On check-in, I decided to upgrade to the Economy+ seat, I'm not sure it was worth it or not..but I think a window seat was better than sitting in between two people.
I grabbed a little sleep here and there, maybe 20 minutes to a half an hour's worth. Just couldn't get comfortable or my mind wouldn't let me sleep. Somewhere over the Atlantic I started feeling a little sick and grabbed some sleep and woke up feeling a bit better afterwards. I saw Ireland for a little bit..looks just like everywhere else from 40k feet. Shortly after they served breakfast, I got a little coffee in me and I was good.
I wasn't sure what to expect for my connection at Munich, I figured it would be like a US domestic flight. Pass on through to the next gate..done. Well, turned out to be a bit more involved than that. Passport stamp, rescan the bags and find my gate. Turns out German security didn't like my camera in my bag. I had to pull it out and show them it had pictures on it.
Hello Munich...
Munich turned into "find the gate for the Budapest flight." It changed on me three times. Thank goodness for my paranoia about missing a flight, I checked the departures board and it had moved from G27(from check-in at Dulles) to G26. I sit down at G26..where a flight to Rome(Roma) was waiting to board. The airline pilot comes out to inform those who were waiting that their departure is going to be delayed. Why? Some banged the door up and it won't seal..gotta change planes. I wait a little bit figuring, yup, it's gonna change again. Sure enough..off to G21 now. I knew I was in the right place because I heard a lot of Hungarian being spoken..now I knew I was set. Unfortunately, Lufthansa doesn't like announcing boarding for this flight. Nothing over the intercom to announce, people just started in line. Luckily I followed and made the flight.
Landed safe and sound made through all security and popped out the door to what looked like an audience. I wish I could have had a camera there to capture my reaction. It was wall to wall people waiting for people to come out. I was looking for my friend Adrienn but she found me first. She had a taxi cab waiting and I enjoyed the thrill ride into town. I really never knew you could ride that close to someone's bumper. Fascinating!
Adrienn got me settled in and took off to let me get some R&R and a shower. We talked later about getting back together for dinner.
Off we went to one of the main shopping centers of downtown Budapest. It's all done up right now for the holiday season and tons of outdoor vendors. We had some fresh sausage cooked over hot open coals on a grill. Wow..that was some GREAT sausage.
It went great with some fresh baked bread and mustard. Tasty! Yeah..I wasn't sure what those things on a hook were..some part of a pig that's for sure.
Adrienn suggested a short walk from the food vendors for some good pictures. Unfortunately, I could not do the view justice. It is quite an amazing site to behold. So while messing with a gorilla pod in about 14 degree weather and setting up a long exposure shot, doesn't always shake out to a good set of pictures.
Looking at the Hungarian Royal Palace.
Looking to the right of the Royal Palace and behind the famous "Chain" (Szècheny) Bridge you see the Matthias Church.
After nearly loosing the feeling in my finger tips and legs, we headed back to the open air market and grabbed a hot spice wine (mm..best I've ever had) and a hot chocolate.
That was pretty much the evening for me then. Looks like I've successfully stayed up to about my normal bed time here and now I'm ready to check out for the evening. I plan on heading up to the Royal Palace/Castle District and Matthias Church tomorrow.
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