Monday was a very very long day. After losing the entire night on the plane and with no sleep, we arrived in Amsterdam at 6:15 in the morning and our flight to Budapest was not until 10:00. We arrived in Budapest shortly after 12:00 and after finding our tour company, we were bused to the Marriott Hotel to await other passengers to arrive. Finally, at 3:00 p.m. we were bused to the Scenic Emerald “Spaceship”, only to be brought into the lounge to wait again until they called you to check you into your room. Although it seemed forever, they were extremely well organized and certainly made us all comfortable, offering us refreshments and delicacies! It was such a relief to finally get in our room and unpack. By this time, it was suppertime and we had a wonderful meal following which we had an information meeting to tell us about the ship, safety precautions and information on our excursion the next day in Budapest. We were just dead tired, Brian was actually falling asleep during the meeting – he couldn’t remember some of the things that they had told us! Nevertheless, after that was over, we went straight to bed – it was only 8:00 p.m.
We were up bright and early Tuesday morning, feeling a lot more refreshed after a good night’s sleep. After a beautiful buffet breakfast, we were taken to our first excursion, our choice was the Thermal Baths. As we were being bused to the Thermal Baths, our tour guide would point out places of interest and would tell us the history of Budapest. One interesting point that I never knew was that Budapest is the joining of two cities. Buda was on one side of the Danube River and Pest was on the other side. Eventually that joined the two cities as one and hence the name “Budapest”. Another interesting fact is that the “pest” is actually pronounced as “pesch”. The Hungarian alphabet has 47 letters (compared to our 26 letters in the English alphabet) and in Hungarian, “s” is pronounced as
“sch” sound in English. What strikes you most about Budapest and probably Europe in general is how “old” everything is and the history is phenomenal. You can see some of the ruins and even bullet holes in some of the buildings from World War II. There is just so much to learn and see, it is sometimes hard to take it all in!
On arrival to the Thermal Baths, we were taken into the dressing area which were “cabins” where you put on your bathing suit and left your belongings there. You wore a “flat watch” on your arm and that was your key to the cabin. Thankfully the baths we were at everyone did wear bathing suits! We did not go nude! There were several baths – some outside, some inside buildings. My favorite was the whirlpool where the current would just take you around the whole pool. I couldn’t believe how strong it was but so very very relaxing. There was also an outside pool where Brian decided to do some lap swimming as well. The baths were so beautiful and warm and you could smell the minerals – almost like a sulfur smell. We were there for well over two hours before the bus came back to pick us up. It certainly was a great way to relax and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We took some pictures and video which I will post later when I get a better (faster) internet connection.
We do have an internet connection on the ship but it is extremely slow and not that reliable. It is not too bad when in port but while sailing, it doesn’t seem to connect; hence I am writing my blog and then will publish it when we port.
After the Thermal Baths, we were bused back to the ship for lunch and then we had a free afternoon to explore Budapest on our own. We took a boat shuttle over to the “Buda” part of the city and walked around the Marketplace and of course bought some things for Annika and Selena! We decided to walk back to the ship instead of taking the shuttle which was a little scary at times trying to cross the busy streets and cobblestone sidewalks which were so narrow! Tonight was the “Captain’s Gala Night” where we got to meet the Captain and his crew and all the other Department Heads and had another great meal. Of course, the food is just out of this world and we get to taste all the different wines/beers that represent the country we are in. The evening was topped off with entertainment by a very talented musician where we danced the night away. While we were having our “Gala Evening”, the ship left port and we are now on our way to Vienna, Austria. This is the longest day where we are cruising along the River for the entire day. We are due to port in Vienna round 5:30 today. Tonight is the highlight of the trip where we are bused to Palais Lichtenstein for our Private Classical Concert of Strauss and Mozart. We then come back around 9:30 – 10:00 for a Goulash Soup Party and Classical Music with our ship’s musician “Martin”.
We do not have one complaint so far, they treat everyone so well and keep us well fed! The one thing we are so impressed with is there are no delays, when the buses leave to take you places, there is no waiting around, if they say 9:30 to leave, they leave at 9:30, not 10-20 minutes later and they warn you not to be late when they schedule the pick-up times.
Well, hopefully you made it to the end of this blog. This is a long entry but there is just so much to say, it is hard to shorten it! This definitely is like no other trip we have ever made and we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves! We are both looking forward to our new adventures in Vienna Austria where we will be in port for two days. I will post again after we leave Vienna to tell you of the adventures we have there!
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