LONG JOURNEY TO BUDAPEST

For almost a year we have been looking forward to checking off one of Paul's bucket list items--a European river cruise. We chose a Uniworld river cruise along the Danube from Budapest to Prague.

Our flight left Atlanta on Monday evening for Amsterdam, with a connection in Budapest on Tuesday afternoon. All in all, this trip took about 14 hours. Why did we drive to Atlanta instead of leave from Gainesville?  We were able to use the same number of frequent flyer points to depart from Atlanta flying business class as compared to traveling from Gainesville and flying coach class.  A no-brainer decision!

Customs was a non-event, as we didn't even have to stop and show our passports.  After a long journey, it was nice to see our driver holding up a sign outside customs, indicating that he was ready to drive us to our hotel,the Corinthia, in downtown Budapest.

Our hotel was a historic one, involved in the 1956 Revolution, when Russian forces entered the city on November 3rd to take over the country.  Six thousand tanks fired at the city. One group of rebels occupied the hotel. The next day, a dozen Russian tanks surrounded the building and began a continuous bombardment lasting 5 hours. The upper floors were in flames for hours and the roof was completely destroyed.

Following 4 years of restructuring, the country's only luxury hotel reopened in 1961 but closed its doors in 1990. In 1996, it was purchased by the current owners and reopened as again as an elite luxury hotel in the heart of Budapest.  The plaque in the lobby lists many notable guests. In 2015, Arnold Schwarzenegger stayed here in. We were welcomed with open arms, like we were really important guests. The hotel was more luxurious than we are used to. Is this a grand staircase or what?

After checking into the hotel, it was time to find some dinner. The concierge recommended a nice area close to the hotel with lots of restaurants to choose from. We chose a local establishment were we enjoyed traditional Hungarian food. Ann had chicken paprikash with homemade noodle,s and Paul enjoyed some wienersnitzel. Gladly, we passed up this American landmark across the street from our cafe..

We were jet lagged from our travels, so we crashed early. Tomorrow we will be ready to board a bus that will take us to the Uniworld River Princess.