by Jim Bellomo | Dec 22, 2023 | Air travel
Our last two sojourns to Europe have both finished badly. It is horrid that you have a great trip, and then the day you fly home, things suck. I promised to detail this for you, so here we go. Just once, I would like to be able to get home without feeling like I was run over by a truck.
We had originally purchased seats on Air France from Seattle to Lisbon via Paris and then home from Budapest to Seattle, again via Paris. Our original flights had a four-hour layover at Charles DeGaulle Airport (CDG–above) on our way out and a three-hour layover at CDG on the way back. I liked that. I thought it was a good amount of time to transition from one plane to another.
But then Air France canceled our flight. Well, they didn’t really cancel it; they moved us via a codeshare to Delta (that means that we were flying on a Delta plane but under an Air France ticket), flight 80 on the way out and 81 on the way back. We would still be on the same Air France flights from Paris to Lisbon and Budapest to Paris. On the front end of the trip, our schedule pretty much stayed the same, but on the way home…not so much. We went from a three-hour layover to a 95-minute layover. My friend Mike had warned me that CDG was not an easy airport, and I was really worried about it. Air France offered us a complete refund, but that would mean finding another flight less than two months before the trip. And those tickets would cost us almost three times the amount we had paid for the original flight. Plus, we would lose the flights to Lisbon and from Budapest…so we took the Delta offer and knew we would just have to move our butts.
Our flights coming to Euorpe weren’t too bad, but our experience at CDG on the way to Lisbon was not. You can read the post about that by clicking here. But on the way back, things went very bad.
I had been tracking both these flights on FlightAware.com before the cruise. If you have not used FlightAware before, you can plug in a flight and see how on time that flight is each day for about a week back. I tracked them both for more than a month—checking their on-time performance every day. I felt better seeing that our flight from Budapest to Paris was usually either on time or early. As it was the first flight of the day, we felt pretty confident we would get to Paris on time. And Delta flight 81 was also pretty much on-time most days. That didn’t make me that happy. I would rather see it being a little late so we had more time to transition at the airport.
How worried were we about making the flight to Seattle? So worried that we looked at videos of how to move from the E gates (where intra-Europe flights land) to Terminal M (where flights outside of Europe originate from). We studied airport maps. We read posts on FlyerTalk. We found a bunch of contradictions about what we would have to go through, but we did understand where we would have to go. Most of these said we should be able to traverse the long walk from the E gates to Passport Control, go through that and then take a train/bus to the M gates, which should take about half an hour to 45 minutes. That would get us to our gate to go home after they had started boarding but before they closed the doors. We weren’t worried about our luggage since we were going home and knew if they didn’t make the connection, they would catch up soon after, and we have clothes at home. Our day was planned, and we went to bed knowing that we might have a stressful trip, but we could do it. Kathleen was still worried about how she would do with her knee.
We got up at 2:00 am, had our luggage ready to be picked up by Viking, loaded on the “luxury motor coach” to the airport by 2:45, and we were downstairs in the lobby, ready to board that bus at 3:00 am. We arrived at the airport at 4:00 am for a 6:20 flight, right on time. We boarded the plane on time. And then…the pilot announced that we needed to de-ice the plane, and that would take about half an hour. We freaked. But then I got a notification from Delta that our flight from Paris to Seattle had been rescheduled to one hour later. YEAH! A flight attendant onboard was great at telling us where our next gates would be, and when we mentioned we were worried about making it to the Seattle flight, she said not to worry too much. There were 24 people on that plane from Budapest going to our flight to Seattle. She said, “They aren’t going to want to rebook 24 people. They won’t fly without you.”
Our flight from Budapest finally left about 45 minutes late. So we had lost 15 minutes of that hour. We had been scheduled to get into Paris at 8:30 am. We arrived at 9:45 and had to get across the airport by 11:30. So off we went. We found our way through the E gates pretty easily, but Kathleen’s knee was already starting to hurt, and we had already walked quite a distance. And then we hit Passport Control.
We had high hopes that being in Business Class there would be a special line for us. And there was. But it wasn’t moving any faster, nor was it any shorter than the other lines. And all of them were going slow. In the meantime, a bunch of people were going up to an airport supervisor, asking to be let in early. He would scan their boarding passes, and if they had less than a certain amount of time, he would let them through. We saw him send 90% of those people back to the end of our line. Of course, they didn’t go to the back of the line; they just kind of blended into the line a few people back. We saw a number of them, who should have been 100 people behind us, get through before we did.
After 45 minutes, we got to where we could see the Passport Control booths, and of course, on a day when there were a lot of late planes due to weather (ice and cold), only four of 10 of the booths were operating. I can never figure that kind of thing out. We finally got through, and it was 11:15. We thought we had only 15 minutes to get to the gate, which was quite a ways away. But I got another text from Delta at just about that minute saying that the flight was now delayed until 11:50. We breathed another sigh of almost relief.
From there, we made our way to gate M-29, where our plane was supposed to load. Now, before I continue, I need to tell you what we are carrying between us as we went. Kathleen has her carry-on (a regular-size carry-on roller) and her personal item, a bag about one-third the size of a carry-on. She was pushing both on the roller’s wheels. I had my standard roller carry-on and my computer/camera bag as my personal item. Both our carry-ons are standard size and weight, and Kathleen’s personal item wasn’t that big or heavy. But my computer/camera bag weighs about 35 lbs. Half the reason I don’t check the roller bag is because I need it as a dolly for the computer bag. That’s how we rolled through the airport.
So now you know what we had between us, you will know why the next thing that happened really killed us (especially me). When it was time to go down the jetway to our plane, we went about halfway down, and there was a door, and we were directed to go through it and down three flights of stairs to a waiting bus. The plane at our gate, at the end of that jetway was not our jet. With Kathleen’s knees, there was no way she could carry her bags down the stairs. She needed to have her hands free to grab a rail. So I carried them all down—all four bags. No elevators, no escalators, just three flights of stairs going down.
Then, when we got to the bottom, there was a very ugly bus. Most people on it had to stand up. Luckily, Kathleen got a seat while I managed the bags and stood. We literally drove to the other side of the airport. I truly believe the bus ride was approximately 30 minutes. And when we finally arrived we saw that our plane did not have a gate or jetway, just a set of stairs next to the plane. So now I would have to carry those bags up a very long and steep set of stairs while I worried that Kathleen would be able to do it safely as well. And there was no way I could carry all four. She had to take her small one.
To make matters worse, they wouldn’t let us off the bus. They had five buses lined up with everyone on board. And since it was a cold day out, they kept the doors closed. For at least 20 minutes, they just kept us there. Eventually, people yelled so loud about the heat on the bus and the smell of diesel fuel that they opened the doors of the buses, but they still would not let us off. I was truly surprised no one passed out from the heat and fumes.
Finally, someone from Delta came to each bus and said that the food service provider was servicing the plane and we were not allowed to be onboard until he was finished, which he thought would be in about 10 minutes. All this time, most of the people on all five buses were still standing up, trying to hold up their bags. Finally, we were allowed to board the plane. By this time, it was almost 12:30 pm. Kathleen made it up with a minimum of trouble. I still have a sore shoulder from getting those bags up those stairs. The cherry on the whole crappy day was that they had changed planes, so our seats were no longer together. Not a huge deal but it meant I wasn’t right there to deal with getting the carryons up and down from the overhead bins for her. And we couldn’t communicate during the flight without getting out of our seats. We managed.
The flight itself was fine. I watched a couple of movies, worked with some photos, had a nice meal, and drank a lot of water. We landed in Seattle after 3:00 (supposed to be 12:45), got through Customs, we were met by our driver (who had monitored our flight and knew we were late), and we were home in our house before 5:00. But what a day—23 hours from waking up in Budapest to unpacking in our home. And to top it all off…it was my 71st birthday. Not one I will soon forget.
See why plane travel makes me feel old…and ruins the end of trips? When I have days like this, I totally get why my good friend Bob hates air travel. I totally understand. Oh, and when I checked this morning on FlightAware, both of those flights had been right on time (within 15 minutes) every day before and since. Our particular day was the only one that was different. That’s crazy.
I have one more post to write and this trip is toast. This is just a summary and review of the whole thing, especially the cruise. See you soon—hopefully tomorrow, but more likely the day after Christmas. Lots of cooking and shopping and wrapping to do before then.
Running through airports with pounds of luggage – that’s a good workout. —Rachel McAdams
by Jim Bellomo | Dec 21, 2023 | Food Experiences, Photography
Yes, we had all those things in our last full day in Budapest; we got up late (after our late-night, worthless tour), and while Kathleen showered and changed and before we had our hotel buffet breakfast (included in our Viking post-cruise extension) I went out for a short pre-dawn photo walk. I hadn’t gotten many of those in on this trip. Really not a single one since we had left Lisbon. It’s not like I hadn’t planned for them. I had maps of the things I wanted to take photos of in that wonderful early morning light. And I had brought clothing to wear along with my boots—I had even planned on the ice and snow we encountered in Prague. What I hadn’t expected was how late the sun would come up. Most of the time, we had someplace we had to be (usually a tour) at 8:30. And when the sun doesn’t come up until 7:30 or later, it’s hard to find time to be there when it does.
This day was different as our only tour didn’t start until 10:00 am, so I was able to go out and take photos of the last two major sites I hadn’t seen yet. First up were some close-ups of the incredible Parliament Building I had been taking so many long-distance photos of, and then, while walking back to the hotel, I could visit the Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial. We had driven by the Shoes memorial a few times, and I had the chance in on two previous afternoons, but I wanted to be there alone, and usually, it was jammed with people. If you have not heard of the Shoes on the Danube Bank before, it is a monument to thousands of Jews who were taken from the Jewish Ghetto in Budapest in 1944-45 and killed. The fascist Hungarian Arrow Cross party took them to the edge of the Danube, made them undress and take off their shoes (which could later be sold) and then shot them so they fell into the river and were swept away. The memorial is a beautiful tribute to those people. You can read about it by clicking here.
In the meantime, here are the photos I took early that morning. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
As i headed out from the hotel I took one shots of Buda on the far side of the river.
This statue stands at the east end of the Parliament Building
And here are some close ups of this beautiful building that looks so magnificent at night with the lights on. i
Close up 1
Close up 2
Close up 3
Close up 4
Close up 5
Close up 6
Close up 7
And then another look back across the river…
Where the sun was just starting to make an appearance.
And then the Shoes on the Danube Memorial.
People had left flowers and candles.
It is such a wonderful and symbolic memorial.
That commemorates the evil men do to others.
It is both somber and sobering.
And incredibly sad.
Once past it I head back to our hotel.
On the way I passed our ship, now with an entirely new set of passengers.
And less than 100 yards away…our hotel.
For the balance of the day, we had a private tour planned with Melinda from Tours by Locals. If you have been reading my posts, you know that this is a company I have grown to love. Between myself and Jamie and Steve on their London/Paris land trip we have used them on at least 15 tours. I chose Melinda’s tour because in the description of her tour she said, “This private tour is perfect for those who have already seen the highlights and want to explore the city further.” This meant that we could do the tours with Viking, and then I could let her know what we still wanted to see, and she would set us up to go there.
Even though this was a private tour in a van (not a “luxury motor coach”), Kathleen was worried that getting in and out of the van and doing what walking we would be doing might make her knee worse. And she was VERY worried (as was I) about the next day when we knew we would make a long tramp through Charles DeGaulle airport, not to mention wading through security and check-in here in Budapest. Plus, she was still wiped out after our worthless tour the night before when we didn’t get back until almost 11:00. So she decided to let the other four of us go (our new friend Carol was joining us as well).
Right on time, Melinda walked into the hotel lobby to collect us. We jumped into a Mercedes van with a driver, and we were off on our four-hour adventure. Our first stop was Heroes Square. On our first-day overview tour with Barbie, we had driven past it, but we wanted to walk around as well as see the castle and seasonal ice skating rink behind it. Heroes Square is packed with amazing statues and monuments to (I think) every person who ever had a hand in creating Hungary and keeping it alive during the years in between. I wish I could tell you who all the statues represented, and I did get a few of them. You can read about them below, in the captions of the photos I took in the square. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Stupidly, I forgot to take a photo of the overall square. This is one corner.
This is the other.
This is the center
A closeup of the seven statues that represent the founders of Hungary.
The statues are about 30 feet high.
But they. are impressive.
And they are everywhere.
It was worth coming back to see them.
The Hungarians truly respect their heroes.
These two sat opposite each other on the left and right corners.
Kind of a face off between war and peace.
I liked this shot because it combines the old with the contrails of the modern.
There were protestors in the Square as well.
Very eye-catching.
As was this helium (not hot air) balloon that suddenly appeared behind the square.
Just across the street from Heroes Square were two other places we wanted to see: the seasonal ice skating rink and the Vajdahunyad Castle that sat right behind it. We had seen both while driving with Barbie, and I got an idea for some artsy photography I wanted to try at the rink. Here are the photos we took (without the artsy black-and-white stuff). Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
A really nice castle…
The balloon makes another appearance.
As we get closer to the castle…
I see a really cool lion.
Other parts of the castle.
This building houses the Hungarian Agricultural Department.
There is also a small chapel.
The chapel had a very unique façade.
Next to the castle is the seasonal (not there all year) outdoor skating rink.
This is the building behind the ice rink.
I kind of liked it.
And then there is Anonymous. Seriously, that’s the statues name.
And the castle from behind.
One other thing during our stop near Heroes Square was another Christmas Market. Not a huge one, but certainly as big as many we had seen. But they had some of the best looking food I had seen and since it was early in the day, there wasn’t a huge crowd waiting to buy it so I could get some great photos…that I hope will make your mouth water. Enjoy.
The food at every Christmas Market we had seen was this good…
And there was this much of it.
Of course these changed by country.
But the quality and the quantity were amazing.
I get hungry just looking at these.
It’s almost lunch time as I am typing this…
Wish I was there.
Just amazing food.
And it all looked so darned good.
After our walk, we were off to our longest drive of the day to Memento Park. Our good friend Marjorie had visited the park when she was in Budapest and had told us about it. As I always do, I thought it sounded interesting but more importantly, a chance for some great photography. This was the only place I had told Melinda we wanted to go before we got to Budapest because I knew it was too far out in the countryside for Viking to take us there. Besides, it was one of those hidden gems you always hear about.
Memento Park is where old statues go to die. Seriously. In the early 1990s, when the Communist dictatorship ended, the people of Hungary were ticked! So they took down all the symbols of Communism from around the city of Budapest and moved samples of it to Mememto Park as a constant reminder to never let that happen again. So you can go and visit these statues and celebrate how incredibly naïve Soviet-era communism was. Check out the photos to get an idea of what I am talking about. Their symbolism is truly wrong, but they are interesting historical artifacts. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Welcome to Memento Park.
These are not in the park. The two boots you see there are Stalin’s they were at that bottom of a statue that was more than 80 feet. All they moved here were the boots.
Outside the park…about to head in we saw…
Marx and Engels, the two founding fathers of Communism.
An original Trabant, Built in East Germany, it is almost made of cardboard.
The inside. Strange thing…we saw one of these on the street that evening.
Once inside there are about 30 statues…
Spread all around the park.
All types of Soviet artwork.
Representing the worst of Communism.
This one is definitely the best.
I just wish I had thought to put people in the photo for scale.
Wanted to get him in the best light.
Strange stuff.
Melinda explains one of the statues to Jamie and Steve.
This one commemorates the Hungarian Communist contribution to the Spanish Civil War.
Not a statue but how the Hungarians build water towers.
I loved the way he is catching a jet in the sky.
More humans for scale. My brother is six foot, eight so you know these statues must be huge.
A very interesting piece showing Stalin urging troops on to war.
Some closeups of the piece.
Really different from everything else.
I liked these guys….
The electrical wires in the background seemed to suit them as opposed to being a distraction.
The ticket sales area actually had music (military music) playing on this very old radio.
On my way out of the park.
After this quick look at the Soviet occupation, we were off to see two more things. One was a viewpoint where Melinda said we could get a wonderful and complete overall view of Budapest, and the other was the Opera House, where we could get photos of the lobby but would need to take a tour to see the inside, and we didn’t have time to do that with her. Here are the photos from those spots. You know the drill.
Melinda was right…
What an incredible view!
We could see everything from up here…
From a completely different angle than from down below.
Even the Parliament Building.
And then a quick drive downtown to the Opera House.
Which, sadly, was having a private function, so this was the only photo I could get.
After that, we went back to the hotel so we could pack for our flight the next morning. Anita (our Viking Extension concierge) had wrangled us some reservations at a great restaurant because we all wanted one more night of Hungarian food. The place was called Rezkakas, and their goulash was about as close to a perfect meal as we had eaten on this trip. If you go to Budapest, eat there! I wish I had taken a photo of it but when it got to the table, it looked so good, I ate it without thinking about it. The whole evening was a great experience…especially since Carol joined us for a farewell dinner, and Steve and Jamie picked up the entire check as a birthday present (the next day) for me.
Dictators fall when they’re overconfident; they stay in power when they’re paranoid. —Masha Gessen
by Jim Bellomo | Dec 20, 2023 | Food Experiences, Photography
The morning of our second day in Budapest, we had to do something we hated. We had to get off of Viking Gulveig. That sucked. We truly loved being on board and made many new friends among the crew and the other passengers. Our stateroom was wonderful, the ship beautiful, and except for one horrible lunch dish, the food was excellent (more about that later this week).
After getting tossed off the ship, Viking was nice enough to give us a ride to our hotel. We were doing the Budapest Extension with Viking, and they were putting us up at the Intercontinental Hotel. From the ship, the “luxury motor coach” ride to the hotel took just about exactly…3 minutes. Seriously, we could see the hotel from the ship. It took us longer to get on and off the bus than it would have taken me to walk directly there. It was just on the other side of the Chain Bridge.
Sadly, the rest of that day was wasted to some extent. The hotel didn’t have rooms ready for us, and having our carry-ons with us, as well as Kathleen really being tired and having (as she said) “hit a wall,” just needed some rest. So when we got to the hotel, our new tour coordinator, Anita, offered the entire group a short walking tour to get oriented to where we were; Kathleen decided to stay in the lobby on a nice couch and read while I went and heard what Anita had to say. Anita walked us about ten blocks from the hotel and showed us how to get around. I have to say that both our pre-cruise tour coordinator in Prague (Vicki) and post-tour coordinator in Budapest (Anita) were amazing to work with. Just took care of everything we needed. Anita even acted as our Concierge by finding us reservations for dinner on the last night we were in Budapest.
After Anita finished her tour, I realized that I needed to get back to Kathleen to give her a break from the bags and discuss what to do next. She was OK with me going off to take photos and then come back, and we could have lunch. So off I went to find the local public market. This was NOT a Christmas Market. This was a huge building that housed just about everything you could want to buy, from soup to nuts (not to mention meat, spices, dishes, clothing, etc.) This was where the locals shopped, and we visitors took pictures (although I did buy some paprika here for myself and Kathleen’s daughter Michelle). Let me drop in the photos I took on that walk right here so you can see what I am talking about. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
On my way to the Market I shot some photos…
…(of course I did) of statues and…
Buildings that I saw on my way.
Including this awesome sculpture that from far away was supposed to look like the symbol for pi.
When you got closer, you could see that the inside was just pi pushed out to a WHOLE LOT OF DIGITS!
One of the things that made getting around easier was knowing there were only five bridges and if you got to the river and could see them, you would know where you were.
I was in front of the Market.
Where I saw this VERY fashionable young lady with her VERY fashionable dog.
And then I went inside. HOLY you know what…
This place was huge.
I went up the second floor gallery and walked…
All the way around snapping what was below…
Before I headed back down to get some street photos (so to speak).
Meat…
Pottery…
Lots of veggies…
People talking and discussing.
You could tell these were locals.
It was very festive.
So much to see.
A shop owner dropping prices late in the day.
Sweets…
I had no clue that this was what…
paprika looked like before it was ground.
The crowds were amazing.
Outside I did some shots of the area, including this tram.
The bridge,
A statue in the distance.
Another bridge.
Some other buildings,
A very cool Budapest mural.
The top of the second largest synagogue in Europe.
As well as the front.
After this little foray into a part of the city we had not seen before, I went back and found Kathleen talking to our new friend Carol. The three of us decided to get some lunch in the very nice lounge right there at the hotel. The food was good, especially the goulash soup that Kathleen and I shared.
After lunch, we were finally able to get into our room, where we saw this…
Yes, boy and girls, this was the view out our ninth-floor hotel room window. I took this photo the next night, but suffice it to say that we NEVER closed the curtains (except when we wanted to nap and keep the light out), and this view became our companion all the time, even serving as a night light. After a normal room in Prague and a horrible room in Nuremberg, we had finally won the room lottery with this view.
Other than the view, the hotel was just “fine.” It is much more modern in the public areas and older (more in need of an update) in the rooms. Our room was a good size, had that view and could really use an update. It also had a bathtub instead of a shower, which Kathleen hates. She is the short person in our family, and that means that getting into and out of a VERY high tub is a pain. This one was VERY high. How high? It was sooooo high that I kept bumping my foot when I got in, and getting out was like climbing down a ladder. Except for the location and the view, we would probably not have stayed there. But that view was so amazing, that we probably would go back.
We had dinner that night in the hotel with Jamie, Steve and Carol. In the evening, the restaurant that serves a buffet breakfast converts to a sit-down establishment with Lebanese food. You can either order Lebanese or from the lounge menu we tried at lunch. Everyone at the table went Lebanese, and we weren’t sorry. The food was OUTSTANDING…and very inexpensive. I would have to say that unless you were lunching at the Four Seasons (as Steve and Jamie did since they were staying there to burn more of that Future Cruise Credit), this was the most affordable city we had visited since Lisbon.
After dinner, we had booked our last tour with Viking, “Budapest by Night.” We were still burning Future Cruise Credit, but to be honest, if I had to do this tour again, we would (and SHOULD) have skipped it. We met our tour guide, Lazlo, and boarded a bus that took us around some of the same stuff we had seen the day before while on the ship’s tour with Barbie, but in the dark. Then we headed to the Buda side of the river so everyone could get off the “luxury motor coach” and take pictures of the Parliament (that I had taken the photos of that I showed you yesterday). That did get Kathleen and I in one of my pics (above), but that’s about it.
Then they drove us up the hill toward Fisherman’s Bastion (we got off the bus about fifty feet from where we had the day before) and Lazlo walked us through a construction area (that surprised him by being there—it was like he hadn’t walked this tour in years), down a bunch of steps and two elevators (he kept saying “he hoped were open” and if they hadn’t been he needed to carry us down the steps), past a couple of sculptures and did just enough damage to Kathleen’s knees that she could barely walk the next day…for us to see nothing really that interesting. Just to kill time.
Then we got back on the “luxury motor coach” and killed some more by driving about a mile (we could see our hotel room across the river), having us disembark at a restaurant that looked like it was staying open just for us, grab a half-full glass of sparkling wine, sit in a tiny booth and drink it. Then back on the bus and back to the hotel. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME. And Lazlo was a horrible guide. Told worse jokes than I have ever told (I know, hard to believe) and just dragged us around. He was nice enough to help a woman who was by herself go down the stairs, but my point is, we should NEVER have been on those stairs anyway.
Even though we had gone less than three miles from hotel to hotel, we ate up almost two and a half hours. What a terrible way to end a pretty good day. I did take a few decent photos on the tour, so here they are. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Saw a couple of nice statues…
The outside of some buildings.
Photographed the castle close up.
And our hotel from the top.
As well as the Parliament Building from a different angle.
And the Chain Bridge.
And that was Day 2. We didn’t get to bed until 11:00, and Kathleen’s knee hurt all night, which did not make for a really great Day 3 when we had some great plans. See you there soon.
Great cooking is about being inspired by the simple things around you – fresh markets and various spices. It doesn’t necessarily have to look fancy. —G. Garvin
by Jim Bellomo | Dec 19, 2023 | Photography
This is the first post of this trip that I am writing from our own living room. We flew back yesterday on another nightmare of a day of flying (a birthday I won’t soon forget). It is 2:43 am, and of course, I am still on Budapest time, where it is almost noon. But I shouldn’t complain because jet lag is always easier to handle at home. I will get into our flight day as soon as I am more coherent, but I will say that it was another bad one and that we will never fly through or to Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris again. If we have to go to Paris (we are not planning on it), we will fly to Amsterdam and take the train.
In the meantime, I will give you the photos of Budapest at night that I promised would knock your socks off. After spending three and a half days there I can say with total certainty—this is the most photogenic city I have ever had the pleasure of visiting—and it’s at night when it really shines. On the first night, we were in port. I was going to go out after dinner and take pictures, but with the sun setting so early and it getting really dark by 5:00 pm, I went out before dinner. It was truly a photo walk I will remember. You are going to see 25 photos in the gallery below. I took 346 on that early (very cold?) evening walk. Well, enough narrative; here are the photos. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Just opposite where Gulveig (our ship), was docked was the Four Seasons, where Steve and Jamie would stay.
Then I turned and crossed the Chain Bridge.
It was beautifully lit up…
And I could look back and shoot our ship moored just below it.
The real prime parking spot.
There will be some duplication here because…
…the light kept changing.
And as I walked further out on the bridge I could start to see the Parliament Building.
And an excursion boat went underneath as I looked out.
The Parliament Building just keeps on catching my eye.
But incredible views are everywhere…
Off the bridge and headed back up the Danube/
I keep seeing more and more of the Parliament.
And the river walk had some nice shadows.
But oh, that amazing building.
It’s like the Opera House in Sydney….
if you see it, it just screams, “TAKE MY PICTURE!”
But so does the bridge.
And the castle.
And the lions at the end of the bridge.
And the castle again.
And the traffic on the river front.
We would see a lot of this view…
…because when we moved from our ship to the hotel, we were looking right at it.
And the bridge again as I turned to go back to the ship for dinner.
There is nothing like walking that riverbank at night. Every single place you look, you see something you HAVE TO TAKE A PICTURE OF! What an amazing place to be a photographer. I sometimes wonder if the people who live in Budapest end up getting jaded by these views. I am sure they do, but I hope they don’t. I hope I wouldn’t.
Editor’s Note: My plan is to do two more posts about Budapest (we were there for three days), one about our flight day and then do a summary of the cruise, what we loved and what we didn’t like so much. And I have been getting some questions. So I will try and answer those with the follow-up. I really want all this wound up before Christmas, but that will depend on three things: a cut/crack I have developed on my ring finger that makes it really hurt to type (you never realize how much you use any individual finger while typing until you hurt one). How much time do I sleep versus writing as I finish up with jet lag? And how much time it takes to get ready for Christmas?
Photogenic is a stupid, nonsensical word, but it is also a great mystery. —Blaise Cendrars
by Jim Bellomo | Dec 16, 2023 | Photography
My good friends Mike and Cathy took this exact cruise with Viking last year at about the same time. Well, it was not exactly the same cruise; they went the other way. Instead of sailing from Regensburg to Budapest (BTW: we have learned that the name of this city is pronounced Budapesht; they don’t want to be a pest ?). We did the opposite. And now that we have arrived here, I am so glad we did it that way. Our cruise started with the worst port, and every one after it got a little better until Thursday morning when we arrived in this incredible city.
When we visited Sydney, Australia, a bunch of years ago, I thought it had to be the most photogenic city in the world. From just about anywhere, you could see either the bridge or the Opera House, and if you could get either of them into your photo, it was gold. I now believe Sydney is number two. This city is number one.
We were warned the night before by our wonderful Program Director Debra that we would sail into Budapest around 8:30 am and that if we wanted to see one of the best sail-ins ever, we should be up and watching. So we were! I was on the top deck. (where again it was freezing in the wind) as we sailed in. And as you will see in my photos, it was worth it to be out there in that cold. I am going to say one more thing before the usual warning—if you think Budapest looks good in the daylight, wait until you see her in the dark ?. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Budapest starts slow with some modern buildings.
I got a great shot of the sunrise reflected in one of them.
Then you can see the right bank of the river.
And it is pretty amazing.
Until you come around the bend and see the Parliament Building on the left.
Then you can’t stop shooting. I think I have 30 copies of this photo.
But the right side is almost as good…
But then you notice the left again.
And then the right.
And then the left.
And the right.
The right holds your interest a little more as other sights come into view.
Churches, palaces and castles are everywhere.
And cranes. Lots of cranes.
But I can always Photoshop those out later.
You shoot the right bank so much you turn and find out you have passed the Parliament.
Until I started doing research for our trip, I had no idea that Budapest was really two cities—Buda and Pest. Buda is on the right side of the river as you are going downriver. Buda is built on a hill. Pest is on the left side of the city (where the Parliament Building is) and is pretty much flat. Both sides are equally beautiful and photogenic.
Soon after, we were tied up in just about the best moorage in all of the city—we were at the base of the Chain Bridge. This Bridge, which is closed to all but transit and pedestrians, is right in the literal heart of the cities. And it is a beautiful bridge.
After our sail-in, we left almost immediately for our first tour of this incredible city. Viking calls this tour “Panoramic Budapest.” And to make things even better, we had maybe the best tour guide we have had so far on the cruise (remember, Werner in Nuremberg was not part of the cruise—just our pre-cruise extension—he was the best of the trip)—Barbie. And even though she wasn’t wearing pink, our Barbie was young and cool and even had a ponytail. It really is the year of Barbie. She was both a great guide and hilarious to listen to.
When you go on a “Panoramic Tour,” that usually means you get driven all around the cities and get out a few times to look at stuff. When we did this in Munich, most of it was a big snore. Here, there is way too much to see, so as our “luxury motor coach” drove down the road in Pest, my head is like a swivel chair going from side to side. For me, it was making a list of the things that I wanted to come back and take photos of without a bus window between me and the scene.
Then we drove to the top of the hill in Buda and went for a walk with Barbie. We saw the main cathedral you saw in the photos above and then went to the amazing Fishermen’s Bastion. According to the interwebs, it is called The Fishermen’s Bastion because “it was the section of the Buda City Wall entrusted to the guild of fishermen, but more likely to the Danube side settlement, Fishtown (Halászváros) also called Watertown,” where there were so many incredible views, I just couldn’t stop shooting them. In the four hours of this tour, I truly believe I shot more than 500 photos. You don’t have to see them all but here are the best of that tour. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Debra (our Program Director) organizing the tour guides, pre-tour.
At the top of Buda is the Cathedral.
And of course rhere was a Christmas Market.
Not as crowded as others but it was still early.
These are called chimney cakes. I really want one and haven’t had one yet.
You could get so many things to eat.
I even saw Krampus…the goblin of European Christmas.
But your attention gets called back to the cathedral.
The cathedral has an amazing patterned roof.
It covers the entire building.
And inside it is truly beautiful.
Everywhere you looked.
The organ…
The pulpit…
Even the altar was ready to be photographed.
And we were back outside for some free time.
Which meant I could walk around to the Fishermen’s Bastion, where I could see our ship…
To take photos looking down at Pest and the river.
Of course photos of the Bastion itself…
As well as the statues all around…
Even the manhole covers were photogenic.
But you are always drawn back to Pest…
There was even time for my brother to snap this shot.
Especially when you can get artsy like this.
After we had gotten our fill of photos from up on the top, we were back on the “luxury motor coach” and headed back to the ship. That was followed by lunch and a chance for Kathleen to take a nap and for me to sit in the Lounge on the ship, look out at this incredible city and review my photos. We had three full days in Budapest, so I knew I could wait for Kathleen to rest up and get to see the photos before I headed back out.
That pretty much covers our first day in Budapest but not the night. The night is when the real beauty shows up. Yes, this city gets even more incredible when the lights come on. But you will have to wait until later or tomorrow to see it as I need to go upstairs and get ready for our last full day here. We have a private tour, a traditional Hungarian dinner and an early night so we can be up and at the airport for our 6:20 am flight from Budapest to Paris and then on to Seattle.
But if you go from Moscow to Budapest, you think you are in Paris. —Gyorgy Ligeti
