Bye Bye Budapest

Too weary from being on our feet all day, after the tour of the Hospital in the Rock, we decided to call it quits. It was after 4:00p anyway. Using the walking path, we took the shortcut down to the river level and crossed the Danube back to the Rinda.

We had just enough time to clean up and go to the briefing for tomorrow. We shared our dinner table with the Aussie/Canadian group … laughing at the coincidence of finding myself sitting next to Barbara when the lights came on after the video screening at the Hospital in the Rock. It’s great to find like-minded travelers with which to share memories. We were having so much fun at dinner that we closed down the restaurant tonight.

It was after 9:00p when we returned to the cabin. Mui lost no time in going to bed. I needed to get my notes completed for today’s journal, so I stayed up and was awake an hour later when the Rinda slowly shifted away from its berth to begin the cruise to our next and last Hungarian port of call.

Staying in the cabin, I watched from our French balcony as we cruised past the twinkling landmarks on the Buda side of the river and continued way past Margaret Island. It seemed odd to be retracing our sail-in route. Wasn’t Mohács in the opposite direction? I’m not sure where and when the ship flipped a u-ey on the river and turned back the way it came, but that’s what we did.

By the time, we were in front of the Parliament again, it was past 11:00p. I didn’t have to check my watch to confirm the time. None of the landmarks were lit up anymore.

We had a great couple of days in Budapest … but there is still so much to see and do. Where and how we will squeeze in a return is TBD, but we have another return-to-destination now on our list.Read more