Day 7 - A quiet-ish day (Friday 19th April 2024)

Believe it or not, today we woke up to the alarm at 6:45am! The early start was so we could see Emily off to the plane back to Manchester. We’re so lucky that she was able to join us for the last three days. A great and unexpected family time to treasure.

So she could be close to the bus that would take her back to the airport we chose a meeting point near her digs. I was a little bakery recommended by the proprietor of the hostel she’s been staying in. That chap, Sandor Pozsar, who runs a little hostel at 5 Kazinczy St called AVAIL hostel has been so helpful and obliging. He’s been happy for Emily to TXT him at any time while we’ve been out and about if she needed some good advice, guidance and local information. He even told her to tell us that he’d be happy to help us if we needed the same during our last couple of days here. How good is that!! Check him out if you’re ever looking for accommodation in Budapest. His hostel is really well located in the Jewish quarter, just near the Great Synagogue.

For breakfast we visited the Aran Bakery where we enjoyed a pastry and a coffee and bought a lovely loaf for dinner later in the day. The tiny shop had a constant stream of customers coming and going. They were doing a roaring trade! From here we walked down to Rakoczi St and the bus-stop near the Astoria Hotel, where the 100E Airport Express visits. Well, it’s true that the 100E visits the Astoria bus-stop but it certainly doesn’t stop there! Down the Deak Ferenc we walked and in a few minutes Emily had boarded and was on her way. She’s only been in Manchester for three weeks but to para-phrase her words while waiting to board, “I’m gonna make the most of this sunshine while I can before I return to the place where the sun never shines”. We were on our own again but now had a much better understanding and feel for the city, thanks to Emily.

Kerry has seen a hot pink jacket in store up near the Oktogon at the intersection of Andrassy Ave and Teréz Körút on Tuesday so she was keen to try it on so we walked up there after we’d seen Emily off. Along the way, we spotted some beanies in the window of a “two dollar” shop so we ducked in there to resolve the “appropriate head-wear” problem. The shop with the hot pink jacket only had limited stock of them and nothing in Kerry’s size so we left empty-handed.

As the name of this day suggests, we had planned for a quiet-ish day after three full-on days with Emily. These old bones need to slowdown every now and then. Today was the day. I was thinking that in this beautiful city we could do a lot better than just sit in the hotel room all day when it occurred to me that a library would be a much better option for just sitting and resting up a bit. To that end, we took the subway to Kalvin St station and soon found ourselves at the front door of the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library. The neo-Baroque palace was built in 1889 was the Wenckheim family – a well-known and well-connected Hungarian aristocratic family. When the last member of the family passed away with no heirs it was acquired by the State and converted to a library.

Wow! What a place to spend a couple of hours. The stunning internal architecture is nothing sort of magnificent. Indeed, I’d call it palatial! I shan’t try to describe it here. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. All the rooms were full of students studying at antique desks or on antique fabric chairs by the windows with sunlight streaming in or sumptuous leather lounges by the walls and the fireplaces. One room was adorned with a magnificent dark wooden spiral stair reaching high up to the books up there. Although the rooms were all very well patronised once could still hear a pin drop (or a back-pack zipper open). Even the rustle of a plastic bag in my back-pack sounded like a rock concert. We stayed here in this beautiful serenity until 2:00pm – Kerry with her needle-work and me with my computer writing these words.

Sadly we departed as our 24hr travel card was about to expire. Before reaching the Kalvin ter station we dropped in at an Aldi to get something to go with the bread we’d bought that morning. The subway whisked us back to our neighbourhood with minimal fuss and still plenty of time left on our ticket, Before retiring to the hotel for the day we visited a nearby Post Office to get a stamp for a Postcard for Mum. Remember when that was the only form of communication back home for young travellers? I wrote the postcard standing in the Post Office, got it stamped and sent it on it’s way. Back at the hotel we had a late lunch/early tea and then packed it in for the day. Tomorrow, at 6:00pm our Intrepid Balkans and Dalmatia tour starts ,with Sunday being a full day to explore Budapest at their own pace. Those who are counting on that being their only taste of Budapest and Hungary will be left wanting to see and learn a lot more about this brilliant city.