Author Archives: Barbara

Christmas Market Tour

The blog has returned. My son and I found a tour of Krakow, Prague, Dresden and Berlin for the Christmas markets. We left yesterday December 4, 2017 in the morning and got to our hotel in Krakow around noon on the 5th. The blog has missed some major trips, but sometimes it is not practical with the WiFi connections. This is a land tour so there should be enough connectivity.

Krakow has snow on the ground and it’s freezing here. Not just for me but even the Polish people are hurrying along the street. In fact there might be a light snow or freezing rain happening now. We are supposed to take a short tour of the city tonight after a meet and greet dinner. Brrrr! No picture yet, but we are just beginning.

Budapest-Night

We had reservations at the Marble Bride, a Hungarian restaurant that had a show.  We took the subway to Buda and walked the rest of the way to the restaurant.  Food was great- naturally and the entertainment was really good.  The dancers not only put on a good show but engaged the audience and had a bit of comedy.

Musicians

Dancer

Dancers

Pork confit with sauerkraut & cream

Budapest 

After breakfast we decided to go to the Grand Market.  All kinds of food- fruit, vegetables, meats and arts and crafts.  This took most of the morning and early afternoon. There was also a lot of prepared food in the market.  Unfortunately we weren’t hungry because it looked and smelled delicious, especially langos and kalice.

Food

Grand Market


The group decided to take a 2 1/2 hour walking tour in the afternoon.  I decided to stay by the hotel since my hip was really becoming painful.  I did go out and walk across one of the bridges to take scenic pictures of Budapest.

View from bridge


River cruise ships


View from bridge

Bratislava to Budapest 

Waiting at train station

Walking srea of Budapest

We got up, had breakfast and prepared to go to the train station.  Decal took a taxi and some of us walked.  We arrived early so we could purchase our tickets.  However, the train was about a half hour late do we spent a lot of time waiting at the crowded train station.  The train came and 7 of us wound up in a compartment with all the luggage.  Then a man came along and he had a reservation for one of the seats.  We made room-some of us went to the dining car.  After a few stops the train was less crowded so everyone found a seat. The man in our compartment was going to go to Budapest but he was going to get off at the wrong stop. We prevented him from doing this and then he became more friendly. He is from Argentina and could not speak any English.  We can’t speak Spanish but some how we were able to communicate a little.  In fact we saw him in center city Budapest.

After we checked into our hotel we went out to see the sites.  We are staying on the Pest side of the river.  We went to the main area of the city that has many shops and restaurants.  We were site seeing for a while and then decided on a restaurant that had Hungarian food.  It was almost 7:30pm so fear not that we were eating the early bird special.  Lori and I ordered a Hungarian meal of pork goulash stew, chicken paprikash, potatoes, and something like stewed tomatoes.  It was a ton of food for a reasonable price. After we couldn’t eat any more we learned dessert was included.  We were able to get dessert to go but sorry no pics since it is still in the to go box.  It was getting cold sitting in the outside cafe so we headed back to the hotel.  An early night for us.

Portion of dinner

At the restaurant

Bridge over Danube

Bratislava

Today we only had a 2 1/2 hour walking tour of Bratislava. Good tour with tons of info.  Lots of security since there is a big meeting of some European heads of state in the castle.  This meant the castle was closed.  After the tour we walk around the old town and stumbled on a pastry shop.  We had to indulge in Viennese coffee and various sweets-scrumptious!!!!  At 5pm the majority decided to go back to the hotel.  We then ate dinner in the hotel and it also was great.  Our waiter was the only one who spoke some English.  We had a good time and so did he.  I finally have a chance to get caught up because tomorrow is Budapest.

Dessert and Viennese coffee

Cakes and tea

At hotel restaurant

President’s residence