Day 1 & 2 – Budapest

Well, we certainly didn't get off to a good start. We booked our flights through Aeroplan, which meant we flew Toronto, Montreal, Munich, Budapest. When we checked in at Toronto, Air Canada's computer couldn't find Monica, and even when it did finally find her, it wouldn't check her in past Montreal! A little diligent work by a couple of check-in agents, and finally we're at the gate and ready to go. Too bad the plane wasn't! A thirty minute delay while they replaced a part. Okay, we're on the plane and taxiing to the runway, and we stop. A fifteen minute ground delay due to weather in Montreal! Normally not a worry, but we only had a 90 minute connection in Montreal, half of which was gone before we even left the ground in Toronto! Fortunately there were no other delays and boarding had just started when we got to the next gate, but the nagging thought, will our bags make it??


From Montreal, the rest of our flights were on Lufthansa, and the flight from Montreal was in Lufthansa First Class. (We did book through Aeroplan after all.) What a First impression!!! The cabin had only 8 seats, two rows of four, and the rows were 8 feet apart! The picture will give you some idea.

The only unfortunate part about this flight is it was only seven hours long and we had to spend the largest part of that time sleeping!! Oh well, we are flying First home too, so we will get to really enjoy it then.

After two uneventful flights, we arrived in sunny, hot and humid Budapest, and much to our relief, so did our two suitcases!!

Our private transfer from the airport to the hotel was waiting for us outside and within 45 minutes (in a nice, quiet Mercedes S500) we arrived at the Four Seasons Gresham Palace Hotel. It was built in the early 1900s as the headquarters of the Gresham Company, was partly destroyed during the war and left in disrepair until into the 1990s. It was purchased by a subsidiary of Four Seasons Hotels and completely remodelled, and has been open as the hotel since 2004. It is quite beautiful as you can see from these photos of the lobby and outside.

After an hour's siesta, we started out on a brief exploration. The hotel is on the 'Pest' side of Budapest, looking straight across the Chain Bridge. So we set out across the bridge to the 'Buda' side and along the riverfront toward the Parliament Building. That's the one that you see photos of in all the brochures for Budapest cruises, all lit up at night. Since we were already more than half way to the next bridge, we decided we'd cross there then walk back to the hotel. On the bridge we exchanged photo-takings with a couple from Australia. So here's the first of the 'us' shots for this trip:

In the evening, we decided to dine at the hotel since it would be an early night. They have a small terrace area outside, and since it was a warm, still evening we opted to eat there, and had a delicious meal that included Goulash soup (of course!), Chicken Paprika for Monica and Wiener Schnitzel that covered the plate for Larry.

The only interruption came just before we ordered dessert. We had driven through a short but heavy rain shower on the way from the airport in the afternoon, and our driver had said that at this time of year we could expect brief showers most afternoons. Today's afternoon shower was followed by a thunderstorm in the late evening. It started slow but the rain picked up just after our waiter finished moving us inside. Just before retiring, Larry took some video of the buildings lit up on the other side of the river, and managed to catch a rogue flash of lightning from the storm reaching toward Buda Castle. A glorious day despite the rain.

The next morning, we woke to another beautiful day. After breakfast, we decided to wander down the river in the other direction, toward the Elizabeth Bridge, in the area where AMACerto was moored. We wandered along the Danube Promenade, dotted with small restaurants and connecting a couple of waterfront parks. We finally found the boat (or is it still a ship?), talked to the crew about early arrival, and then walked back to the hotel via the main pedestrian shopping area, the Vaci Uta.

A short taxi ride with our luggage had us back to the boat about an hour later; then we checked out the layout and the amenities until official boarding time. Here are a couple of photos:

In the evening, the Captain greeted everyone at his Welcome Aboard party, and after the obligatory information session, we had our first dinner on board. The food is a good as the various reports have been saying; so that meant that the exercise room would be on the agenda at least a few times during the cruise.

After dinner, we had local entertainment from a string trio, playing some gypsy-style music as well as traditional folk music and classical pieces written by Hungarian composers, while folk dancers demonstrated their traditional dances.