Up and out to walk the city. Beautiful buildings everywhere, it is overwhelming, too much to look at let alone try to photograph. Fountains, ornate artistic touches, and statues everywhere. Every building is so ornate, even the simplest apartment building has statues, carved faces, tile work, arches, ironwork, balconies, domes or a combination of these. It is like a very dressed up version of San Francisco. I make it down to the river and again I don't know where to start looking. The Danube River flows quietly under the Chain Bridge with its lions, flowing lights and the fascinating chains (cables) curving gracefully between the stone towers. Behind it all castle hill takes up about 90 degrees of the skyline, stretching from the palace to a church complex. Wow. I am on a tree lined promenade that fades away out of sight, well past the next bridge. This part, this first view, reminds me of the first time I saw Paris. Budapest really is breathtaking.
I go back and wake Gail. We have breakfast at the hotel, a €12 allowance each. I have two cappuccinos and two croissants and give up; the prices are so cheap I can't eat €12 worth, and Gail is doing worse than me. So, we pool our remaining money and order a nice bottle of red wine to put in the room for later tonight. (And this becomes our morning tradition: croissants, cappuccinos, and a bottle of wine. By the third day the only question from the waiter is, "Which wine?")
Gail heads out to grab a taxi across town, she has an appointment to visit the Ilike cosmetics firm that makes the products she uses in her business. I take our laundry over to be done (We are totally out of clothes; cost $11 or 2670F is totally worth it) and walk around more. At noon we meet up and head out to explore, stopping at 14:00 for a lunch/wine break. Café de Paris: Hungarian wine, Italian cannoli, French sparkling water...
At 16:00 we grab the metro line 3 (yellow) and head to the famous Széchenyi Baths. When you see photos of Budapest and the yellow buildings with pools, that is this. It is so pretty, the black domes, old yellow buildings and blue water. We paid and went in. It starts out a little confusing, but we caught on quick. Unlike Baden-Baden, this one you wear a swimsuit, and instead of following a hot-hotter-hottest-cold!! route, here you just wander aimlessly between indoor and outdoor pools, all fed by hot springs and varying warm to hot temperatures. One pool has a swirling current and it just sucks you around and around in a circle. Some pools smell of the sulfur, others not at all. There is a sauna, and we both got a massage (mine was with Brunhilda; no spank at the end). The main activity we soon discovered is to sit in a just-right pool and people watch. It was nice, and we were relaxed when we left, but I really prefer the Baden-Baden baths. A fun experience, and you can't visit Budapest and not do a bath. Maybe tomorrow, maybe Sunday we will try a different bathhouse.
We dried off and headed out to dinner at nine (21:00) without a reservation. We wanted to go to Menza, recommended to us by two people, and it turns out it is a real hot spot. After half an hour in the bar we snagged a table out in the cool evening, ordered up the usual wine and water, salad and chicken something with chili-yogurt sauce for me, grilled cheese salad with nuts for Gail. Then we sat back for the evening. The food was OK, the wine really good and the ambience excellent.
This whole square is a hidden hot spot. I don't hear a word of English here, but every spot in every café is packed, a pretty young crowd. Sitting here I see two other places I would like to try. So, if you come to Budapest, take the yellow metro line to Ocagon stop, walk out, 100 metres up Andrassey and you will hit a pocket square, trees and many cafés.
After dinner we walked, looking at the rest of the restaurants, then walked down to the Margarit Bridge and wandered along the Danube back home. The bridges and buildings are lit up spectacularly here. We pass California Coffee, I have to run in and get a cup, take away. This is very unusual for Europe, take away coffee. People out picnicking, walking, the cafés and bars still busy. At midnight I am taking a photo for some Australians, and as they pose in front of the lit up bridge and castle, I suddenly can't seem to see either the bridge or castle. Stupid camera I think and look up... The lights are all off! They turn it all off at midnight. We all have a good laugh and part, Gail and I head up to our room to sit on the balcony and sip a last glass of wine. (The next day the bottle is empty… where did it go?)
We live and have explored in Pest, tomorrow we cross the river to check out Buda.