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When we returned to our cabin after
breakfast, we were greeted by the first of several creations,
from the lady who cleaned and tidied for us twice daily. |
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There were three included tour choices in the programme
for the morning, but we decided that as we had been to
Budapest before and had done the tours then, we would
set off and do some independent exploration.
We were moored on the hilly "Buda" side of
the river, so we decided to start sightseeing on that
side and duly set off up the hill on foot, armed with
our umbrellas and waterproof jackets, because it was a
rather damp day.
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After quite a strenuous climb, we
found ourselves on Castle Hill. |
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We walked along the cobblestone
streets taking in the sights, one of which is the Matthias Church |
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We also admired the views from the
Fishermen's Bastion |
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A couple of hours later, we walked
down the hill again via a different route and went back
to our ship for lunch. We were intrigued to see what looked
like a bus floating on the Danube. We later found out that
it is an amphibious vehicle and that we could take a ride
in it if we wished to ( http://riverride.com
). We didn't. |
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A lovely collection of treats was always
available in the ship's cafe. Light meals were also served
(just out of view and to the right of this display) for
those who didn't want to go to the main restaurant. For
some reason, we were ALWAYS in the mood to go to the main
restaurant, but we often had some cake, a macaroon or some
ice-cream inbetween times (just so that we didn't faint
from hunger or waste away from malnutrition, you understand!) |
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After lunch, we set off again. We
walked along the river bank to the Chain Bridge. |
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We walked across the bridge from
Buda to Pest. |
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We didn't really have any sightseeing
goals in mind so we simply mooched along taking in the sights. |
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We returned to the ship in good
time for the "all aboard" time of 16:45 |
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Tea time! |
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At 5pm promptly, we were off! |
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Video: Scenic Diamond leaving Budapest
en-route to Amsterdam |
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One of the first things we did after
leaving port was attend the mandatory life-boat drill on the top
deck. |
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That evening we were treated to a Hungarian
folklore show. For us the "treat" lasted all of
fifteen seconds before we decided that we had another engagement!
Later that evening, the ship made a technical stop at Esztergom
so that the entertainers could disembark. At this point
the Danube forms the border between Hungary and Slovakia
and early tomorrow we would pass Bratislava, the capital
of Slovakia. |
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