Schmidt's Adventures

We finally made it. Flight had a delay and we reached our hotel at 2:20am. We are staying at the Intercontinental which is on the river across from the palace. Got to bed asap because we needed to be up, breakfast and ready to go at 9am for our tour. Wonderful Euro breakfast. Loved the fresh croissants, meats, fresh fruits and more. Got on a bus and headed for the Budapest side. First stop was Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church. Both sit up on the hill overlooking the Danube and the Pest side. Stunning architecture and an amazing tile roof on the church. The walking pace of the group was far too slow for us, so we did our own thing and joined back at our assigned meeting place and time. Because we went on without the others, we were also able to see the Royal Palace, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest History Museum and the Turul Bird Statue. Back on the bus and off to the Pest side. Our local guide was very knowledgeable and interesting. We stopped at Hero's Square...

We might have missed a day touring Budapest, but we got to see London. We made the best of a bad situation and it turned out to be a terrific day. The Metropolitan Hotel was wonderful!!!!!!! Excellent bed.( I think the floor would have felt great, we were exhausted)  We had an outstanding breakfast. Marty had the traditional English, I had French toast with Mango butter and berries. OMG. Near the park and very close to the palace. We hit the sidewalk at 9am. First stop-Buckingham Palace. Lots of people around and London had a 10k race going on that involved hundreds of people. Many roads and sections of the park had barricades. Because of the race, there was no changing of the guard today. We looked around the entire area and then walked "the mall"- a beautiful tree-lined road that leads from the palace into London Town. Double decker buses everywhere. It was a perfect, sunny day to wander. We saw the Parliment building, Big Ben, crossed the bridge and viewed the London Ey...

If you saw my Facebook post, you are aware that our trip got off to a horrible start. Flight from Ohare delayed almost an hour. This resulted in missing our connection to Helsinki then Budapest. We exited the plane and were met by a lovely women that proudly told us they rebooked our flight directly to Budapest. We were thrilled at that moment. We proceeded into Heathrow mall, walked around, got a snack thinking we are off to a good start. When we were suppose to start boarding the plane, the words, "please wait" appeared. Heathrow does not have waiting areas at the gates or agents. Everyone waits in the mall and when you flight is ready, " Go to gate" is on the screen in green. You have a maximum time of 20 minutes to hustle yourself to your gate. We started getting concerned and there was no human to ask what was going on. The over the intercom, " Attention Britush Airways flyers, please remain in the mall area until further notice".  Now the masses are...

We are preparing for our excursion on the Danube River.  So much wonderful history along this waterway. Our journey will begin in Budapest, Hungary and then to Vienna, Austria; Durnstein-Melk, Austria; Passau, Germany; Regensburg, Germany; Nuremberg, Germany; Pesky Krumlov, Czech Republic and finally Prague, Czech Republic. Many of these cities were spared by the wars. 11th century churches, 13th century buildings and gates built by Romans in 179 AD are still standing. We are looking forward to viewing all these hsitorical treasures as well as soaking in the cultures of each region. (and sampling the beer and wine and chocolate) I hope to write everyday if possible. I have heard that while "on the water", internet can be spotty, but I will try. If you are following our travels, please leave just a one word comment on the blog.  This way I will know how many "followers" I have. Bon Voyage!