12th of May 2023 - Travelling to Budapest

This morning my friend Ruchard kindly drove me to Heathrow to catch an early flight to Budapest.  While waiting in the lounge I managed to catch a shot of a plane taking off.

The plane doors were closed on time but then there was an emergency because a passenger was taken ill and an ambulance was called.  The plabe was about 90 minutes late taking off by the time the passenger was taken off the plane and her luggage unloaded.  At least we made up about 30 minutes in flight.

I was picked up from the airport by a private hire vehicle and driven to my hotel right in the centre of Budapest.  My driver seemed to be quite happy to shoot multiple red lights.  The taxis went further in that they moved off from the lights while they were still read.

Apart from myself there are three couples who have taken the two night Budapest extension before the Danube cruise.  This afternoon we had an introduction to Budapest with Romulus our Uniworld Budapest representative over a few glasses of a rather nice prosecco plus nibbles.

I have a great view of St Stephen's Basilica for my hotel bedroom window.  Hopefully I will get a chance to visit this over the weekend.

One of the couples going on the Danube cruise invited me to join them for dinner in one of the hotel restaurants.  I had a delicious Hungarian stew with spinach noodles.  The three of us shared a bottle of Hungarian sauvignon blanc which was pretty decent.  After dinner we went to the bar where I tried a glass of Tokaji Aszú dessert wine which is a national speciality.

Another view from my hotel bedroom window is of the Budapest Eye ferris wheel which is all lit up at night.  At 65 metres high the Budapest Eye is the largest ferris wheel in Europe.

I am looking forward to exploring Budapest tomorrow.