Dec 15- Budapest & Home

Dec 15: Up and packed, now we are ready to go. It was a good 30 minute drive to the airport. After we got to the airport we went to the Club. We had some breakfast and had plenty of time to make the flight. We were Budapest to Zurich, then the Club again. Zurich to San Francisco, thankfully we had plenty of time as we had to pass through screening 3 times! It was grueling. Flight was uneventful and soon we were in San Francisco. We had quite a wait for our next flight here. Again, we had to go through security. Short flight and we were finally home. 

Dec 14 - Budapest

Dec 14: We got up too late for the hotel breakfast. We decided to walk around the area and find a place for breakfast/lunch. After we walked a while, we backtracked to a place called Mozata. It is Lebanese food. The food was delicious. Stuart had the tacos and I had the shrimp and we shared a side of fries, garlic fries. We really like the seasoning, but we didn't buy any because there's just no room in our luggage to bring anything else home. 

Back to the hotel and we will wait till it starts to get dark to go to the nearby Vösösmarty Christmas Market tonight. This market is just a seven minute walk from our hotel. After just a couple minutes of walking, we came to a Christmas Market. We had a GlueGin, admired the food, and walked on. After walking a bit, we realized that we passed the market. So again, we backtracked. We had such a good time browsing the different food venues. It was hard to decide what to pick. We got ribs. They were delicious. It was a quick walk back to our hotel. We played a few cards, set the alarm, and then off to bed. 

Dec 13 - Budapest

Dec 13: Today we started with a walk around the area. We found the moon hanging that Taylor had mentioned. It was really close to our hotel. We stopped at the Pointer Pub for lunch. The food was excellent and I had the paprikash chicken that I wanted to try. The service was very slow and it was very, very crowded. However, we enjoyed lunch very much and then back to the hotel for more cards and relaxation. For dinner, we went to the little restaurant right by our hotel called La Lucia. It was also tasty. There was a huge menu and we enjoyed their drinks as well. 

Dec 12 - Disembark in Budapest

Dec 12: We got up early and packed. That didn't take too long and we headed to breakfast in the dining room. We didn't see any of our traveling companions, so I guess they are all off the ship. We will stay in the longe until the light lunch and then head to our hotel. We cannot check in until 2p. 

We checked into the hotel unpacked, rested a little bit, played some cards, and then headed out to Peter Doyle's Pub. We were really hungry for fish and chips, since what we had on the ship was not very tasty. It's a crowded fun place, and we sat down at one of the few tables left. Immediately, we were talking with a nice young couple Sam and Eve from the UK, they live in or near Sheffield. They wanted to buy us a Mini Guinness. That is a shot with Kalua and a floating of Bailey's Irish cream. We each in each up treating for a round! We exchanged information and promised to visit... We'll see.

Heading back to the hotel, we stopped and bought wine and snacks in a shop nearby. We played cards and then finally called it a night. 

About the area around LA Prima Fashion Hotel: it is a fun and lively area. It's very walkable with many pedestrian streets. There are many restaurants all around us. In addition, there are little shops galore. On the evening walk back, it looked so festive with little flame heaters everywhere and a lot of people eating outside, believe it or not! Too cold for us!

Dec 11 - Sailing and Arrival in Budapest

Dec 11: When we woke, we are headed on our way back to Budapest. Even though things are gray and the trees have no leaves. it's still pretty in its own way. We are due to arrive in Budapest just after lunch. We dined in the Riverview Bistro and arrived in Budapest while eating. We zipped up to the sun deck, of course there's no sun, and walked around for just a little bit because we didn't have our coats or anything. It is cold!

It is interesting today the kids are very talkative to us and friendly. I did ask everyone about dinner, but no one committed. We were fine eating by ourselves. Our new acquaintance, Marie seems to find us everywhere we go. She is very, very talkative. She lost her husband four years ago but she continues to travel and enjoy life by herself. She is very sweet but a bit exshausting with the none-stop talking. She has befriended us, along with Taylor, Gretchen, and Wendy. She ate dinner with the three of them. Dinner was in the dining room, and it was probably the driest, toughest, Wiener Schnitzel I've ever had. Everyone volunteered that same information. What a shame. 

After dinner it was up to the lounge and playing cards until about eleven. We do need to get up early and pack and try to make time for breakfast tomorrow morning. The kids played a card game at the table next to us but again they were friendly.

Dec 10 Vienna, Austria

Dec 10: I'm not feeling especially well today and I wanted to stay on board near a restroom! We got up too late for breakfast. We had coffee in the lounge and played some cards. We were docked between two different ships and at one point, one ship moved, then we moved, and it took our place. Now we're the third docked ship out from the sidewalk. We were eager for lunch since we had no breakfast. I was happy to see potato salad on the menu and we also split a BLT sandwich. We played another card game, and then I took a little rest, and Stuart worked on his laptop.

Gala dinner is tonight. We invited everyone to join us. Gretchen, Wendy, and Taylor joined us. The kids said they were going to the Christmas Markets for dinner, but in fact, they sat on the other side of the dining room.

After dinner we had a small concert onboard. It was very good and we really enjoyed it. Our companions are tired and went to bed. We stayed up playing cards and listening to the piano player until they closed up at midnight.

Dec 09 - Bratislava, Slovakia

Dec 09: Today is Jayden's 6th birthday. I did a little video and sent it to him. We did a little walk around the decks but stayed on board as we are both tired. It is gloomy, gray, and foggy.  In addition, we have been here before! We ate in the Bistro again. This time we tried the fish and chips and it was not very good. It was frozen fish fillets, like you get in the freezer section at the grocery store. If we go there again, we'll get the pizza! Today they had Ghulwein in the bar. For 50 cents, you could add a shot of gin. That was tasty and it cuts down the sweetness as well. Dinner was very good and we ate just the two of us. 

Later we met Taylor, Gretchen, and Wendy for the music trivia. It was challenging because there were three different portions to every question. However, it was a lot of fun too! Off to bed after that!