Sunday, January 11, 2009

Back for the final day in BP

I just wanted to start this off with a photo of the artist

There he is, just sitting there on the edge.
Our final day in Budapest we were without Joanna. It was sad to have her go as she'd been a great tour guide and I've no idea when I'll have the chance to see her again. I'm just really glad I had the chance to hang out with her in the city that has become her home over the past four years.
The last day we took really slow. Laura slept til 11, a dream of hers for sure :) and came down late for a breakfast of pancakes and honey courtesy of Emeshea. They were definitely enjoyable.
Today's travels were hosted by Mary. This is her first year in Budapest, and we actually gave her a chance to see a lot of places she'd never gotten around to visiting. We started off with a windy climb to the top of a pyramid like structure from which we got a nice view of the Danube, as well as being to really take in some nice modern buildings.

We walked around by the National Theatre or something like that and I got some nice pictures of the modern art and flags they had up there.



Then we headed out to Margaret Island. It's an island in the middle of the Danube where people come to enjoy nature and can do laps on a nice jogging trail. I'm sure it's really lovely in the Spring and Summer. Sadly during the winter it was a bit on the drab side, but we still enjoyed the stroll, and took in the ruins and other things of interest that we found there.



What's a posting without some nice pictures of graffiti as well.
This last picture is probably one of my favorites from the entire trip. Something about this book, forlorn near some ancient church, struck me as profound.
Following the park we went back to the Christmas market for one last chance at shopping. It's amazing how much interesting shopping there can be around here. I have to be careful to keep myself from going crazy with it. Especially at Christmas time!
We headed back to the homestead fairly early. Oh, and this is what they have in the front yard, just for kicks.

Anyhow, some of their students had come over for dinner and a movie. It was fun to meet them. Most of them ended up leaving shortly after we started watching It's A Wonderful Life. I can't really say that I blame them. While I've always really enjoyed old Jimmy Stewart movies, and it does have a good message, I find it difficult to watch. It's just so frustrating most of the time. Ah well.
So that's about it for Budapest. Up next: Bratislava.(That's the capital of Slovakia for those not in the know. Keep in mind that the Czech Republic and Slovakia are no - and have been for quite a number of years by this point - separate countries.)

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