28 Sep 2021, Tuesday

 28 Sep 2021, Tuesday

Prioritized Daily Tasks

Bojana pick up our rental car from Sixt in Novi Sad

Sent an email to Blake to give to Inez Thrash Reynolds on her 5th Birthday

Budapest, Day 10,  Panoramic tour from Bratislava, Slovakia to Budapest, Hungary,  8:15 AM - 12:15 PM

1:00 PM - Lunch and riverboat cruise on the Danube 

2:30 - 5:00 PM - Tour of Buda Castle, Matthias Church; coach tour of Buda.  Buda has Celtic origins and Buda is something related to water, so Buda came from the word voda ('water') and is on the west bank of the Danube.  Pest (oven, meaning working class) is on the eastern side of the Danube River.  Pest was originally founded as a Celtic settlement.  The three parts of Budapest (Pest, Buda, Óbuda) were united in 1873.

5:30 PM - check-in International Contential Hotel

Hike down the river to a memorial site of the bronze shoe's memorial.  From October through December 1944, The Arrow Cross Party, (A Hungarian fascist organization that controlled the Hungarian government from October 1944 to April 1945 during World War II) killed 38,000 Hungarians and sent 80,000 into slave labor or death camps. When 200 Jews resisted in January of 1945, they were handcuffed in twos, led to the Danube River, told to remove their shoes, and then they were shot and floated away. The 60 pairs of bronze shoes on the Danube Promenade are a Holocaust Memorial to that event in Budapest. They were sculpted by Gyula Pauer in 2005.  

7:00 PM dinner at the InterContinental Hotel where Viking Cruise Line has made arrangements for us to stay tonight.

We learned from Michael, our Viking tour program director, about the legendary Kincsem, the most successful race horse ever, a liver chesnut filly foaled in 1874, by Cambuscan out of Water Nymph was the most successful thoroughbred race horse ever, winning 54 races from 54 starts. Komcsem is also called My Darling.  I herd of My Darling but did not know or remember any of the story.

We tipped Michael 100 and 20 Euros.

  

                                                   Our tour group debarking the Viking Ingvi

                                    lunch on Hungarian River Boat and cruise around Budapest

Statue of Liberty was erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary during World War II, which ended the occupation by Nazi Germany. Its location upon Gellért Hill makes it a prominent feature of Budapest's cityscape                                                                              

                                                Hungarian Parliament Building 96 meters high

St. Stephen's Basilicaequal with the Hungarian Parliament Building, it is one of the two tallest buildings in Budapest at 96 meters (315 ft)

Margaret Bridge and Island

 The baroque Holy Trinity Statue is located in Trinity Square, opposite the famous Matthias Church. The column commemorates the victims of two Black Plague outbreaks that had swept across Europe in 1691 and 1709.

Matthias Church-Gothic Roman Catholic

Hungry Eagle Falcon with Arrow

           Brobze Shoe Holocaust Memorial on Pest side of Danbue River                                                   

                                                                               InterContinental Hote Where Viking arranged for us to stay                                                                 

     Debbie wrote: Day 10 Dear Family and Friends,

We got up early and packed our bags, had lunch and boarded 2 buses headed for  Budapest, Hungary.  The Danube has many locks to go through and one lock between Bratilavs, Slovakia, and Budapest, Hungary, had mechanical problems so they closed the river to all traffic until it was fixed.

We had a pleasant journey with our guide telling us about the history and the richness of Hungary.  Budapest is made up of two cities, Buda (means water) on the north-mountainous side, 2000 years old, and Pest (means oven) is on the south side where the workers and lamemen worked, 200 years old.  They built a bridge between the city and was going to call the new city Pestbuda, but when it was finished they changed it to Budapest.  I think the latter has a better ring to it.

We arrived and received a bus tour on the Pest side and then we stopped at a river boat and ate at a buffet lunch and took a river boat up and down the Danube in front of the important buildings surrounding the Danube in Budapest.

1.  The Hungarian Parliament Building with its white spires and red domed roofs.

2.  Buda Castle and Palace of the Hungarian Kings

3.  Fisherman's Bastian-during medieval times the guild of fisherman protected it. 

4.  Thermal Baths-132 of them in the city...

5.  St. Stephen's Basilica-named for the first king of Hungary

6.  Chain Bridge

7.  Hero's Square-Tomb of the unknown soldier

8.  Matthias Church-Gothic Roman Catholic

We then went to the Buda side and went to the top of the fortress city and saw the St. Matthias Church-the oldest Roman Catholic church in Hungary.  It is on a hill and has a great view of the Pest side of the Imperial Palace and other important buildings.  King St. Stephen is sitting on a horse looking at the Cathedral.

We then checked into the Intercontinental Hotel right across the Danube from the palace.  We walked up the path by the river to some small bronze shoes that were made in honor of the Hungarian Jews that were told to take off their shoes and then shot and thrown into the Danube. Here is a side note:

Bronze Shoes Memorial on Danube Promenade in Budapest, Hungary

From October through December, 1944, The Arrow Cross Party (Nazi Fascist Party) killed 38,000 Hungarians and sent 80,000 into slave labor or death camps. When 200 Jews resisted in January of 1945, they were handcuffed in twos, led to the Danube River, told to remove their shoes and then were shot and floated away. The 60 pairs of bronze shoes on the Danube Promenade are a Holocaust Memorial to that event in Budapest. They were sculpted by Gyula Pauer in 2005.

We then had dinner and took some evening shots on the Danube walkways and then went to bed.

A great ending to a wonderful tour down the Danube

Tomorrow Mirko, Ljubica and Boyana come and pick us up for Serbia!Love and Miss you all,

Email from Bojana Jelicic:    Dear McAlpins,

Ljubica has just seen your email.

Your phone issues probably mean you didn't see my message on Messenger today, when I picked up the car. The car is picked up, that went well. :)

We are planning and hoping to get to your hotel until noon tomorrow. 

If it doesn't take long to cross the border, we should cross it by 9.00 am. And then we need 2 more hours to get to your hotel. 

About your room #, I was thinking to ask for your room # at the reception desk of the hotel, in case we couldn't get in touch with you... so, we are on the same wave of mental communication! :)))

Sleep well, dear McAlpins. We will see each other tomorrow! :