Sunday 28^th November, 2014…….Cruising into Budapest, Hungary…our cruise director gave us a commentary as we came into dock as we docked in down town Budapest…….we docked on the Pest side…..marvellous buildings not forgetting the calendar picture building, their Parliament…there is only one bigger Parliament building in the world and that is in Romania!!  A fine morning and it was lovely up on the sun deck cruising in…we docked at 9am and then we went walking the streets of Budapest, initially to find our hotel for tomorrow to see if we could walk there…..hotel found right in the heart of things so we walked the main shopping street area…..the currency here is Hungarian Forint but walking the streets we have noticed that nearly every shop is displaying prices in Euros and Forint……back on board for lunch and then our afternoon tour of Budapest…..Michael sick with this ‘bot’ that has gone through the boat so he spent the rest of the day locked in our cabin….a beautiful day, 20 degrees and we had a wonderful tour…there are lots of lovely parks and green areas in the city….first to The Heroes Square which is one of the most visited sites in Budapest…..then the grand avenue “Andrassy Boulevard”…Budapest’s Champs Elyse!! Then the castle district on the Buda side with the Royal Palace and Fisherman’s Bastion……then higher up to the Statue of Liberty…magnificient views today with the beautiful fine day we have had here in Budapest….we are docked on the Pest side with all the shopping areas and big hotels……no photos today with Michael in bed but hopefully we can walk for the next 2 days and do it all….back on board we had an hours entertainment with Hungarian Music and Dancers and then our final dinner…..then the captain took us cruising up the Danube in Budapest…..we were all up on the sun deck and oh the lights…it was a magnificient evening…particularly the Parliament building lit up with all these white bits fluttering up in the sky which were sea gulls attracted by the light….hopefully some of our fellow travellers will send us some pics of same as Michael missed all the fun tonight as I had dinner served to him in our cabin…..so sorry to be getting off the boat tomorrow having laid in bed each night with our ranch slider open and being lulled to sleep with the motion of the boat or the bright lights of a lock waking us……2 very big locks we went through last night….we woke up but went to sleep before we had finished going through the lock……buggar as these were the biggest/deepest on the whole journey…just a pity we went through them in the middle of the night…and then being in your cabin for a little relaxation, if you could fit that in, and to watch the world going by as you cruised on through the various rivers…..we have been through 6 countries, Holland, Germany, Austria, The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary………….Every day we get an information sheet on the ship and we would like to quote the Agatha Christie verse printed on our final info’ sheet………TRAVEL  LIFE….

Your travel life has the essence of a dream

It is something outside the normal, yet you are in it

It is people with characters you have never seen

And in all probability will never see again

It brings occasional loneliness, homesickness and pangs of longing

But you are a Viking

Who has gone into a world of adventure

And home is not home until you return……

M & F

A lock...our boat is 135 metres long and as you can see no room for error with the width thus we have bounced off the walls a few times....

As above.... 

On board with fellow travellers.....

Our cruise director giving instruction at the Captain's Cocktail night......

The Castle at Bratislava lit up at night as we cruised the Danube en route to Budapest, Hungary.....

Early morning shot of the Parliament on the Pest side of Budapest......beautiful in the afternoon when the sun was shining on same....

The Buda side of Budapest.....

As above....

As above....