Budapest

Our last city is Budapest, Hungary. A teeming city with lots of old buildings and new buildings that look like old buildings. Budapest was heavily damaged in World War II, so the buildings had to be repaired or replaced, and the people decided to replace the old buildings with look-a likes from the past. We did not have a walking tour today and my back really appreciated that fact. We picked up a bus and were driven around the city. Our guide gave us a brief history of Budapest and told us all we ever wanted to know about this city that straddles east and west. It was part of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. When the Wall came down in 1989, it was no longer communist, but our guide said it still has communist leanings and tends to go with Russia. Today it is part of the European Union, but it uses the Florint for local currency instead of the Euro. We were told to make sure we went to Euro ATMs not Florint ATMs as the Florint is highly inflated and not useful anywhere else.

Bridges cross the river to unite the cities of Buda and Pest and we saw a lot of city views. We did not see the beautiful Parliament building as the Pope is coming here next week, and the government is closing off buildings that might put the Pope in harms way. I understand that as the same thing happened in Zagreb when we were there a few years ago. The bus dropped us off for a 30 minute walking tour, which is just the right length of time, and we walked to a fantastic Gothic church that was started sometime in the 1200s, but had been damaged in WWII. The old stained glass survived the war and today enhances the current church. During our free time, I purchased some OTC cough medicine for the other DrC's cough and cold. He took one dose of the cough medicine and he has not coughed since. I'm a happy camper. A good day on the River.