10/16/14 Budapest

Last night after dinner, the captain took the ship for a ride up and down the river so that we could enjoy the fantastic light show.  It was really amazing!  This morning after breakfast, we took a bus to the Corinthia Hotel.  It was raining when we woke up this morning, but the sun was out by the time we got on the bus.  As we could not check in yet, we bought a subway pass for the five of us and visited the History Museum.  The first part dealt with the early history of Hungary.  The labels were in English, but there was no air conditioning so we were very hot.  The second half dealt with more recent history and while it was cooler in these rooms, none of the signs were in English.  We took the subway back to our nearest stop and walk along looking for a place for lunch.  We stopped at New York Cafe, which was built in 1896 and was a magnificent palace - now a hotel.  We had a nice lunch and by the time we got back to the hotel, our rooms were ready.  We took a few minutes to freshen up and then went out again.  We walked down to the Opera House hoping to join a tour, but the price was quite steep and we decided to skip it (I did take a few pix in the lobby area - beautiful building).  We then walked down to the Cat Cafe.  Lana had seen an article in the Hartford Courant about it.  It is a small cafe filled with live cats.  The cats were wonderful - sleeping on chairs, cat perches, inside boxes and on the floor.  They seem to be rescue cats and we met two young girls from the States who are having a semester abroad here.  They miss their cats from home so came here to have a cuddle.  We are now putting our feet up and will walk to dinner around 6 tonight.