EXPLORING BUDAPEST

This morning we headed out to explore Budapest. We opted for the "up close and personal" tour, instead of getting on another bus. We were very glad we did. We are docked right beside the Chain bridge, so our tour started by walking over it into Buda. This gave us great views of Buda and Pest. We took the funicular up the hill to the Presidential offices, and got there just in time to see the changing of the guard. We toured the oldest part of the city before heading, by bus back across the bridge into Pest and walked through the shopping district into the Great Market Hall. This was an amazing multi level market with everything from paprika to sausage to linens and china and everything in between. It was very busy and appeared to be the place that all the locals go for lunch. On the way home we walked past our ship and headed a few minutes down the river to the Memorial dedicated to the victims in 1944-45 who were shot into the Danube. It was very moving.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon packing as we are leaving our ship early tomorrow to make our way to Prague......stay stunned