May 20, 2011: More friends arrive

May 20, 2011: After school I headed down town to meet my mom and two friends of hers who arrived from New York this afternoon. I arrived at their hotel only five minutes after they had arrived from the airport. Although their flight was three hours late, they were still anxious to begin sightseeing Budapest. We walked from their hotel near Vaci utca and we strolled down that busy street amid torrents of tourists. We visited Gerbeaud Coffee House briefly and then followed the Danube back towards Elizabeth Bridge continuing on Vaci utca to the central market where we visited the three floors of the building. Then it was off to Raday utca to show them how serious Hungarians are about eating out since the road is filled with restaurants end to end. Finally, it was time for our dinner and we returned to the Danube where we selected a nice restaurant facing the Danube to have their first meal in Hungary. The evening could not have been better -- the weather had cooled off, we sat facing the mighty Buda Castle, and the food was quite delicious -- I had jokai bean soup, stuffed cabbage, Hungarian salami, and Hungarian beer. While we ate, a gypsy band played music for us on the cimbalon, violin, and bass.

Gypsy Band at Dunacorso Restaurant

After dinner, we took a stroll through Roosevelt ter and visited the Gresham Hotel managed by the Four Seasons. Steve, one of my guests, enjoys visiting the lobbies of such hotels so we took a look at the Gresham lobby and is it beautiful!

Gresham Hotel, Budapset

After that we walked down the road leading to St. Stephen's Church and continued north going through Freedom Square and then to the Parliament building. We looked at that briefly and then returned to the Strudel House for some strudel and coffee. I walked them back to their hotel and my mom and I returned exhausted from their first day in Hungary.