Friday in the big city

Friday was a beautiful day weather wise. Sunny, not too hot, a bit of a breeze. It was a perfect day to sightsee. first we went to a castle recently restored that at one time had been the hunting villa of the Hapsburgs. They had a lot of the display devoted to Erzabet Karolin, or Sissi as she is known here. She was a queen that lived in the 1800's, was much loved by the people of both Hungary and Austria, but not liked as well by the royal court. a bit like Diana. Her wedding gown, and paintings of coronations and weddings etc were very prominent in the displays. She was killed in the late 1800's by an anarchist. Since her death there have been movies, plays and musicals based on her story.

Then we took the go train into Budapest, and walked along the danube, crossed the train bridge over to the Buda side ( prominent in that movie with Eddie Murphy about the invisible plane), went up to the top of the hill in the cable car, and roamed around the castle area, stopping for ice cream at the Hilton. The place was abuzz with tourists, many of them Engish speaking. There was a very large group of spanish speakers as well. The view of the city and the Danube from the ramparts up at the castle is breathtaking. As the sun changes the vista changes as well, and the light on the white stone of the parliament buildings can be really wonderful. My computer here does not have the right software to download photos, so they will have to be added later, but it was a perfect day for sightseeing and for taking pictures.

Along the Danube on the Pest side is a memorial to the Jews in Hungary who were killed in the second world war. It consisted of bronzed shoes placed here and there along a cement walkway on the edge of the danube. it remembered the times when they were lined up here and shot, their bodies falling into the river.

that evening we went to the home of Imre ( Katis brother) and his wife Erszo. Erszo had prepared a lovely meal of chicken marinated in honey and lemon, greek salad, peas in a creamy liquid, corn in a creamy liquid, risotto with vegetables, a composed salad with tomatoes peppers and eggs, and an elegant ice cream cake for dessert.

Today we head for Tokai, a wine making region of the country. I exect we will do some wine tasting.