Budapest

This blogger has been working overtime lately - so many trips to add! It is great being able to explore so many places so easily, and we are trying to make the most of the summery months. Our latest holiday was a weekend away in Budapest. We are getting used to crawling out of bed at some ridiculous hour to catch the budget 6am flights. Although John was feeling a bit under the weather for our Budapest trip after going out for a few too many work drinks the night before and having about 2 hours sleep!! We were lucky to get a warm, sunny weekend in Budapest, leaving behind cold, rainy London.

The photos below are of the Statue Park, on the outskirts of Budapest, which displays statues that once commemorated Communist leaders, Soviet liberators and socialist ideals in Budapest.

Stalin's boots - the rest of him was pulled down by protesters.

Afternoon tea at the Gerbeaud cafe, a 150-year-old Budapest institution.

John outside the Gerbeaud.

St Stephen's Cathedral.

The Danube, joins the two sides of the city - Buda and Pest.

The Neo-Gothic parliament buildings from the Buda side.

The view of Budapest from Buda Castle.

Matthias Church on Castle Hill.

Approaching the Royal Palace, Buda.

The Danube from Castle Hill.

St Stephen's Cathedral.

St Stephens Cathedral.

One of the bridges spanning the Danube.

The Parliament buildings.

The Parliament buildings.

Fishermen's Bastion on Castle Hill.

Heroes' Sqaure in Pest, the monument constructed in 1896 to honour the millennial anniversary of Magyar conquest of the Carpathian Basin.

Heroes' Square.

City Park in Pest.

He's always in the dog house!

St Stephen's Cathedral from the other side.

So that was Budapest. The weekend after that we spent checking out the (tacky) pier and relaxing on the (pretty average pebbly) beach in Brighton. This Wednesday (MC's birthday!) we are off to Alghero on the Italian island of Sardinia for some sun, surf and sand - can't wait!

Tiptoeing through the tulips!

After a short week back at work after our Turkey trip, we flew to Amsterdam for the weekend to see the Keukenhof Gardens (about an hour outside of the city). It was a lovely weekend (quite girly, unfortunately for John - but he had to come 'cause we were celebrating our sixth anniversary!). There were a few mishaps however. On arriving at the gardens we discovered that neither of us had charged the camera after Turkey and it was dead! Luckily, John had his camera phone so we used that and the pictures have come out OK (and also take a lot less time to upload onto a blog!). Then after a hot and picturesque afternoon at the gardens, we took the bus back to town and MC realised she had not printed off the hotel details. So we had to wander around the city looking for an internet cafe. After finally finding one, we were happy to discover we were only just round the corner from said hotel!

Pretty Amsterdam canal.

John and the 3D version of Rembrandt's Nightwatch.

Eating lunch canal-side.

The view from our hotel room.

I amsterdam. It's like I am Dunedin but cleverer...

OK, so if you're a boy or you're not into tulips then you may as well skip the rest of the photos - it's just a pure, indulgent, unadulterated tulip lovefest! Poor John. But he did well at uttering interested-sounding replies in response to MC's expressions of joy at each new tulip...


































Mmm lovely. It was tulip heaven.

One more near-mishap was to come though - we arrived at the airport on Sunday only to discover that our flight had been delayed 3.5 hours to 12.50am! Which would mean about 3 hours sleep before work on Monday by the time we got home. Luckily John enquired at the Easyjet counter and they were able to transfer us to an alternative London flight free of charge which left only 20 minutes after our original flight was scheduled. Phew!!

The weather here is still fantastic - long may it last. We are going to Lord's on Sunday to watch the fourth day of the first Black Caps v England test so hopefully we get a nice day for that. And the weekend after that is a long one here in the UK so we are off to explore Budapest.