More Budapest

After our first day where we slept too much, we came up with a bit more of a plan.  Mom had heard from a friend that one has to go to New York Cafe while in Budapest.  It was on our hop on/hop off tour and I noticed the huge line.  It is known as the most beautiful Cafe in the world.  When in Budapest, do as the other tourists in Budapest do.  So, in hopes of not standing in line all day, and having woken up before 4 am the day before, we decided to be in line for the 8 am opening.  

I woke up at 7:15!.  Get up!!  We made it out the door by 7:35.  The Cafe is just up the road, about 10 or so blocks.  We were in line by 7:50.  First seating - very good idea.  When we left the line was horrendous.  But I am getting ahead of myself. 

New York Cafe is indeed very beautiful.  

We shared the 'French Buffet for two' which came with trays of baked goods, meats, butter & jam, coffees of our choice and fresh squeezed orange juice.  It blew the food budget for the day, but totally worth it! 

After that, we had one goal.  Use our hop on/hop off to get to Margaret Island, which is in the middle of the river.  And stop in some places of interest on the Buda side of Budapest.  

To my very uninformed brain, Pest, the side we are staying on, seems to be the 'modern' part of the city.  It's flat and has the business and government stuff over here.  Buda is older, hilly and has the big ticket tourist stuff like castles and, well, more castles.  And one kick-ass view of the iconic Parliament buildings.

First stop, Castle Gardens.  Very civilized hilliness here, I think we managed to find both an escalator and an elevator!  

Some random pictures of the river as we crossed.  

Just a river transit stop.  It'll be a couple of minutes...

Once we were up in the 'castle' area, it is a while little city up there.  Roads and shops and restaurants, and of course, castles.  Or maybe just one, it seemed to go on forever.  Very lovely art scattered here and there.

They've got a real thing for lions here, especially  lions triumphantly standing on snakes

The views of Pest are incredible

This is the most amazing sculpture of a hunting party. 
I wish I could give you a million pictures of the details of all of the characters

Paprika and creepy dolls are everywhere

We couldn't figure out how to get back down to river level.  We finally found the funicular but it was $30!! and they did not have a one-way option (we only wanted to get down, not back up) so we just kept walking along the castle grounds. 

a very confidence-building sign to the staircase down

Finally, we were back at river level and there was the beautiful Parliament building, the one on every postcard, t-shirt and cloth bag, right there as big as life.  

We sat there for a while, enjoyed the view and let our knees catch up with our ambitions.  Next stop, Margaret Island!  Back onto the hop on/hop off bus to get off at the end of Margaret Bridge.  The entrance to the island is half-way across.  More flooded Danube photos.  It is a very photogenic river, even as it spills over its banks. 

Margaret Island

As it turned out, that is as close as we got.  The island was closed due to flooding. So, we just kept across and consoled ourselves with some ice cream (mom) and a pistachio slice (me) when we got to the other side.

Now what?  We had planned to spend the rest of the day on the island. We had even brought out bathing suits to visit the 'baths'.    Wander, that is always the answer to what to do when travelling. 

We wandered on over to the other side of the Parliament buildings.  

Margaret Bridge detail

The building is only important if there is a lion in front of it

A little walk back to the main drag to hop back on and go home.  It was a full day of walking.  I wanted to do some laundry (free laundry in our hotel/hostel!) and we had smuggled some sandwiches from breakfast, plus we had some bits and bobs of cheese and yogurt and snacks so we just stayed in for dinner.  Early to bed as we still adjust to the jet lag.  

The next day, our goal was to go to the Grand Market.  It is close to us, and the hop on/hop off (which we don't technically have today but we never got scanned on the  first day so I think we could have gotten away with it) has cancelled that bit of the route due to flooding (which seems bogus to me since the road isn't flooded, but maybe they take the low road, seems fishy to me but it's fine) so we walked.  Was that sentence even readable.  I'm sure you'll figure it out.  We walked to the Grand Market.  

It opened at 10 am since it is Sunday.  We got there right after 10.  I know because all of the church bells were ringing.  Almost everything was closed.  There were a few centre stalls open.  I bought some fancy chestnut honey.  But it was a bit of a bust.  I don't know if I even took any photos.  Ah, I took a picture of cheese because the descriptions (names?) amused me.  Bear Attractor Cheese, Cheese Matured on a Bed of Hay, Cheese Matured on a Flower Bed. 

So, we went to the 'glass whale'. This is a glass structure that was built to somehow attach several old brick buildings.  It is right behind the Market and right on the river.  The only sign of life was in the outdoor cafes on the water side.  Otherwise, another bust.  

Then we crossed the Liberty Bridge.  I have to say, they have some pretty bridges here.  

We didn't really know what was on the other side.  Turned out a beautiful old bath house.  We went in but we did not bathe.  The buildings here are so gorgeous.  No one skimped on the decor back in the day. 

Ceiling

Lobby

A bit of floor detail

Right across the street from the baths is a hill with a Church cut into the rock.  I convinced Mom to walk up the the next level with a stature and the Church entrance.  As it turned out, the church was closed for Sunday Service but the door was not quite closed and there was signing coming out of that slightly open door.  What's a girl to do?  Break in, of course.

I got as far as this hallway before I knew I was about to crash mass so I turned around.  Mom has wisely stayed outside.  Maybe the catholic in her or maybe the desire to not get arrested in a foreign country?  

There were trails heading up.  Mom planted herself on a bench with her book and I headed up for a better view with fewer people.  

Back across the bridge where we found a Bridges of Budapest Museum tucked in one of the two toll houses, the only two still standing after the war.  It was just one room with a bit of history of the building of and then destruction of and then the rebuilding of the bridges of Budapest.  WW2 was not kind to the bridges of Budapest.

Since the church bells were now ringing noon and services were over, we gave the market another try.  There were more stalls open but we only bought some honey, and we did that during the first visit. 

We found a very touristy street with shops and restaurants.  Mom finally got her goulash that she has been wanting since we got here.  Followed with some ice cream as we made our way home.

Back to our room for a nap (mom) and some blog updates (me).  I had made a reservation in a 'michelin recommended' restaurant called Tati (Farm to Table).  Umm, YUM!.  We had some very fine Hungarian red wine.  I had the lamb, Mom had the chicken paprikash.  I think only so she got to say paprikash, or maybe that was me in my best 'When Harry met Sally' reinterpretation.

And that was our last full day in Budapest, at least until we return for our flight home in a few weeks.  

For your WHMS memory book.

Budapest so far

We made it.  Our flight out of Vancouver left 20 minutes late, add in the border control when we landed in Frankfort, and we JUST missed our connection.  No worries, Lufthansa sorted us out right quick and we were rebooked for a new flight a few hours later.  We were getting pretty tired but that didn't stop us from partaking in some good German pastry.  

We got to Budapest and I used my Bolt ride share app.  Bolt and Uber here are just taxis.  Fine, whatever, our driver got us to our 'hotel/hostel' and our vacation was officially on.  So, we promptly went to bed at 9 pm.  And we were both awake at 4 am.  So, some jet leg.  

We had grabbed a couple of tourist maps at the airport so once it was light out, we headed out to find some breakfast.  We are right in old town, one block off a main street. We found a nice little restaurant that had some interesting dishes. I had french toast with salami, cheese and paprika sauce.  Mom had Hungarian scrambled eggs.  Which may have just been scrambled eggs with different stuff in them.  It was big, whatever it was. 

Then we did a wander along the river while we waited for the tourist office to open.  I may have mentioned in my previous post that the Danube is flooding.  It is super high!  All of the river cruises are cancelled.  The floating restaurants are out there, detached from civilization.  It all looks quite calm until you see this ticket office and realize, it's deep!  

Here are some random photos 

.

Once we made it to the tourist office, we had decided to do the hop on-hop off bus.  It is supposed to come with a river cruise, but...  see above.  So, we got an extra day for free.  Then we 'hopped on'.  

Terrible bus photos of places I can't remember, beautiful city and lovely old buildings all around.

We did the whole route and 'hopped off' at the huge synagogue which happens to be very close to our hotel.  Funny story, not about the history of the Jews in Hungary, that is very not funny, but about how dopey I am.  There are free tours of the synagogue.  There is a vague arrow sort of pointing in the general direction of where these tours should meet.  Mom and I vaguely stood in that vague area but nary a tour guide or tour to be detected. So, we left and went up to the museum.  We found a tour in progress so we just joined them.  Kind of interesting but we had missed the synagogue bit.  After that the guide led the group out of the garden and said she was taking us to the Ghetto from WW2.  So, off we go, happily following along until the guide finally said 'so, you are not in my group.  This is a paid guided tour'.  Oops.  So, not only did we get kicked out of the tour, we had left the synagogue grounds and couldn't re-enter.  But there are still pictures. 

Back to our room to rehydrate and as it turns out, have a three hour nap.  

We eventually roused ourselves enough to get up and go back out.  I found an electronics store were I could buy a SIM card for my phone because my phone is too old and/or crappy to use an e-Sim.   Then a pop into a grocery store for some yogurt.  We have a fridge and dammit, if I have to buy yogurt to use it, then I will buy yogurt! And just to show that fridge who's boss, some cheese too.   

Then dinner at a lovely little Ukrainian place, a bit of planning for the next couple of days, and this post.  It's almost time for bed (in jet leg land).  

and this extra, super random photo that amused me. 

more specific gettin' ready

Two days to departure: 

Well. you probably heard, Air Canada is not going on strike.  That's good for the rest of the world.  I'll leave it at that.  As Mom said, the extra money we paid was worth the peace of mind even if the gamble did not pay off in the end.  

I started packing yesterday.  No pictures.  You'll have to trust me.  I have been charging my computer, camera, power bank, e-reader, speaker, headphones and changed the batteries in my headlamp. 

Today, over lunch of course, I researched alternatives to Uber.  General consensus in the webosphere is Bolt.  Downloaded their app.  Google maps for all five cities.  Downloaded Rome2Rio for train tickets. 

The Lunch Room Counsel had some ideas about fancy events in Europe.  Mainly, what to wear. Looked up the dress code for the opera and ballet.  I am taking a dress but I can't be bothered to also bring special fancy shoes.  Dress code for both:  None.  Canvas shoes it is!  

I got a cortisone (steriod) shot in knee.  Hopefully that makes life easier.  Or at least less hobbley.  

Next day.  One day to departure. 

I mostly finished packing last night.  I moved everything off the guest bed so Mom and Bill don't have to sleep on the loveseat in the living room.  I love a good 'forced to finish early' situation.  I need this for everything in my life. 

Weather situation!!  YIKES!!!  Extreme flooding along the Danube.  Death and destruction.  Terrible for them, but let's be honest/selfish, slightly bothersome for us.  

Here's a quote:  

The flooding has swamped parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania as a low-pressure system crossing the region has unleashed record-high rains for days, and it was expected to affect Slovakia and Hungary later in the week. So far 16 people have been reported killed — seven people in Romania, five in Poland, three in the Czech Republic and one in Austria.

As noted in basically everything I've already written, we will be in Hungary later in the week.  

Ok, I have to do some last minute packing.  And Mom is having a small dinner party in my house tonight because of course she is.  She's been packed for weeks.  I on the other hand have a few bits and pieces to go.  

Later that night.  Checked in for our flight.  I got to put my 'trusted traveler number in' which probably doesn't do anything but I have it so I'm using it! 

I figured at 9pm on the night before we leave, I should check to see if we need any special entry documents, visas etc.  Nope.  

To the ferry in the morning and fly out of Vancouver in the afternoon.  See you in Europe!  

The Danube, during less floody days.  

general gettin' ready

My brain has been so fixated on the 'to air canada or not to air canada' issue, I haven't really thought about anything else.  But we leave in two weeks today so it's time.  

Money:  

Austria and Slovakia are both in the European Union so they take Euros.  But Hungary and Czech Republic are not.  They take Forint and Koruna respectively.   1 CAD:262 HUF for Forint.   1 CAD: 17 CZK for Koruna.  I bought $100 CAD of each so we have some ready cash for first day taxis, tips.  I already have some Euros left over from my Colombia hotel refund debacle.  (Which I realize now I did not mention in my blog.  My last hostel overcharged me and gave me the difference in a combo of US dollars and Euros).    

Plugs. 

Hungary takes C or F.  Austria takes F.  Czech Republic takes E.  Slovakia takes E.  If the google-verse isn't lying to me, F & E are interchangeable.  Now I just have to find that specific plug adaptor in the depths of my 'travel bin'.  

Transportation (Canada): 

We are now leaving from Vancouver airport so we need to get there. I had to learn how to use the Vancouver transit system to get to Las Vegas.  I got there so I'm going to ignore that 'wrong direction' incident on the sky train and call it a success and therefore I'm an expert. I ordered two compass cards to be delivered in the next few days.  

Hmm, what else? Packing.  Not yet.  I'll get back to you on that.  

--- a few days later ---

Compass cards have arrived. 

I have done no additional 'gettin' ready' activities.  I am in the process (with Lea's invaluable assistance) of clearing out my bedroom.  All of the 'unsorted' stuff from my bedroom is on the bed in the other bedroom, which is normally my staging area for packing.  That has to be dealt with before I get to the next stage of 'gettin' ready'.  

Some Air Canada strike news.  "Air Canada is finalizing plans to suspend most of its operations, likely beginning Sunday".  That's Sunday, September 15.  We leave on September 18.   I am torn between being happy that they are going to strike and justifying that we made the right decision and being unhappy for the rest of AC's victims.  

I'll sign off on this one and start fresh if I ever get going on packing.  Morning of...?  Hopefully not.  

[EXPLETIVE] Air Canada!

Before I start ranting about Air Canada, I will update from my last post. Valerie and I had a great time in Las Vegas.  I bet approximately $20 US on the slots and lost it all!  I'm just not a gambler.  Valerie won a bit - $50 on a $1 bet!  That bought her several bras at Ross's Dress for Less.  Haha, that is probably the only part of 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' that Valerie probably would not want publicized from our weekend but she's not here to stop me.  The rest of it was very boring.  Lots of walking and shopping. 

 

Ok, Air Canada.  

Mom and I are booked to fly out with Air Canada on September 18.  We have hotels and some tickets for entertainment booked.  Air Canada (😣) has announced their pilots may go on strike as of September 17.  Some of the more astute of you may see a problem with these dates.   For the less astute, Air Canada may be on strike on our departure date!  

Options.  So many options, none of them good.  

I started by thinking that maybe we book cancellable 'back up flights' Victoria to Toronto with WestJet.  I called Air Canada to see if our Air Canada flights are cancelled due to the strike, would be still be able to take the Toronto -> Frankfurt -> Budapest parts even though we did not take the first leg. My CSR was so unpleasant that I never even got to ask that question.  Plus, this of plan requires that the Toronto to Frankfurt leg goes.  I thought it might since it seems to be a co-flight with Lufthansa.  I called them.  Much nicer CRS, but no, they said it is Air Canada. 

The next idea was actually Rob's.  Cancel with Air Canada and book a different airline.  I checked, flights out of Vancouver to Budapest are not that much more expensive than our current flights.  I wrote everything previous to that last paragraph while on hold with Air Canada to ask if I can cancel.  This time I got a very nice CSR.  We can cancel but our refund goes into our Air Canada 'wallet' which has to be used on a flight that has to be booked before March 9, 2025.  Hmm.  Surprisingly, I don't actually have any travel plans for 2025 that would require a couple of thousand dollars worth of flights (although that will likely change).  

Time to call mom to see what she thinks...  She thinks I should decide.  I've got to make some lemon squares for a potluck.  To be continued. 

-------

It's a couple of days later.  I managed to use those lemon squares (turned into tarts in the end) for three social events.  At each of which, I lamented my Air Canada predicament.  And got as much info/advice from my friends as possible.  

I was so undecided.  There were so many factors to consider but with some proper reflection it came down to this:  extra money or extra peace of mind.  Pay for more a flight not about to go on strike, or don't pay more and chance it that the about to go on strike flight will get cancelled. 

I decide to pay more.  

What's another $950 EACH!  It was only going to get more expensive the longer I waited.  I am reading what I wrote above, two days ago and the prices went up in those two days of dithering.  

So, we are now booked on Lufthansa, leaving Vancouver the same day, direct flight to Paris, then to Budapest.  (So, bonus!  French wine & cheese coming home!  I do like to take advantage of the CDG airport duty free!).   

I called Air Canada to cancel.  In the end, the ticket prices from Air Canada are in my 'wallet' (not my actual wallet of course, my Air Canada wallet).  When I talked to the next CSR (nice this time), she said I had until March 9 to use that money.  Doable I figured.  But when I got the final emails $2200 has to be used by August 25, 2025.  Ok, that's better.  And $457 has no expiry date.  Plus, I still have my $400 from their 'we're sorry we suck so hard' email when they cancelled TWO flights on my trip to Colombia. So, that's one big and one small trip.  With Air Canada of course, but how often can they go on strike (hahahaha, sorry to curse all Canadian travelers.  Apparently, they can go on strike monthly).

If Air Canada does not go on strike, the rest of the country can thank me and mom for taking the expensive/safe route.  Because if Air Canada can screw me over, they will for sure.

Now that that is decided and done, I can start thinking about the actual trip and not just the flight.  Leaving in 16 days!  

Nexus, Air Canada and flying to the US

This whole post is a 'but I digress' situation but I know everyone loves a good 'wow, Joanne is not good at vacation planning' story.  

So, I'm not sure if I mentioned that I bought a kind of crappy ticket to Budapest through Air Canada:  Victoria to Vancouver to Seattle to Frankfurt to Budapest.  I was not keen on adding in a stop in the US, what with the border etc.  But it was way cheaper.  

Well before I had planned this vacation, I had also applied for a Nexus pass.  Nexus allows Canadians to cross the US border more easily.  Even though I don't cross the border into the US that often, I have been noticing a lot of 'Trusted Traveler' lines at airports in other countries. Nexus holders are considered trusted travelers. And those line ups are WAY shorter.  I guess they figure if the US immigration says you're ok, they can trust you too.  So, I applied for Nexus.  It is an online application to start.  That took almost a year to get to the next step, an interview with a Canadian Border agent.  

I got my email in July that said 'book an appointment'.  Yay!  In time for Europe I thought!  I jumped onto the booking page and looked at the first day.  Full.  Next day.  Full. Every day after that until December 13.  Full.  I booked for December 13.  Oh well.  But, not one to give up easily, I checked every day for a cancellation.  Finally, there was a spot in August.  I jumped on it.  

I had to go to Vancouver airport for that interview.  I realize now, there may have been other options but this isn't even where I am particularly stupid (oh, don't worry, that's coming).   By going to the airport for my interview, I had to do my second interview with the American Border agent at a major Canadian airport as I was flying into the US.  No problem, I thought, I am flying through Vancouver into Seattle as part of my trip to Europe.  I will do it then. So far so good.  

Then Air Canada managed, in the least and yet most Air Canada way, to screw up this entire plan.  Air Canada, who had never done anything good for me ever, sent me an email.  They've changed out flight.  We are now flying Victoria to Toronto to Frankfurt to Budapest.  A much better route, by far!  I would normally rejoice at such an awesome change.  But I need to fly into the US!  

Ok, lemons to lemonade!  I'll just do a short hop into the US for a weekend.  I'm not sure if you all know this but last minute flights in August are not cheap.  it was going to cost almost $1000 for flight and hotel just to go to Seattle for one night (there is no same day return factoring in the island and the interview time).  I checked Portland, Los Angeles and other hubs on the west coast.  All super expensive.  It has to be done...  I checked Las Vegas.  I had a flex day on Aug 9 which would give me three days.  No one was keen to join me.  So, last minute, I booked a flight and hotel through Booking.com packages for something like $780.  

Then I went out for a beer with some friends.  I told them about my plan.  Rob asked where I was staying.  Bposhtel I said.  He and Amy both googled it.  The laughing will haunt my dreams forever (not really, it is very laughable).  So, Bposhtel is a hostel that only has six-bed rooms.  When you check in, you get a lock so you can secure your belongings in a plastic bucket at the end of your bed.  There may or may not be a bathroom which may or may not have a curtain separating it from the bedroom.  

That is all bad.  But this picture was the one that convinced me I had made a terrible mistake.  

Um, Ya, No.  

Plus some pretty awesome reviews (if you are laughing at your idiot friend, not if you are staying there)

Righty-oh.  The one thing I did right, by accident, was that there was a 24 hour cancellation policy.  I signed back on later that night.  I was able to cancel the flight no problem but the link to cancel the hotel just said I can't cancel online.  So, I called Bposhtel.  They have a long message about how it sucks to be you and you should have done your research (I am paraphrasing a bit, but that was the gist of it).  Fortunately, I was able to get hold of Booking.com the next morning and cancel the room (well, the bed).  

I am still going to Vegas.  Now I am going with Valerie M. on August 16 and we are staying in a real hotel with actual beds and probably a bathroom door.  

There you go.  Feel free to continue to follow my blog for my excellent travel advice (learn from my mistakes!). 

It wasn't all bad.  I saw whales while I was on my way to Vancouver!  Lemons to lemon meringue pie! 

A route and hotels

Mom came to town for a few days last week and we used that time to come up with a plan.  We land in Budapest and we fly out of Budapest three weeks later.  I had originally thought Hungary and Croatia.  But mom said 'we are so close to Prague'.  Can't argue with that kind of logic so Prague it is.  Zagreb is not as 'accessible' when you mix in Prague.  

So, the plan.  Budapest to Vienna to Prague to Brno to Bratislava to Budapest.  That get four countries on (off?) my list!  Hungary, Austria, Czechia (Czech Republic) and Slovakia.  Nice!  

Once we had a route, we went onto Booking.com and found places to stay.  Only criteria, close to town (all places are in 'old town') and a kitchenette to save a bit of money on breakfasts.  Done, done, done, done and done.  And free cancellation just in case our dates change a bit here and there.  

For those who like to google (judy!), here is where we are staying: 

Budapest: 

Downtown Apartment House Blue

 1052 Budapest, 11 Semmelweis utca, Hungary

Vienna.  Vienna is only <-----> this far away from Bratislava on the map but it is <------------------------------------> this far away on the budget. Our Vienna hotel is three times as much as anywhere else.  High falutin' WESTERN Europeans. 

Hotel Secession an der Oper

 Getreidemarkt 5, 06. Mariahilf, 1060 Vienna, Austria

Prague

Royal Prague City Apartments

 Petřínská 20, Prague, 15000, Czech Republic

I assume this bed separates into two

Brno (I love this room so much!)

Apartment Biskupska

 8 Biskupská, Brno, 602 00, Czech Republic

Bratislava (they haven't quite got the catchy name marketing idea yet). this one is two rooms)

Apartments City Centre

 Old Town , 81106 Bratislava, Slovakia

We checked out Rome2Rio for trains.  There are tons between all of the cities on our route.  Mostly 2-3 hours.  Not expensive. I think Prague to Brno is the longest at four hours.   The cheap tickets aren't on sale yet.  It looks like this may be book as we go (or soon before) to keep options open.  

So, there you go.  Our plan for now.