Free Day in Budapest

Jim and I opted out of the optional excursion to the Danube Bend. It was supposed to be by boat, but instead, they have changed it to be by bus. As you have gathered, bus is a nasty word to me on this trip. So instead, Jim and I took the hotel shuttle to the old town and then we walked down to the boat dock and took a sightseeing boat tour on the Danube.  It was lovely and just enjoy to enjoy it.  We did discover that they have some pretty aggressive mosquitoes here in Budapest too!  After we left that, we took a tram ride back to the Chain Bridge and walked across the bridge which was neat.  Then we took the funicular up to see St Mattias church and the Fisherman's Bastillion that we saw yesterday but we wanted to go inside the church.  It was very pretty.  We took the funicular back down the hill and took the tram back across to the Pest side of the river. We had been to the market yesterday so instead we walked along the pedestrian plaza and window shopped.  There really is not anything that we really want here since we have already bought a couple of small things for our travel wall at home.  We were hunting for a McDonalds as they have different colored Coke glasses here that are neat. Maybe they have them in the US too-we never go to McDonald's so we wouldn't know. But we thought they would be a neat souvenir for us from here and so did Marylou so we went there for lunch and got one for her and one for us.  Then we took the metro back across the Danube and got on the commuter train and went up one stop and walked over to Margit Island.  It is really a lovely park with huge trees and lots of peaceful spots to spread a blanket and have a picnic and enjoy being out in nature in the midst of a large city.  It is about 2 miles from one end to the other so we walked and enjoyed the afternoon.  We had to do some maneuvering to get the tram back to the hotel but we did it and were quite ready to come in to the air conditioning and rest.  We went back to our little 100 yr old restaurant next door and are now suitably stuffed for the evening.  We are packing up as we leave tomorrow for Prague. That is one of my favorite cities and if we survive the long bus ride, we will enjoy it, I am sure. I have secured me a seat on the front half the bus thanks to changing seats with a family from Bham that prefers to sit on the raised back seat so they have more leg room.  Here's hoping it will be a good day.