Budapest guide, has chosen traditional Hungarian earrings.
Today our morning begins with a bus trip
to the outskirts of Budapest (about one-half hour drive) to Godollo, the largest Baroque palace in Hungary and the second largest palace after Versailles, and the summer residence of Habsburg royalty Emperor Franz Josef and Queen Elizabeth (SiSi) between 1867 and 1916 when the Habsburg dynasty fell in World War I.
No pictures were allowed inside. Unlike Versailles, the restoration of Godollo showcases not only the splendor of the palace in its heyday but also what happened during World War II, occupation by Russian troops and post-communism uses before restoration. Chick, Chris and Bev in the gardens.
This is one of many communist-era ten story housing units constructed after the war serving as an example of poor communist blah construction with little insulation, inefficient heat (sweltering upper floors and freezing lower floors) with equalitarian two-bedroom apartments.
This is a portion of Heroes Square (Hungarian Heroes) back in Budapest.
Lunch today is at Grundel,
a very posh restaurant, where we dine on ox-tail soup with mushroom stuffed ravioli, veal and
unbelievably delicious chocolate covered crepes with crushed nuts.
We take a group walk around the City Park area, one of the very few green spaces in Budapest. This is the "castle", part of the Museum of Agriculture made of replicas of many differing castle styles.
Bev and I strike out on our own "free time" by first walking down chic Andrassy Ut, a tree-lined boulevard with embassies and high-end stores.
After taking the subway to fish market, we stroll down very popular but very touristy Vaci Utca which is supposed to be like Champs Ellysees.
We rest our feet at the very famous Cafe Gerbeaud, a coffee shop for centuries, for ice cream and coffee.
After our ample lunch and our afternoon break, dinner this evening is at a wine bar just next the St. Stephen's Square.
The highlight of the evening is an organ concert in St. Stephen's Basilica. I thought the concert was outstanding.
As we exit the basilica following the concert, we are treated to an impromptu concert by a teenage band on the basilica steps by a group called "teens on tour".
We walk back to our hotel and call it a night. Another really fun day.
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