That apparently is not an eagle. This is the mythical Hungarian falcon-like bird, called a Turul.
The Hungarian National Gallery (Nemzeti Galéria).
The Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchíd) - the most popular and photographed bridge in Budapest.
Near the Royal Palace, a typical hunting scene captured in sculpture.
A panorama shot of the Royal Palace (Királyi palota).
My next bit of planning related to my next transport, which was getting from Budapest to Bratislava. I had decided that I would take the train to get there, but unlike some other European train websites, I could not make sense of how to use the Hungarian State Railways website to purchase a ticket in advance. So, I would need to purchase it from the station directly. The Hilton concierge would purchase a ticket on my behalf, but they would be charging a hefty fee to do this.
To make things a little bit more complicated, there are three main railway stations in Budapest (not as bad as Paris with six, but anyway). One of them - Budapest-Nyugati - doesn't do many international operations, so it was down to the other two: Budapest-Déli (located on the Buda side) and Budapest-Keleti (located on the Pest side). I decided to do a bit of a wander to Déli, given that it was nearer to the Castle compared to Keleti. My wonder uncovered two things: (1) my train to Bratislava would more likely be leaving from Keleti, and (2) Déli is a pretty beat up train station. The crowd around the station looks a bit rough, and some of the corners and passageways smell of urine (not entirely unusual for larger railway stations), but nothing that couldn't be avoided by not drawing attention to yourself. I'd resolved that tomorrow I would do the Pest walking tour and purchase my ticket to Bratislava as well.
Another nocturnal beauty - Matthias Church lit up at night.
Wednesday 18 April 2012
Waking up to my third day in Budapest, I decided to have a glass of juice and some fruit in the Executive Lounge before heading downstairs to try the larger buffet for breakfast. Besides, I needed to check some messages anyway.
As I fired up a couple of emails, there were a couple of URLs to videos. I accidentally had my sound on very loud and a most wonderful waiter happened to be passing by, when my device blared a familiar tune, which I scrambled to reduce the volume to avoid further embarrassing myself. The waiter chimed in...
"Is it your birthday today, Sir?"
"Yes," I replied sheepishly.
"Happy Birthday!" The Executive Manager, working the Executive Lounge desk this morning, overheard all of this, and soon appeared alongside to also wish me well.
To be honest, it was pretty exciting. It was the first time ever that I had spent my birthday outside of Australia.
I finished checking my messages, then headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. The breakfast buffet was larger than that in the Executive Lounge, though not by a terrible amount. Of course, one of the key advantages was probably eggs cooked on demand, which beats having the usual formula-scrambled, but otherwise the Executive Lounge breakfast would usually suffice.
Breakfast finished, I was straight out the door and heading back towards the plague monument and a bit beyond to wait for the 16 or 16A bus to head to Pest. The small bus puttered out of the Castle complex and on its way into Pest, terminating at the end of the line at Deák Ferenc Tér, which is also handily near a metro station for a couple of lines.
Once again, finding the start position of the walking tour proved to be a bit of a challenge. You get the location - sort of - then you kind of try to work out the rest from the limited street signs and your map prepared at not quite the required resolution. The start point today was the tourism office which is also the base for the walking tour guides. Luckily, it was quickly found down a small open alley.
Pest, not being under UNESCO Heritage protection like most of Buda, looks more like your typical city scene. Still, there were many buildings with traditional architecture, so it's not quite retro-modern everywhere, though you do get the odd new business complex or shopping mall here and there which stands out from the rest.
Waiting outside the tourist office in Pest.
A few of us were gathered outside the tourist office waiting for our guide, who was the same one from the Buda tour the previous day, who had said she would be taking the tour this morning as well. A few familiar faces in the crowd from the previous day as well. Time passed on - minutes, half an hour..... no guide. I think a few people walked into the office to ask where she was.
Eventually, about an hour later or so, someone else appeared and introduced herself. She apologised and explained that our guide unfortunately was unwell this morning, so they had to scramble quickly to find someone else to take her place. Our new guide was willing, but spoke a bit softly and her English was not as good. We all had to crowd around her quite a bit to hear her, and it wasn't helped by the busier and thus noisier Pest atmosphere.
There are quite a few attractions within the city centre in Pest, but there are many more interesting attractions quite a bit out of the city centre if you follow Andrássy Avenue (Andrássy út), which is also easily navigated by catching the Metro M1 line.
Another walking mall in downtown Pest, with small stalls being set up.
Small park in the middle of downtown Pest.
Váci Street (Váci utca), built up mainly to cater to tourists. One of the most purported tourist traps in Budapest.