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Trip Report |
Budapest |
January 2008 |
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Normafa
Hotel Transport Page
The Market
link to Pictures |
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Trip Report |
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DAY 1 This was our second visit to Budapest (Last visit, Spring
2006). It's exciting going to new places that you have never visited
before, but going back to a place one has visited before has its advantages. You
do not have to see all the places listed in the guide book, you can
select just the ones you enjoyed on your first visit, with perhaps a few
more that you have subsequently found out about. So it was with this visit
of the lovely City of Budapest. |
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| At one point he was looking at an incoming message in one hand and sending out a message on another phone with his other hand at the same time holding the steering-wheel with two fingers; having said that we could not fault his driving! | |||||
| We were please to find that when we arrived
at Normafa, (because of its elevated position) that the area was
covered in about 3 inches of snow. We were more that pleased with the Normafa
Hotel especially when we discovered that we had been upgraded from a standard
room to a Suite. Please see our notes about the Hotel at the Normafa
Hotel Page DAY 2 Next day we purchased, from the hotel, two single transport tickets to take us from Normafa down to Moszkva ter on the number 21 bus, where we obtained two 7 day passes for the transport system (it was cheaper than buying three day + one day tickets). So then it was off to discover Budapest for the second time. Budapest is a very easy city to explore using the reliable and very frequent public transport. You may wish to see our Transport Page. |
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Then it was on the Metro to Szechenyi furdo . We wanted to see
and photograph the funfair, unfortunately it was closed until the
Spring (didn't do our research properly on that one). On the way back to Heroes
Square we glanced over the wall at the zoo, although it was open not an animal
or visitor in sight, we didn't blame them, it was far to cold. At Heroes Square we were greeted by a cascade of limousines bearing a Chinese bride and groom that then paraded around the square followed by a posse of guests taking photographs. We took a few pictures of them, wished them well, and made our way back to the metro. We traveled back from Hero's Square to Oktogon on the M1 (yellow line), this metro line is the second oldest underground railway in the world (second only to London UK). Stations on the line still retain some of their original fittings. |
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| At Oktogon we got the number 4 tram (north bound) with the intention of returning, via Moszkva ter, on the bus to our hotel. We had read on the internet that the MacDonalds next to the Nyugati pu (Western Station) was "Hungary's second McDonald's fast-food restaurant opened in an airy railroad station that was built by the company that put up the Eiffel Tower. ''Without exaggeration I can say it is the most beautiful McDonald's in Europe,'' New York Times, April 13th 1990 So we stopped off for a quick look, a coffee and a few pictures (please see the picture on the right). It was worth the stop, but the food was, need I say more MaDonaldish. So it was then back to the hotel, with a short stop to take some pictures of the snow in the forest opposite the Hotel. |
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| DAY 3 After a good breakfast, it was down again to Moszkva ter to catch the tram number 61 to Moricz Korter, then we intended taking tram 19 (north) to Batthyany ter along the banks of the Danube: but we got the tram in the wrong direction and finished up at Etele ter. It was not a wasted trip, we saw a little more of Budapest. Having said that Etele ter was not the sort of place that we would put down as a recommended 'must see sight'. It was on our way back that we were stopped, and fined by a ticket inspector, although we both had tickets (please see our Transport Page for more information). | |||||
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After finally getting to Batthyany ter we took some pictures of the Parliament Building and then used the Metro (red M2) from Batthyany ter to Kossuth Lajos ter, and walked to St Stephens basilica. We were both very impressed with the building, unfortunately we did not have our tripod with us, and as flash (quite rightly) was not allowed in the church we were unable to take pictures that were of good enough quality to reproduce on this page. We then walked to the The New York Palace, very impressed with the decor, but not the sort of place to visit if you are running short of cash. Then it was back to Moszkva ter on tram 4, and onto the minibus up to the Fishermen's Bastion, and the sun came out for the first time on this visit. Then it was back to the Hotel. After a meal at the Hotel we spent the evening playing around with some of the pictures in Photoshop (trying to be artistic. Please see artistic ) | ||||
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DAY 4 (the last full day) After
breakfast it was down again to Moszkva ter but this time using the Cog
Railway. Then it was over to the Indoor Market (again). We then
made our way up to the Royal Palace, to take even more pictures.
After dark we took the metro (red M2) to Batthyany ter and walked to
Kossuth Lajos ter via the Chain Bridge, and took even more pictures (the canon
50mm/1.8f lens proved its worth). We returned to Moszkva ter (again on the metro Red M2) and found a good Pub/restaurant called Trombitas/Il Treno, and enjoyed a lovely meal at a very reasonable price. |
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DAY 5 (the last day) On our last day we took a few tram rides, to nowhere, that is we jumped on the first tram that came along, stayed on till its destination and then returned back again. Just after lunch it started to rain heavily, so we decided to return to the Hotel. We were very fortunate that the Hotel allowed us the use of our suite until the early evening when the taxi arrived to take us to the airport. |
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Normafa
Hotel Transport Page
The Market
link to Pictures |
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Links on the Internet that I have found
useful. |
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Our Email address is dave@djmp.co.uk and jam@djmp.co.uk About Dave
