October 30, 2010: Another day of sightseeing with American friends

October 30, 2010: While Jack and Deb took a bus tour of the three cities on the Danube bend, I took Ric to see some more sights of Budapest. We traveled first to the Szechenyi Furdo spa I had visited last week. We walked the same path as then past the zoo to the Museum of Agriculture where the beautiful castle consisting of all sorts of architectural style is. Below is another picture of the construction going on there to renovate the lake that serves as part of the castle's moat.

Renovation of Moat of Castle (Now Museum of Agriculture)

Museum of Agriculture

While at the castle, Ric decided to buy some coffee and a piece of langos, that Hungarian style pizza I had eaten at the 9C picnic. I got to practice my Hungarian with the vendor and we got to talking. He ended up pouring us each a small cup of mulled wine which was delicious. It was perfect for my throat through which I currently cannot talk since I have a very bad case of laryngitis. Again I exclaimed in whispered Hungarian how delicious the mulled wine was. The vendor proceeded to take a bottle of water he had not yet sold, poured the contents on the ground, and filled it with some more mulled wine for us to carry away. He was so generous and seemed very pleased that we enjoyed the wine. He absolutely refused any remuneration that Ric tried to give him for it!

We then walked through the park ending up at the Museum of Modern Arts and Hero's Square. From there we took the subway to Liszt Ferenc ter for lunch at a great restaurant. After that we took the subway to Vaci utca and roamed the streets for Ric to find a store that he had visited in Budapest five years ago. Although we never found the exact store, we at least found one where he could purchase a Hungarian wool jacket for his lady friend. Although he didn't buy it yet, he promised to return in December when he returns to the US for Christmas. By then he should know the size of his lady friend in order to get her something that will fit appropriately. We roamed a bit more, stopping at the Gerbeaud Coffee House for a cup of cappucino,

Gerbeaud Coffee House

Gerbeaud Coffee House

and ended the afternoon by eating at the restaurant that I ate at the first night I was in Hungary. This time I selected a very delicious pumpkin cream soup with Thai-seasoned shrimp on skewers. It was out of this world. Then for desert, we each had a slice of glazed walnut tort which was also out of this world.  Clearly I'm going to have to stop this eating or I'll end up overweight!
After dinner, Ric and I walked toward the bus stop, visiting the Klotild Palace nearby.

Klotild Palace (under renovation)

Tomorrow Ric and I will meet Jack and Deb, spend several hours roaming Budapest before boarding the bus for Venice and five full days of touring there. More on that later.


We returned home exhausted after a full day of walking.