Last Day in Budapest

Note: this is a delayed post.

Because I was staying in Hungary for 3 more weeks, I had to drop off laundry yesterday and pick it up today. The un-glamorous side of tourism. Next we were off for a short cruise on the Danube. This, on the other hand, was pretty glamorous.  The cruise was 1 1/2 hours viewing the the most beautiful p

arts of Budapest.  We had a stop on Margaret Island, which everyone seems to love.  It’s an island in the river …..

……with a park .  What can  I say?   There is an audio tour on the boat with a  glamorized,  watered down version of the history.  Here are some fun facts:

1. All 7 historical bridges were destroyed by the Nazis in World War II

2.  The castle hill has been wrecked and rebuilt countless times over the centuries.

3.  Hungary was overrun and controlled by the Mongols (1200’s)  , the Ottoman empire (Turks) (1500’s),  the Hapsburg  Austrian Empire (1800’s), the Nazis (1940’s) and finally the Soviets  1940’s.   It has been a very rough couple 1000 years or so , since the first Hungarians came in a pushed  out the Celts.  Oh yeah, and briefly the Romanians took Hungary  in the 1920’s before the French and English made them give it back.

4.  October 1989  they finally got a chance to start rebuilding their country.

We picked up the car from the parking ramp (I somehow didn’t absorb the daily rate , so I nearly passed out when i paid the bill for 3 days parking.  We were off to the airport hotel and thankfully they had a airport shuttle , so I didn’t have to take LInda to the airport at Oh Dark Early .   Hey, Hey , Hey,  i got up and said good by……. and went back to sleep.