December 16: Day 2
Funny to say this, but today I was "disappointed" that it was in the low-to-mid 50's as we toured around Budapest. In fact, at the final stop Khloe didn't even wear her coat outside it was so mild. Hoping for a little chillier weather for the Christmas Market visits in the coming days. We were up (via an alarm) at 7:15am in order to have time for a small breakfast and get ready for our 8am panoramic tour seeing many famous and UNESCO protected buildings. We spent probably two-thirds of the excursion on the buss, maybe not quite that much. We had three stops.....first, at the UNESCO protected Hero's Square, a tribute to the tribal chiefs that founded Budapest. Then we had a stop at a medieval church that was 976 years old. It was built on the ruins of a Roman general's elaborate home, and you could see the ruins in the basement level of the church. The most fascinating thing here was the holy relic that was a splinter from the cross Jesus was crucified on! And our final stop was at the huge, covered market (that's over 100 years old). We walked around in here for 45 minutes - without stopping at any one place and probably only covered about half of it. What ever, WHAT EVER you need, it's here! Back to the ship by noon for a lunch & afternoon break......
The Budapest Christmas Market
With the sun setting a little after 4pm our 5:30pm excursion to the Christmas Market was a delight under the many holiday lights! We walked to the market, less than ten minutes away.....it seemed so very cold when we got off the ship, but within minutes we realized we were overdressed because it was in the low 50's and without the wind (blocked by the buildings) we were very comfortable as we wandered around the market. We were able to see the iconic light show flashed on St. Stephen's Cathedral, and despite what other passengers had said about no souvenir mugs for the gluhwein! Viking treated us to a small cup of the holiday warm wine and apple strudel as well! Was a perfect end to our stay in Budapest. We set sail during dinner (after we returned to the ship at 7pm) and we won't reach our next port until after lunch tomorrow - love the sailing time on the rivers, looking forward to that!
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