Sunday, May 21: Across the pond, arrival in Budapest & our first dinner out

First, a shout out to Boyd Paulu for the ride to the airport in a very rainy Minneapolis.

Hello from Budapest!  No, I don't know how to say that, or anything else, in Hungarian.  And, so far, that hasn't been a problem.  It is after 8PM local and I am still awake going pretty strong for having maybe an hour of sleep.  Maybe this is the key ... don't sleep.

But first, the obligatory beginning in the Sky Club in Minneapolis.  I take a photo here every trip.  Eventually, I will line them all up and see if we have aged.  I sincerely doubt it.

And on the plane.

Airline food hasn't gotten much better although I will say that this was actually fairly tasty.  Yes, it tasted like "chicken".  I think it was "chicken".

I include the following photo just to prove that not every flight has airline personnel dragging people off of the plane, security called, and otherwise 'sane' people throwing tantrums.  I didn't even see anyone wearing leggings.

Our flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, although being very long due to lack of sleep, was otherwise uneventful.  We find ourselves in the KLM Crown Lounge in Amsterdam looking fairly well for having missed a night of sleep.

We arrive in Budapest, gather ALL of our luggage and grab a taxi to our hotel downtown (Centrum).  While I expected a language issue since I know absolutely zero Hungarian, so it hasn't been a problem.  So far, everybody speaks English.  Of course, sometimes you order one thing and get something else but that could happen anywhere.  While we had prepared and had the local currency (Hungarian Forints or HUF), our taxi was quoted in Euros and we could have paid in either Euros or Forints.  In fact, everything so far has been dual labeled in Forints and Euros, with Euros being the prominent display.  (See below about the European Union.)

Our hotel is the Continental Budapest in a restored building that had been completely bombed out to a shell in the war.  It is decidedly a giant step up from the clean hotels of our Christmas markets trip.  It has a beautiful lobby.

The beautiful rooftop garden with indoor and outdoor pools and a fantastic view over city was great today in 24C sunshine.

Our New York City sized room.

As we ponder how long we can stay up and where to have dinner

we decide that 'first things first' and have drinks on the patio (with a window washer in the background ... on Sunday).

On the way walking to our chosen restaurant, we pass the Jewish Synagogue.

Just a normal street scene.

We have chosen a Hungarian restaurant (how could it be anything else, really).  But this Hungarian restaurant specializes in authentic Hungarian food and we dine outside in the fine weather.

I decide on the goulash stew of gray cattle tenderloin fillet

prepared "table side"

with tons of onion and paprika.  It was delicious.

Beverly had Hungarian pancake wrapped around chicken in paprika sauce ... or something.  It also was good and tasted unlike anything we had ever had.  It didn't even taste like "chicken".

On the walk back to the hotel, we notice that a main street has been blocked off, police cars and police motorcycles and police bicycles and police on foot are everywhere, with guns.  Hungary is currently ruled by a very conservative "populist" person who is trying to drive out George Soros inspired reform and stop Hungary from merging with the European Union.  It is a walking protest against their current president and for the European Union.  It was very peaceful and a great insight to local politics.  I am anxious to question our Road Scholar instructors about our experience.  The marching protest was many blocks long but was apparently tolerated by the local police who seemed more concerned about keeping peace between the protestors and others than anything else.

That is about it for today.  I have made to my goal of 9PM.  Tomorrow we join up with our Road Scholar team after visiting St. Stephen's Basilica and the Parliament, I think.

Although not a major detriment to our trip, our overnight flight had a crying baby, along with quite a few very nice babies.  The crying baby set an all time record for loudness and duration.  He cried for hours, shouted at the top of his lungs and ran free in the aisle away from his apparently oblivious parents.  I thought about going around the cabin and taking up a collection to move THEM to business class.  I got maybe 45 minutes sleep there.  I actually tried to sleep in the Amsterdam to Budapest leg but was awakened repeatedly because I couldn't find a comfortable position in a middle coach seat.

BTW, this hotel has GREAT WiFi, partly the reason for more photos than usual today.