Category Archives: Other Services

Day Two-Budapest

Today was one busy day. We took the bus to St.Matthias Church (absolutely unbelievable). Built in the early 1200’s. The off to the Fisherman’s Bastian which is a breathtaking view of the entire City. Our guide, Erika, says it is  a view of the whole world.

Then we head off to Szentendre (St. Andrew). This is a picturesque town filled with more Hungarian craft  kiosks selling fridge magnets (big thing here in Europe), linens, dolls, trinkets, and then more linens. We had a lovely lunch which consisted of goulash soup, a dish with what looked like a turkey cutlet but oh, so good. The dessert was not of our normal ‘liking’. The wine served, both red and white, was excellent.

On our walk back to the bus, we did some shopping.

We made our way back to the bus without getting lost and feel pretty good and are now back in our hotel. Tonight we go down for a lovely dinner in the Hotel dining room.

Our guide for the past two days has given me her Grandmother’s recipe for stuffed cabbage. When I get back, I will post it (with her permission)n in the dining room.

Just back from a dinner in the dining room (included). We started out with a salad, then had a pork loin with vegetables and dessert which had chocolate sauce. It was so filling we couldn’t eat it all.

Tomorrow we are off to Vienna, so good night from Budapest.

 

 

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Tour Of Prague, Walking Tour

This morning, Don and I opted out of the walking tour. It was a  4 km walk, but because of me (I think) our guide was so thoughtful to order a bus for part of it. It still left 3 km of cobblestones up hills and down, so we will meet them at noon in the square for lunch and to see the Bohemian crystal.

Tonight we are going on one of the optional tours for a traditional Czech dinner and musicians in traditional costumes for entertainment. I will catch up later….

Okay! We took a taxi from our hotel to the Old Town Square. We went early enough so we could look at a few places and also get our bearings. We waited until the allotted time to meet the group and began our search. There were hundreds of people, some on their own, most in different tour groups.

I thought of turning on our little handset and, lo and behold, I heard our guide for the day, George. The astronomical clock (6oo years old) started chiming at noon and then we were told where to shop for the famous Bohemian Czech crystal. He did not lie. WOW…this shop must be a block long and a block wide. Crystal like you have never seen before and probably will never see again. And of course we did……

Then we went to a little restaurant called U Dvou Sester. Lucille and I had a Caesar Salad with chicken and bacon (ham) and Don ordered the goulash. It was quite tasty. The best thing here is that they serve pepsi and also 7-up with ice. No one uses ice here so that is a treat.

Back at the hotel at about 3:30 p.m. and we go for dinner at 7:00 p.m. We get to dress up a little so that will feel good.

As an aside….the Tour Directors of Insight do not have an easy job. They are responsible for 39 people, all the luggage, hotel rooms, times of arrival, departures, meals, optional tours, counting bodies constantly so as not to leave anyone behind. Constantly on the phone in one language or another. Bob speaks 5 languages himself.

Now our driver, Franco. He is Italian and boy, of boy, it shows. He can drive through, past and around walls, cars, buses and people and not lose a coat of paint. What a thrill to see how he manages this vehicle. He never gets lost in any city, country or roadway. He is worth everything to the passengers.

Just got back from our dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant. Let me tell you, they know how to party. The food was traditional but the entertainment was exquisite. Singing ,dancing and getting everyone to participate was so much fun. “There were 7 busloads of tourists in this restaurant from all over. They played a song to welcome each and every country represented and the evening went from there. What a blast….

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