Saturday--Day 2 in Budapest

Saturday, September 1st
Budapest, Hungry

          The fun is over!  We have to leave the boat today and they want us out of our cabins by 9am.  They have to get them ready for the next bunch of cruisers.  After getting dressed we headed to dining room for breakfast and some more good byes to new friends.  When back in cabin we finished last minute packing and sat our bags outside the door so crew could take them for us.  I had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 9:30 for short drive across river and up to the Hilton.  Unlike the big cruise ships there are not dedicated bag people on the river boats.  So there were some dining room waiters, cruise director’s staff, and just anyone who was not doing something else, carrying bags from rooms to dock.
          Our female taxi driver showed up a few minutes early so off we went.  I had stopped at purser’s desk and paid our bill earlier.  There was no lines, no customs, or immigration so disembarkation was a breeze.  We arrived at the Hilton at 10am and check-in was not until 2pm so desk guy said our room was not ready.  We had been upgraded to the Executive Floor and he mentioned that we would be checking in later up there.  So I decided to go up and see if we could get a room on side with beautiful view of the Danube and city below us.  She told me all those rooms were booked but did give us a room and said there would not be an early check-in charge.  With my “diamond” status with Hilton we usually get upgraded to Executive Floors.  There they have complimentary breakfast in the morning, dessert snacks in the afternoon, and free drinks & hot canapés from 6pm to 8:30pm.  I also get free internet.  The hotel’s DSL is so fast compared to what I have had for the past 2 weeks on the boat.  As you noticed, I uploaded Vienna and Budapest photos already.  Hope you can see them on the link.  Also note there are two new blog postings today.
          It rained some this morning but stopped about noon so we went out to check out restaurants for dinner tonight.  I had our concierge on boat make us a reservation at place for tonight.  It is not far but there are quite a few steps down and then back up after dinner so decided not to go there.  We found 5 or 6 alternate places fairly close by but not sure where we will go yet.  Right next to hotel and chapel is a fair going on this weekend.  Locals dressed in costumes of castle days.  We had lunch at a little food stand.  Shared a big sausage and some bread.
          While I have been working on blog and doing some internet stuff, Rebecca has been resting her eyes.  Now we will get ready for cocktails and dinner later.  We need to pack what we have been wearing today and move some other stuff around.  Want to get most of that done as same taxi woman is picking us up at 6am tomorrow.
          Our British Air flight departs at 8:25 and will arrive London Heathrow at 10:05am (hour time change so flight is about 2 ½ hours).  We will have 4 hours to wait for our American Airlines flight on the DFW airport.  I upgraded our BA flight to first class and our AA flight will be in business class so trip home should be fairly painless.  We are to land at DFW at 7:30pm.
          There will be one more posting after we get back home.  I am writing a critique of the cruise for our travel agent and think you might be interested in it also.  Especially if you are ever thinking of doing a river cruise.
          Stay tuned for that.  My next blog will be in January 2013.  We will be doing a 66 day cruise on Regent Cruises from Auckland, New Zealand to Beijing, China.