Budapest

This long-awaited city does not disappoint. In spite of heavy WW2 bombing, there are many neo-classical late 19^th century buildings in excellent condition. These are mostly on the Pest side of the Danube. The older, Buda, side has a magnificent cathedral and a good look-out point over Pest. The buildings around the river are all illuminated at night, providing a magnificent spectacle.

The guide seemed to be very supportive of Hungary’s right-wing government. ‘It is a good feeling that there are no immigrants, so we have no crime problems’. ‘The immigrants are all illegal and uneducated so we cannot take them here’. The arabs/turks were not creative people’. etc. etc.

Despite the lack of immigrant crime, there are many armed police, and in the evening there was a fast motorcade with many many blue flashing lights. This is all probably because there is a Chinese delegation in the city.

For the first time on this voyage, the rain started in earnest and TSH and Diva got very wet. Fortunately TSH has his water-proof trousers. Diva took the opportunity of a free afternoon to have her nails done at a Trip Advisor recommended salon – they did an excellent job.

There was also a free day in Budapest. In the morning, TSH and Diva walked along the bank of the Danube to the market Hall, which is a mixture of fresh produce for local people and souvenirs for the many tourists. Lots of paprika – some still on stalks. In the afternoon, they walked to the very grand Parliament building.

Viking has an annoying ritual of playing ‘Good morning, good morning, we’ve slept the whole night through …….’ (Doris Day??) as the first tour of the day departs. It is a sign of how much the plot has been lost that Diva found TSH singing along!!

About half of the passengers disembarked in Budapest and a new group has joined the Viking Lif. There are several Viking ships in the city, so during tours we are more like 1000 tourists rather than the 200 from the Lif.