May 4 -Copenhagen to Budapest

 May 4 2012 - Copenhagen to Budapest

Today we woke to a cloudy day,with no rush hour traffic. It felt like a holiday (even though Tuesday May 1 when we arrived was also a holiday). Sure enough it is a day of prayer. Must be nice two days of in one week. So John went out and picked up breakfast and we decided to leave earlier for the airport since nothing was opened.

 A quick walk to Central Station, tickets to airport purchased at an automated machine and we boarded the 10:52 train for the fifteen minute ride. Such a great way to travel, the trains are every ten minutes, there is room in the cars for bikes.

We checked in, went through security where I enjoyed was subjected to a full body search by a guy. John had his carryon opened.
Then we had a nice lunch - omelet and smoked salmon. John did some shopping picking up some really nice shirts unlike anything available at home.

 Our plane, each one is named after a famous Norwegian.

I started this draft as we are in the air aboard Norwegian airlines using their free wifi. How amazing is that, being able to connect in the air. So few airlines provide this.

We had barely landed and our luggage was out and we were met by our driver with his Mercedes to take us to our hotel, the Corinthia. This is a majestic hotel recently purchased and refurbished by the Wyndham chain.

Corinthia Hotel Budapest

Erzsebet Korut 43-49 : Budapest 1073 : HUNGARY
The Grand Royal is a carefully restored 18th century hotel with modern amenities. The public spaces offer unique historic grandeur with opulence and a wealth of architectural details. The Royal Spa offers a refurbished 19th century spa with all modern and deluxe amenities.

 

Situated in the heart of Budapest within a mile of sites such as: Heroes' Square, Budapest Castle, Gellert Thermal Baths, Jewish Quarter, Opera House, and Vaci Utca (pedestrian shopping street). The closest bus stop just a two minute walk away and the closest metro a ten minute walk.

We were met by our guide, Kate, who had offered a short guided tour at 5:30 of the area surrounding the hotel.

This is a large hotel spread over a city block, our room was very far away from the elevators, we joked that we would have to leave fifteen minutes early to meet our group.

Franz Liszt

 Academy of Music

 So many buildings were destroyed during World War II that they are still rebuilding and re-gentrifying. This one shows the difference when a building is cleaned.

The Liszt Ferenc square is a large open area with many restaurants dotting the sidewalk. We selected Karma for dinner.

After dinner we strolled around the area.

Bronze statue of the prominent Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti located on Nagymező Street in Budapest, created by renowned sculptor Imre Varga in 2009.