Day 11: Budapest!

It was time for the last stop of our cruise: Budapest. We'd be here a full day, then fly the next day to … London! But I'm getting ahead.

Mom looking good in the morning. Or maybe she's tired? Several times, Mom would have a nosebleed that would sideline our plans for that day. Poor mommy.








Before the cruise, I was worried I wouldn't learn/retain anything. If I didn't make this blog, would I really remember our stops? I still forget which cities are in which countries, or the significance of X or Y. But one thing I learned and remember: Budapest is simply Buda + Pest, the names of two cities on opposite sides of the river! They were combined into one city (in … 1873). Budapest is the capital of … Hungary! Also, it's pronounced "Bu-da-pescht," (see the Wikipedia article), not "pest."

In Budapest, we went to a large market with many stalls. Locals go there, so I think it's not as much of a tourist trap.

This stall had all kinds of meat. The round white meat for "5500 x" is foie gras. It's also in the tins in the photo.

I took the photo because I rarely see foie gras. However, I'm not a fan of it. I don't mean the taste. I mean animal cruelty. Sure, I eat regular beef and eggs, and I feel a little bad for the cows and chickens. But foie gras is past the line for even me.


More learning: Foie gras is a type of goose liver. No problem with that. However, foie gras is really a fatter, larger liver. How do people make the liver fatter and larger? Feed the geese more. By force.

How foie gras is made. The goose has a funnel forced down its throat and is forced to consume food. 

You can educate yourself more by looking up "foie gras" on Wikipedia. Geese force-fed this way have livers that are 6–10 times normal size.

I think our cruise offered foie gras at some point. I ordered something else.

That said, we did enjoy the market. Here, Mary is photo-bombing what would otherwise be a lovely picture of two British women from our cruise. (I don't support photo-bombing like I don't support foie gras. But we don't have many photos of Mary here.)

Mom, Auntie Nancy, and our stylish tour guide. For some reason, I really like her hat.

See all that scarlet-colored stuff hanging from the top? It's paprika. They had many kinds.

Many kinds of honey. The bear is a nice Winnie-the-Pooh reminder.

Outside of the market.

Next, we took a bus to a touristy part of town preserved in the old style. I think it's called the Castle District.

Panorama from the Castle District. Mary would want me to note that Katy Perry's video for "Firework" was filmed in Budapest. (If you're not familiar with Katy Perry nor the song, that's okay. She's very popular, but I didn't know them either.)

Our tour group! The "Gentle Walkers." I had stayed on an elevated platform to take more photos. I asked everyone to look up.

My fav photo of the trip!

Tea time! (Oh, not London yet.)

Budapest berry and leaf. A plant expert could tell if it's the same as in the U.S.

Sign on the car: "Your donation will be spent on my maintenance. Thank you." Dad liked old cars. I mean cheap cars, not classic cars. I wonder if this sign would've gotten him donations?

I think there's a Budapest ant hiding here.

Education again: This is called a funicular. I learned that in Japan, though it's an English word. Who wouldn't want to ride something that starts with "fun"?

Oh, but that's not how it's pronounced…

Quick! What do you see? 

It's a lion on a bus!

Three boats anchored together! Our AmaSerena, the AmaLyra, and the Jane Austen. Gotta say, that last one is a really good name.

Mom would want a photo of me in a suit. On the left is Carol, a travel agent. Right is Alex, a pig farmer. 

Since our fancy cruise, I've educated myself more on food. I've learned enough to realize that I did not appreciate the work that went into this dish, which I can't describe. I still can't appreciate it, and being a foodie isn't on my priority list. That said, I'm sure it was tasty!

After dinner, we had what was supposed to be the highlight of the entire cruise: Budapest at night! Actually, it was really nice! The boat just went down the river and back, but there was some light music playing, and all the buildings were super-nicely lit up, and everyone hung out on top of the ship. A pleasant, memorable, and boat-only way to end the cruise.

Jon narrated during the night cruise. And look at the sky!

Beautiful. Thinking more, it really is a lot of lights/energy. And they do this every night!

You know what all the lights remind me of? Disneyland!

Parliament.

And with that, our Romantic Danube Cruise drew to a close! In the morning we'd enjoy another wonderful breakfast, then off to the airport. Everyone would go separate ways. 

Auntie Nancy would return to Seattle. However, Mom, Mary and I would stay in London for 4 full days!

Hmm, at this point, our 3-week cruise will have taken almost half a year to blog about. That's a bit distorted. So, I'm going to wrap up our trip with *one* London post, and I'll limit it to 20 photos! (You can always see more photos in my online albums.)

Next time: London, and the End!

Day 10: Bratislava

After Vienna, we sailed to Bratislava. Where's that? Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia. I heard that Vienna and Bratislava are the two closest capitals in the world.

In the morning, Mom had a nice muffin.

I had eggs benedict, among other things. (Like any other cruise, you could order as much as you wanted, for the most part.)

We sailed through several locks on the Danube. This is the biggest. Note the lower water level in the backgorund.

I figured I should try the fancy bath robe they provided at least once.

Towel art is such a thing nowadays. Today's animal was a dog. The red nose is a cap from a water bottle.

As we sailed to Bratislava, the scenery was inspiring.

A not-so-pretty old building beneath the remains of a castle or fortress. That's one downside to a cruise: If we could just hop out for a minute, we could explore.

Along the Danube were many tiny homes. Most were on stilts like this, and they had these big rods with nets. I guess these are summer homes for fishing/netting, and the stilts are in case the Danube floods.

Bratislava! This bridge reminds me of the new Bay Bridge in SF.

In Bratislava, people joined different tours, as usual. We were in the "gentle walkers" again, which in this case was a sort of train-car that drove us around the city. 

This woman from the cruise was very nice. I forget her name, but she would stay up late in the cruise lounge while her granddaughter was on the dance floor, so we hung out a bit. The purple marks are from a fall before the cruise. But she said it didn't hurt anymore.

It's another of our tour groups! We'd always take photos as we saw each other, which I thought was funny. What was especially funny this time is … see the umbrella? It started raining! We were okay, though, because the train-car was a convertible.

Auntie Nancy looking around. She's also listening to the tour guide with her ear buds.

They had some quirky statues in Bratislava, so these were good photo ops. But it's funny when you think of how many thousands or millions of people have their picture taken with the same statue.

Selfie! I don't have many nice close-ups, so I used this photo in my Christmas card. I like this pic, but I wish I had zoomed out a little bit more.

This is Sam, from South Carolina. (Or North Carolina?) Friendly guy.

After the train-car tour, we had time to walk Bratislava ourselves. I was still looking for another version of Hanabi. I didn't find it, but I found Games Workshop!

This shop didn't have the version of Hanabi that I wanted, but it was pretty loaded with board games. If you're ever in Bratislava, it's worth checking out.

The statues look different than in the U.S., somehow. More angular? And do you see what's on the two statues in the back? 

I took this photo in case I got lost. I love high-res.

This statue's pretty popular. I saw him on the car-train only, so I didn't get close enough to see if it's a full-size statue or just the torso. Or if it's a real man-hole. =)

I did get to this statue on foot. I was trying to match his expression. Need more practice.

On foot, we all separated. Auntie Nancy kindly took Mom in the wheelchair again. After I failed to find my board game, I wandered around town, wondering if I could find them by chance.

Score! Doesn't this photo look like they're checking if they're being followed? And I'm hiding at a table in a cafe (probably with a newspaper =). I feel like a paparazzi.

They still seem happy to see me. =)

A bridge which should be complete if or when I ever return.






Bratislava was quaint and nice. Everyone seemed friendly enough.

Now it was time for dinner!

The dinner menu! I should've taken a photo of every menu on every day. It can be a handy reference.

Doesn't Auntie Nancy look nice?

Growing up, I always thought Asians had black eyes. It was only much later (high school or perhaps even after) that I realized that no one has black eyes. Some eyes are dark brown, but in the right light, they can be quite different. I guess this shows how much I paid attention to my appearance in high school .

Small but tasty! Thanks to the menu pic, I can say this is, um … it must be the "Tranche of Whole Roasted Black Angus Tenderloin, Gambas Sherry Jus, Vegetables Bouquet, Potatoes Moussoline." I knew that.

Fish.

The dance floor was busy that night! The guy at the piano was both DJ, pianist and I guess he could play the trombone, too.

They said some cruises no one dances, but ours was pretty lively. Sadly, no, I didn't dance.

Overall, it was an active but relatively quiet day, which was fine with me. Now, we were almost at the end of our super-fancy cruise! Oh no!

Next time: Day 11: Last stop for the boat! Budapest!