Lunch is at 11:45 and we have an excursion booked at 13:15 called the Danube Bend. It is a long trip visiting the local countryside, some pretty towns and a view of the Danube where it snakes through a valley. The ship sails while the excursion is on and the group are brought back to the coach in Slovakia at about 19:00. I am going to stay behind.
I still don’t feel too good this morning so hopefully a good walk will help.
All of those who want to walk into Budapest and do a spot of shopping are meeting at the reception desk at 08:45 and I will take them to the free ferry that transports us from Buda to Pest and then walk to the historic market hall.
The ferry’s first journey is at 09:00 and my 15 walkers are all aboard in plenty of time, along with a lot of the Germans and the Turks from the boat. The journey takes a couple of minutes.
Once we are off the boat I walk them to the pedestrianised shopping street, Vaci Utca, and then point out the market hall at one end and leave them to it!
I stroll down to the market hall and as well as being a magnificent building (not unlike an old railway station) the market is fantastic. I am not a market person but this is impressive with all the food on the ground floor and all of the crafts and tourist nik naks on the first floor. Everything looks so clean and there is plenty of room to move about without being jostled. A worthwhile visit.
From here I walk back along Vaci Utca to the far end taking in the atmosphere of this lovely city waking up (most shops don’t open until 10:00) and decide to sit down for a coffee. The first place I try I am sitting for five minutes without being served so I go to another cafe and sit down in front of two waitresses who seem to ignore me so I leave there too! At the third attempt I strike lucky!
It is again very hot so I keep my hat on as I walk to the Chain Bridge and then cross it nervously. I don’t like bridges and this is a real struggle to walk over. I am sweating with a twisted stomach as I lean in away from the edge walking as quickly as I can. I don’t know why I am not good on bridges and can have the same problem driving over some!
I am back on the ship in time to have twenty minutes reading my book on the sun deck before our early lunch.
At 13:15 I see all but Ted off on the excursion and go back to the ship. Over a 100 passengers have gone on the excursion leaving the ship virtually empty. It is with pure delight I spend an hour on the sun deck reading and taking in the scenery as we gently sail away from Budapest, a city I will definitely return to.
I even manage to get some work done this afternoon and am pleased I stayed behind as I feel a lot better and it has been an extremely relaxing afternoon.
Dinner tonight was Pirates Night! Bed sheets had been put up across the glass doors of the restaurant stopping any prying eyes. What can they be planning?!
In the lounge before dinner all the staff are dressed in all manner of pirate costumes and the is much banging of drinks trays and glasses.
I enter the restaurant and all of our napkins are hanging from the ceiling, the individual chairs have been turned upside down or are laying on their side, the cutlery is all over the table along with the wine and water glasses! A ”pirate” is sitting slumped in a seat with a noose around his neck and the other pirates are running around brandishing plastic swords and knocking over righted glasses, messing up corrected cutlery and tipping bread out of baskets onto the table!
A clever idea that goes down well with everyone. The theme is carried on throughout dinner with passengers drinks being drunk and food being eaten and napkins turning up all over the place.
On the table next to me, Colin, Pat, Ian and Jenny collect their empty plates and pile them up upside down, hide their glasses behind the curtain and make bras out of their napkins!
After dinner the crew give a show in the lounge which is definitely an amateur production but has a certain charm about it. It has been a good night.
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