I write this as the world passes by on our sail towards Bratislava in Slovakia. Is a beautiful sunrise and the river is so peaceful and almost postcard perfect. Is almost as if we are in a dream.Yesterday was a lovely birthday for Aidan. After a phenomenal breakfast buffet that even included boiled eggs, we were off for a tour of Budapest. Our guide was great and took us to two spots, Heroes Square and Mathias Church. Aidan and I slept on the ride between the two sites - I was quite embarrassed that I did. Anyhow, Heroes Square was fascinating for its statues, and for the translation of what Hungarian names meant English. I really enjoyed Mathias Church. It had been taken over by the Turks at one point and was elaborately painted inside. It was just so beautiful! The Hungarian crown jewels were also in Mathias Church and the enamel inlaid crowd was beautiful.We returned to the ship and had a great lunch with cabbage soup and Hungarian goulash among other things. We returned to the cabin and there were balloons and chocolates all over the bed with a Happy Birthday note to Aidan from the housekeeping staff. We then had a quick run down to the shopping district to buy a bathing suit for me (70% off!!!). We then went to visit St. Andrews, which housed the artists village. Again, we slept on the bus trip. I think it was the air-conditioning being turned off and on. We had a tour of the area by a guide and a visit to the marzipan museum. We then had pastries in a café. Talk about sublime. We went shopping and met up with a vendor who gave us the history of various Hungarian crafts. I loved that. We then purchased a box where the key is hidden and a chess set, both with hand engravings.The evening was relaxing. We sat on the sky deck while the boat left Budapest. Akos, the cruise director, gave us commentary as we sat on lounge chairs watching the amazing sites go by. Dinner followed with a surprise birthday cake for Aidan – complete with a roman candle on top and all of the staff singing Happy Birthday. Upon returning to our room, we opened the curtains to watch the sites go by. And that is how we woke up. It is amazing!
A true vacation day! After breakfast looking at the river passing by, I ended up asleep until 11:30 a.m. Yes, I had a luxurious morning in bed while Aidan went up on the sky deck to watch us go through our first lock. There are 62 more to go through, so I'll see one eventually. When I finally got up I did 15 minutes of cycling and rowing in the gym followed by another 15 minutes of yoga and ballet. It was then off to another superb lunch with tomato soup, stuffed cabbage, Austrian bread, and roast beef with bernaise sauce.The afternoon took us into Bratislava. Like Budapest, I love to see the window boxes. The flowers are so beautiful! Bratislava is a lovely city and we enjoyed visiting the castle and the old town. We found a flag for Aidan and purchased a few lace items and some decorated eggs. We also discovered that I looked like a gypsy – really! I was treated somewhat oddly by store owners because of it.Tonight we went into the hot tub after dinner and then watched the end of the flute quintet concert. We aimed to watch the boat disembark from the sky deck, but instead watched it from the lounge. We enjoyed watching people dance and eventually did a cha-cha, merengue, and a waltz/rhumba before heading to bed. We have a long day tomorrow in Vienna, but it should be fun!
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