Budapest at last

Budapest has been on my list for a number of years I had seen the Parliament Building in Viking River commercial, it looked so amazing and  I had to see it for myself. My trip started out special arriving at the Toronto airport and after checking I was waiting to board the plane I saw an area that was decorated and full of people eating food. I walked over and I was allowed in because I was flying Air Brussels, that had just started flying out of Toronto to Belgium.  They were having a celebration with a yummy cake and cookies, donuts, coffee tea juices and fruit.  I had to try the cake and it tasted as good as it looked. I flew from Toronto and changed planes in Brussels I had been a bit nervous about changing planes in Brussels because of the bombing that had happened a few weeks before but the airport was huge and did not see anything. I arrived in Budapest late morning and I had transportation set up by the hotel to meet me. I read to many negative reports on taking the bus into Budapest  mainly that it was complicated. The driver was there to greet me with my name a first for me and we walked a bit to his car. 

I arrived at the hotel and checked in I was lucky that they had the room available right away and I went in and laid down for about 45 minutes and then decided to set out to explore. I set off to find the Danube river and I could not wait to see the Parliament and I can honestly say I was not disappointed when I approached it for the first time. It is the 3rd largest Parliament building in the world, it is a magnificent example of Neo-Gothic architecture and is just over a 100 years old.

my first view of the Parliament 

I looked at if from all angles and took photos and sat and relaxed and then walked to the front to view the Danube and walked along it for awhile. I saw the Ethnographic museum, Hungarian national Museum but it was closing time, the building looked imposing. There was a square behind Parliament with a huge statue to Kossuth Lajos who was an Iconic Leader of Hungarian politics. I soon realized that Budapest statues were huge and impressive.  My knee was kinking a bit so I decided to head back and call it a day. I was still full from my meal on the plane but had a roll I had not eaten so had that and a few crackers.   I had only slept a couple hours on the plane so read and went to bed. 

Statue of Attila Jozsef Hungarian poet

Kossuth Lajos statue


Tisza Istuan statue

Ethnographic museum