Oct 5, 2023, Budapest

This morning, we get up around 9 AM after some much needed sleep. Elee has heard of a famous pastry shop called Gerbaud and we head out in search of it. We go the wrong way and stop to ask a few people and we still don’t find it. So I opt to activate my phone’s GPS (I have several days saved up on my phone plan) and it leads us straight to the place. So we have around 5000 steps in before breakfast!

I order bacon and eggs and Elee orders a custom layer cake that is decadent and delicious! We look up the local Hop On, Hop Off Bus and buy tickets online. We see there is a bus stop at St. Stevens Basilica and we walk there. It is a half mile away or around 8-10 minutes. The Basilica is fantastic and we buy tickets to go inside and even ride the elevators to the top! Maximum of 4 persons in the elevator!

I love plays on words and this is no exception! The elevators can only carry 4 persons at a time! As the sign says, “4 Smelly Persons”, LOL

We photograph the city from the top and marvel at the architecture of the city. It is simply stunning! we get back in line to ride the elevators down. There are two sets of elevators, the top set only takes 4 people at a time and the lower elevators take 6. So we cue up and make our way down and out. We inquire and are told where the Hop On Hop Off Bus stops and we make our way to that spot.

Our legs and feet thank us for the break and we ride around the city on the top, open air deck of the bus. We notice that this bus is very similar to the buses around different cities in the world and we are wise to stay seated! This city is the same as others in the fact that they trim the trees so these buses barely fit under them! At one point a branch even smacks me in the head! Keep your arms and body inside the bus at all times!

The bus mainly tours the Pest (pronounced Pesht) side of the river but eventually goes over a bridge to the Buda side for a while. Yes, you heard me correctly. How many of you knew that Budapest (pronounced Boo-da-pesht) is made up of two cities, Buda and Pest? And did you know the original city was called Pestbuda (Pesht-boo-da)? Interesting what you find out when you travel! We get many photos of different parts of both cities including daytime shots of the famous Parliament Building on the Pest side of the river. We are staying in an apartment about 8 blocks from Parliament, about a ten minute walk!

We get off the bus at the river and walk about a quarter mile to find the famous Shoe Memorial that remembers the 3,500 people, 800 of them Jews, who were shot into the Danube during the time of the Arrow Cross terror that occurred in late 1944 and early 1945, shortly before Russia liberated Hungary from the Nazis. The sculptor created sixty pairs of period-appropriate shoes out of iron. The shoes are attached to the stone embankment, and behind them lies a 40 meter long, 70 cm high stone bench. At three points are cast iron signs, with the following text in Hungarian, English, and Hebrew: “To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45”. People com along and put different flowers, flags, colored shoelaces and other decorations on them!

We walk from the shoes about 10 blocks to our apartment and lie down and rest for an hour or so. One and a half hours later we head out in search of dinner. Elee has spotted a specific restaurant she would like to check out and I put it into my GPS. 8 or 9 minutes later, the GPS says we have arrived. we are in front of a bank. We walk into another nearby restaurant and they direct us a couple blocks away. The place we are looking for is called ‘Corso’. What we are directed to is called ‘DomoCorso’. We figure it is one and the same so we get seated and have dinner. We are a little disappointed because the menu is not the same as what Elee saw online. But the food is good and there are a couple live musicians to entertain us and we enjoy!

We then walk across the street to the river Danube and we board a riverboat that was included in our Hop On Hop Off Bus from earlier in the day. So it is after dark and we get to take photos of the lit up buildings on the river! Including the famous Parliament Building that is so famously photographed! A narrator gives us background on the buildings and their significance to society.

As we are finishing our hour and a half tour, a full size River Boat comes powering up the river and we turn to take photos of it. Suddenly Elee exclaims, “Look, it is our cruise ship!”. Sure enough, it is the Emerald Sun, the ship we will board tomorrow for our 8 day River Cruise! We get several photos of the ship and our river tour ends.

We head back towards our apartment and agree to stop for a glass of wine. Suddenly, we find ourselves in front of ‘Corso’, the restaurant we looked for earlier! We check the menu and sure enough it is the one Elee saw on line! We get seated and decide to at least have a glass of wine here. Oh well, we’ll have to get a taste of Foie Gras somewhere else!

We take a couple selfie photos with the illuminated buildings in the background before arriving back at our apartment and turn in for the night.

See you all tomorrow!