BLOG # 8:  FROM HOLLAND TO HUNGARY

After a final magnificent meal on Friday night in Barcelona we got up early on Saturday to catch our short flight to Amsterdam.  Despite the taxi getting us to the airport 3 hours before our flight, we only made the flight with 10 minutes to spare (flying is such fun).

We chose a Marriott airport hotel (although not that close to the airport) because we could stay on points.  This choice allowed us to finally have our first dreadful meal in four weeks.  There was only one restaurant within walking distance (and it was closed) so we were forced to eat at the hotel.  The very, very expensive buffet looked very unappetizing, so we opted for pizzas.  The crust could easily have been made into long-wearing boots, the tomato was missing, the cheese insipid, and the topping of chorizo was so far removed from meat that it could have been safely eaten by a vegan.  We ordered two large glasses of wine, and although the glasses themselves were large, the amount of wine could just as easily been served in thimbles.  On our second night we ate at a nearby bowling alley.

There was even more flying fun on Monday.  We got up at 4:15 a.m. to catch our flight to Budapest via Munich.  We navigated the airport in Amsterdam relatively easily and got to the gate with time to spare.  Because of Betty’s mobility we were then taken out across the runway by a forklift-type vehicle.  There we were hoisted to a half-size door on the side of the tiny plane.  Once onboard we were informed that some “a—h---” had checked in his luggage and then not boarded.  An hour and one-half search of the luggage compartment caused us to miss our connection in Munich.  Eventually Lufthansa got us a flight on Air Dolomiti.  After being forklifted again we had several moments of panic when we discovered that our boarding passes indicated that we had seats in row 33 of a 32-row airplane.   We were seated in row 32, nonetheless, and the guy who was supposed to sit there got shuffled elsewhere on a full plane.

Earlier Betty had called an emergency Viking number and they arranged to send a driver to collect us at the airport, many hours after we were supposed to join up with other Viking guests.  After a long drive we got to our beautiful hotel right on the Danube in Pest.  The first pictures below show night and morning views taken from our room window.  They show some of the Buda side of the river.

After most others had finished their meals we stumbled into the hotel restaurant and ordered some random food.  Betty fell asleep over her chicken and was sent to bed, while I tried to a finished a bottle of cheap Hungarian wine.

Budapest is a quite spectacular city with lovely 19^th century buildings, none allowed to be higher than the parliament buildings.  The river is crossed by many bridges rebuilt after WWII.

Although Betty has a cold we hope our second night in Budapest will be more pleasant.  At least the start will good as I shall be pouring what a wine merchant told me was his best bottle of Egri Bikaver (“bulls’ blood”).

 TRIVIA:  One of the most popular names for a man in Hungary is Attila.