How to see a whole city in one day
The weather had cleared slightly but it was still over cast, so after breakfast (which was included in our room rate) we decided to do a city sight seeing bus trip. As we only had one day in Budapest we had to cram as much in as possible but unfortunately our first bad decision was to walk 35 minutes to the tour depot. We missed the sight seeing bus by three minutes and had to wait for another hour for the next one. The tour itself was very good with excellent commentary and detailed, but not boring explanations. In two hours we covered all the major tourist spots, including the castle and the citadel. At midday we were dropped back in the city and the two museums we wanted to explore further were in opposite directions. In the end we chose the castle labyrinth and walked back across the bridge and caught the funicular up the hill.
The castle labyrinth in a unique oddity. I had previously read all about it and it was interesting to watch the BOSS and other people when the penny finally dropped. The labyrinth is a joke, an elaborate practical joke, and most enjoyable. See the photos.
Our second and final tourist site was 60 Andrassy Boulevard, the former headquarters of the interrogation and torture section of the Nazi party and the Communist party. It was now the 'Terror Museum' with excellent displays and well presented documentation of the horrific acts that had taken place there. It was dedicated, very tastefully, to the victims. Although it was a brilliant exhibition, it was unfortunately only in Hungarian, with no English titles on the displays, or English subtitles on the many many videos. I would have been particularly interested to listen, or read, the eye witness accounts and personal stories. It was a real shame that English speaking tourists were not catered for and it is for this reason only that I cannot recommend this museum.
After such a huge day and being on our feet for nearly 10 hours, we returned to our luxury hotel to relax, have a bubble bath, enjoy the cable TV, and exploit the free internet.
We ventured out later in the evening in the pouring rain to sample some more Hungarian cuisine. This time the waitress spoke English and presented us with a menu the first page of which consisted mostly of emu dishes presented 'as Ned Kelly's favourite meat'. Other parts of the menu listed steak done "tipsy policeman style" what ever that meant - but the BOSS and I chose rather sedate meals of duck and pork medallions from the Hungarian page, both of which were excellent.
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