Long weekend at hotel in Budapest.
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I and Reeta arrived at City Airport two and a half hour before departure. There were a lot of free parking places. You got a ticket and you pay with credit card on your departure.
The check-in had already started. After the security check you arrived at a room with a bar and a small shop. We bought two bottles of water for 40 skr. You got the impression that you had to wait there for the planes but 40 minutes before departure a woman told everybody that we had to go to the gates. We then passed a passport check and found two other rooms where the two gates were.
The plane was almost full which was promising since another aircompany called FlyMe had recently gone into bankruptcy.
We arrived at Warsaw 12:25 where some people went off. The landing was really hard since the pilot tried to shorten the braking distance as much as possible so he could turn off from the runway and go straight to the terminal the shortest way. They checked that all handbagage belonged to people on the plane. You had to tell the crew which things belonged to you. It was a security check to make sure that the people who went of the plane hadn't left a bomb or something like that. 13:05 we departed for Budapest.
The tourist information at the airport in Budapest gave us a free map and informed us that it was cheaper to go by taxi compared to taking the minibus. Taxi to the centre cost 4100-4200. The taxi station was just outside to the left. It is a good idea to hurry out since the queue becomes quite long when a plane has arrived.
An older couple wanted to share a taxi with us. It cost 4100 HUF to their hotel and they paid 4000. We then went to our hotel using the taximeter which only cost 1900 HUF.
We had booked a room at the hotel which was quite nice. There were however a few things which could be better. The safe-deposit box in the hotel rooms wasn't attached to anything. You could easily steal the whole box if you broke into the room. The second thing was the mirror in the bathroom. It was located very high up so Reeta couldn't look at it. The third thing was that you heard when I tram passed by outside.
A good thing was that each person got a card which you had to show to get the key at the reception.
16:30 we went out and walked for two and a half hours.
They celebrated their national day or something like that so there were a lot of people in the centre and some roads where closed for traffic. We visited some souvenir shops and bought vodka. The weather was beautiful and warm compared to Sweden. It almost felt like summer.
We went over a bridge and went up on a hill on the other side where we took some photos. When we passed the bridge we saw a motorcycle parade pass by under us.
Back at the hotel we looked at the TV. Unfortunately the only English speaking channels were BBC and CNN. We looked at a Hungarian news program and saw that there had been a lot of problems or there still were a lot of problems on the street we had passed by earlier. Many policemen used water canons against people who throw things at them and who had set things on fire.
I woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning by a lot of noise. It was the traffic outside which you heard clearly although our room was on the sixth floor. Especially the trams made a lot of noise. I think that the windows weren't closed properly since the next night you didn't hear it so laud.
The breakfast was included in the price and you could eat between 7 and 10 in the morning. The breakfast was quite okay but nothing special.
We went out at 10 a.m. We bought day tickets for the metro, busses and trams which cost 1.350 HUF each and then walked to a lovely park.
In the park we first visited Vajdahunyad castle where some people photographed a photo model. At the castle some Indians played music.
We went passed Széchenyi spa, the Grand Circus, amusement park and zoo.
We passed a pond and arrived at the Millennium Memorial, the Museum of fine art and the art gallery.
We took the metro to the opera building and passed by the St. Stephen's Basilica.
We walked down to Donau River and walked over Chain Bridge.
We walked up to Buda Castle and the Royal Palace where some children had a dance performance. A funny thing was that everywhere people asked me if I could take a photo of them. They only asked me and nobody else.
We continued to Matthias church and the Fishermen's Bastion before we caught a bus and travelled just a little bit to Moszkva ter. We didn't find the metro so we took a tram back over the river. When we passed by St. Stephen's Basilica a girl had given us a pamphlet with info about a restaurant located on Victor Hugo street. We walked to the restaurant which had a buffet. We were hungry but the buffet could be better. It was a little tasteless. On our way home we took a metro and changed to another one before we took the tram the last part on our road.
We arrived at the hotel at around 7 p.m. My parents had called so I phoned them back. They had been a little worried since they had seen the disturbances last night on the news in Sweden. I told them that everything was just perfect.
From the beginning we had planned to go out in the evening but we both were too tired. I felt almost dead and I think I had some infection or virus since normally I love to go out and dance in the evenings. A lot of people had been ill at work so I suppose I had got a little of it.
We went up quite late and had our breakfast at half past nine. It was then quite crowded.
After breakfast we went out and walked to the nearest metro where we bought two day-tickets. We took the metro one station and went of. We looked in shops but didn't find anything interesting. We walked to the central market where you could buy a lot of food as for instance paprika. I bought a nice glass sculpture which you can see in the photo.
We took a tram to the parliament building where we took some photos.
We passed a sculpture on a bridge where we took some more photos before we passed the impressive television building.
We took something to drink on a cafe. We walked on Vaci street where they had a lot of shops and where we also found a market. At the market we bought food which we brought home to our hotel. After our dinner I rested while Reeta packed her things.
In the evening around 9 or 10 we went out. We went to Palacio de la Salsa. They had a salsa lesson when we arrived which we joined although we didn't understand what they said. The lesson was very basic so it wasn't difficult. After the lesson we danced until midnight before we went home. We walked the whole way, about 2.5 km. We had been told that the last metro goes 11.30 p.m. but after that you can take a bus or tram.
I had a shower and packed my things quickly. I think we went to bed around one o'clock.
Reeta went up 4 o'clock since she doesn't want to hurry and she needs a cup of tea in the morning. I went up one hour later. We packed the last things and ate a little before we went down and checked out a little after 6 a.m. We had to wait since they first had to check that we hadn't taken anything from the minibar which we hadn't paid for.
Our minibus should arrive 6:20 but it was almost 10 minutes late. We were the only people they picked up. The bus cost 4.000 HUF for us both. The people in the reception told us that a taxi is more expensive, around 5.500 HUF since they don't work together with the company at the airport which is cheaper and have a fixed price.
When we arrived at the airport I luckily checked the ticket and saw that our plane departed from terminal 1 and we were at terminal 2. I told our driver that it was the wrong terminal and he was not happy about it. It was the people at our hotel reception who had made a mistake. When I booked I hadn't the ticket with me and I don't even think they asked which terminal we should go to. They just asked which air company we travelled with and I told them WizzAir. It was a long distance between the terminals? probably 5-10 km. Anyhow? we arrived in good time long before the check-in started.
Reeta got stuck in the metal detector as usual. She must be magnetic or something. The people who worked there quickly checked that she wasn't wearing any weapons.
There were some tax-free shops and Reeta bought a cup and a teddybear in a souvenir shop.
Reeta paid a lot of attention again when the air-hostess showed us how the life-jackets were used. The trip back went without problem and we both slept a little since we were quite tired.
The weather in Sweden wasn't so good and the landing was very ruff due to hard wind. It started to rain and snow and we run from the plane to the terminal building.
Gothenburg has two airports? Landvetter and CityAirport. CityAirport is very small and only used by three low budget air companies including WizzAir. The airport is really bad. When we reached the terminal building some people had to stand outside since the room was too small. They had to wait until some people had passed the passport control so they could come inside. Then we had to wait a terrible long time before our baggage arrived on the too short conveyer belt. Only some people could fetch their baggage at the same time since there wasn't room for all people along the conveyer belt. I had my car parked at the parking place and I had to pay the parking fee at an automate. The automates at our main airport accept many cards but this automate only accepted my VISA card. The parking place had no asphalt and it was difficult to push your baggage van. I wonder what kind of first impression of Sweden foreign people get when they arrive at this airport. On top of this the traffic signs aren't correct. They don't show you the nearest way to the main road right through the city. Instead they direct you round the city if you are going south which takes a lot of more time and it is much longer.
When we left the airport there had just been an accident and three ambulance cars were parked in the middle of the road and there was a car which had slipped of the road quite a long way from it. We met a police car with the sirens on which was on its way to the accident.
We were really lucky to have such a lovely weather. I however don't think I will travel to the centre of Europe again in Mars. It is better to wait a month just to make sure you get warm weather.
The hotel cost 60 euro per night and beside that I used about 950 skr for everything else including the glass sculpture which cost almost 200 skr.