Budapest - 4th July

We arrived in Budapest yesterday (3rd July) after a gruelling 34 hour journey with little to no sleep. Eight hours from Perth to Hong Kong that was delayed an hour, then another 30 minutes circling Hong Kong when we got there, a 7 hour layover at Hong Kong airport, a 12 hour flight to Munich followed by a 1 hour flight to Budapest. Needless to say, we were very tired by the time our pickup at Budapest airport delivered us to our cruise ship. We arrived at 8.30 am but our room was not ready so we fell asleep in the lounge. Boarding time was supposed to be 3 pm, but fortunately the crew took pity on us and had our room ready by 10.30 so we fell into bed. I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Now refreshed after a good night's sleep, I can finally get this blog going. Hong Kong airport is enormous, it has over 500 gates! We had booked a lounge there to rest in during our 7 hour layover, so we asked directions and was told it was next to Gate 1, so down to Gate 1 we toddled only to be told that online bookings had to go to the other lounge, down at Gate 40! Poor Ros was footsore by then, but fortunately there were travellators most of the way to help us finally get there. When we left to catch our onward flight, there was a sign for our gate pointing downwards, so we caught the lift down and there's a freaking train there to take us to our gate! We were certainly glad we didn't have to walk to that one!

Airbus A340-600

Scenic Jewel

The plane we took from Hong Kong to Munich was an Airbus A340-600, one of only three long haul planes with four engines, the other two being the 747 and the A380. It has a basement, all five economy toilets were down there under the main cabin - the only plane I have seen with this feature.

I was leaning on a wall in the middle of the night waiting for a vacant toilet, when the "wall" opened and I almost fell onto a flight attendant emerging from the crew sleeping quarters. I don't know who was more surprised, her or me!

Our ship is the Scenic Jewel, a 135m floating hotel and we have a balcony suite so we can watch the scenery glide by whilst in our cabin. It has a large electrically operated window stretching the entire length of the balcony, which can be lowered to expose the balcony to the open air. We have been advised to keep it closed at night as the summer insects are attracted to the light.

Parliament House

The staff are wonderful and oh so helpful and the food is to die for! The captain informed us there are 64 locks between Budapest and Amsterdam that the ship must negotiate, fortunately most of them at night time while we sleep. Last night after dinner, the ship cruised up the river through the central district of Budapest so we could see some of the main attractions lit up, the best being the Parliament House, but the bridges are also spectacular, seven of them spanning the Danube in the city environs.

Matthias Cathedral

Today we toured Budapest by bus, but we did make two stops, one on the Buda side (Budapest is actually two cities divided by the Danube, Buda is on the western side and has large hills, whereas Pest on the eastern side is dead flat), the Matthias Cathedral, a beautiful Roman Catholic church with picturesque colourful roof tiles and a towering Gothic style, complete with gargoyles. It and most of Buda was destroyed twice, once during the Turkish invasion in the 16th century and again by the Soviets during World War II. It has been rebuilt in its original style and is simply gorgeous, both inside and out.

Liberty Bridge

The other stop was at the Hungarian Music Academy to listen to a  piano recital by Csaba Kiraly, a world-renowned pianist/organist who has won the Franz List award twice in his 46 years of experience. Man, could he tickle those ivories, managing not one or two separate melodies but up to five at once! Then he hopped on the giant pipe organ and blasted out a number on that as well. Certainly very enjoyable.

This afternoon we set sail on the first stage of our trip, leaving Hungary behind and passing through Slovakia on our way to our next stop, Vienna in Austria.

Some notable people have been born in Budapest, Franz Listz - famous composer, Zsa Zsa Gabor - actress and one Eric Weisz, whom you probably better know as Harry Houdini, the famous escapologist and magician.