Budapest, Hungary. Sunday, 14th May 2017
Woke up at 04:45(at Bratislava, Slovakia); morning ablutions done; breakfast at 08:00 and checked out of Hotel Apollo at 08:50. Urmila was chatting with an Italian girl who was touring with her parents. Left at 09:00, at No. 50 bus stop, across the road. Suddenly I felt the room card in the pocket of my jacket; rushed back to the hotel and returned it; saw bus no. 50 arriving and literally ran to the stop but in vain. However, no. 68 soon turned up and we rode it till the next stop which was called Trhovisko. Alighted there and soon boarded bus no. 201; within ten minutes we were sitting on a clean, wooden bench on platform no. 1 of Hlavna Stanica(main train station), awaiting train EC 273 from Prague to Budapest, via Bratislava. It duly arrived and we boarded the first carriage(no 367) which was virtually
empty. The train left the station 2 minutes late and soon picked up speed. We had coffee and a beer(Gambrinus brand, Czech). The Hungarian countryside was beautiful - a river kept company to our right and a row of petite houses to our left, as we sped by villages. The train halted at a stop called Nagymaros-Visegrad, a hamlet with a prominent clock tower and elegant red/brown roofed homes of the locals. We reached the train terminus and our destination - Budapest Keleti - at 12:35, bang on time. The keleti station building was impressive. With the help of a policeman, we retrieved our Budapest-Salzburg tickets(reserved online for travel date 19th May at Nashik itself) from an e-ticket machine and exited. Though the station building had a grand façade, our first impression of the
Hungarian capital was average. It seemed more crowded than other European capitals we had visited and was rather unclean. In one corner to our left, just outside the station entrance was a garbage can that was overflowing; its contents having spilled onto the pavement. Touts approached us but as they spoke the local language, it was not quite clear what they were trying to sell.
With some misguidance from the locals, we located the hotel a little later than we should have. It was actually in a lane that was bang opposite the side entrance to the station! We opted for a superior room and paid Euro 65,00 extra. Room no. 508 on the 5th floor was smaller than we had expected; it was a let down after Abu Dhabi and Bratislava. (If this is 'superior', what must be a 'standard' room??) The hotel gave us a complimentary wine bottle and a coffee making machine(yes, a peculiar looking machine!) and a box full of coffee capsules of various flavours, in addition to tea bags, creamer sachets, etc. Rested for a while, then set off.
Changed money(Euro 50 into 15, 250/- Hungarian Forints) near the hotel; found the ticketing offices of the Budapest Public Transport at the underground part of Keleti station and purchased a 24-hour ticket (HUF 3300/- for two), valid till 17:00 tomorrow. Checked out KFC at the corner - wings, twister, French fries, strawberry shake - good ! I insisted on taking a bus ride, though Urmila was reluctant. Spotting bus no. 78's starting stop very close to the hotel, we boarded it, wanting to go to its last stop, just to get a feel of the city. A couple of passengers brought their dogs into the bus! As the bus moved away from the railway station area, the city started looking better and better. The roads broadened, the rubbish reduced to a great extent and the buildings lining either side of the road assumed grandeur and magnificence! It was not very long before our first impression of the city
changed. (While leaving the hotel at Bratislava, the receptionist had asked where we were proceeding to. When we replied 'Budapest', she said, with an admiring look on her face, "Budapest is beautiful"). Her words now made sense! In fact, we realised we were in a special city!! As we alighted at the last stop and headed towards what promised to be an open area, we could not help marvel at the magnificent edifices that appeared one after the other, almost like a magician unravelling his wonders on stage. As we came to the open area, we
were left speechless by the sight of a massive, palace-like structure, complete with vast lawns; and cement-and-concrete pavements. It could only be the famous building housing the Hungarian parliament! It was like no other building/monument that we had seen. Opposite the building was the river Danube and on its opposite bank (Buda) were more brilliant structures! Parallel bridges spanning the river looked great. We were clicking away like crazy! The parliament building is located in Kossuth Lajos square, on the banks of the Danube. We watched the taking down of the flag from the building by what looked like soldiers, towards sunset. Later, after having soaked in the incredible ambience, we walked back to the bus stop of no. 78(had to hunt for it a bit) and returned to our hotel.
To meet Mr. Michael Chapman at Berlitz, tomorrow.
