Budapest..Part One of a Several Part Trip

This trip started out to be a visit to Budapest for the Formula 1 race at the Hungaroring.  Then it grew like Topsy into a 14-day river cruise, a visit to Amsterdam, a week of hiking at our favorite place in Epen, Holland, and a meet-up with Steve and Angie for another Formula 1 race.

So to begin, we arrived in Budapest on July 23, 2014 and were met by our driver.  We stayed in a serviced apartment (air conditioning! washing machine! refrigerator! microwave! close to everything!) at the 7Seasons Apartments, the management of which was kind enough to dispatch a "limo" for a very reasonable fee. Speaking of reasonable, Hungary is.  A trip to the supermarket that would have cost $35 - $40 U.S. for wine, water, some food, etc. only ran about $17 U.S.

Budapest turned out to be just as great as everyone says.  Our first full day, we took off on foot to see the Buda side with its Fisherman's Bastion area.

The Parliament building from the Bastion:

The all-day hike also took us along the river on the Pest side.  This is where all the river cruise ships dock, and it's amazing how many of them were around.  At one point, there had to be at least a dozen, stacked up three abreast.  There are some interesting life-size bronze statues along the river walk:

We also headed over to Hero's Square, where we found the original Anonymous:

There's a huge market in Budapest, often called the "iron cathedral".

Here, we had heard, was where we would find the Budapest Belly Buster, called langosh.  This is a potato-based dough, deep-fat fried and traditionally served for breakfast with cheese, garlic, or both.  These days, they'll fix it up almost like a pizza with lots of toppings.  The stuff is wonderful and we really overdid it, but at least we had the sense to not go back the next day.  Not that we didn't want to.  Besides langosh, the vegetable stands at the market were so tempting!

On a more sobering note, near the Parliament Building are the bronze shoes.  This memorial is dedicated to the many people who were killed by the Arrow Cross Militia during 1944 and 1945.  The Arrow Cross was basically the Hungarian Nazi Party, and while in power, they were dedicated to ridding Budapest of Jews, confining them to ghettos and deporting them to work and concentration camps.  Over 80,000 died at Auschwitz, while 10,000 to 15,000 people were murdered outright.  At one point, battalions raided the ghettos looking for Jews who were supposedly partisans or saboteurs...about 200 were rounded up, marched onto the bridges over the Danube, shot, and pushed into the river.  The shoes say it all.

An after-dinner stroll rounded out the trip:

Before boarding our ship, we had a lot of leftover Hungarian cash (forints) and we had to figure out a way to spend it.  A case of wine was purchased for the cruise.

Roads and Races

Arrived in Montreal and checked into our self-catered apartment in the downtown area.  It was a great place, close to shopping and transportation.  Located in Montreal's Chinatown, we felt like we were in Sydney again.  In fact, there was a bakery about a half block away that was very much like our favorite Chinese bakery in Sydney.  Needless to say, breakfasts were excellent during the stay.

We went to Montreal to attend the Formula 1 Grand Prix, and before the race, we met up with our friends Steve and Angie for dinner.  What a race it turned out to be!  The two Mercedes drivers, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, battled it out until Hamilton's brakes gave up.  The crowd cheered their neck-and-neck racing but cheered equally loudly when Hamilton was forced to withdraw from the race.  "Poor Old" Felipe Massa (he got the boot from Ferrari and is now driving for Williams) was actually leading the race at one point, but was taken out by Checo Perez in a spectacular crash with one lap to go.  Luckily, no injuries.  In the end, Nico's brakes weren't doing so well either and the race went to first-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo for Red Bull.

Here's Nico and Kimi passing near our grandstand:

The field passes under the Safety Car:

We drove across Canada, through Ontario, staying overnight at North Bay and Sault Ste-Marie.  It's a beautiful drive, often with views of Lake Superior.  Gordon spotted a moose, but this was the only one Pati saw:

The wildlife viewing was good.  Lots of deer (some of which were still alive, if you follow my meaning), wild turkeys, the moose...but the wiener dog count was zero/zero.  On the way home, we couldn't pass the outlet mall at Pleasant Prairie without stopping to stock up on underwear and Goldfish from the Pepperidge Farm outlet!  Successful road trip!

Reunions and Revisits

At the end of May we set off for Gordon's 50th Class Reunion:  Herndon High Class of '64.  We drove straight through to the Washington, DC area (12 hours), changed clothes, and stayed up way too late for geezers at the hospitality room.  It was good to see our friends Pat and Gayle again, and wonderful for Gordon to reconnect with old friends.  We wondered, where did all those old people come from?  Here's Pat, Mark, and Gordon, having imbibed a bit:

And Gordon received another diploma at the dinner dance:

Again, we all stayed up way too late for geezers and obviously, continued to imbibe:

That's Richard in the foreground, checking out Gordon's hair while Gordon and Clint discuss the price of wine at the Marriott (those two employees were keeping a close eye on us...we just have looked like we were up to something).  The next day, graduates from 1941 through the 70's all met up at a picnic on the shores of the Potomac.

After reunioning, we stayed a couple of days to, well, goof off.  It was too soon to continue the road trip to Montreal.  We spent an afternoon at Mt. Vernon.  Pati had never been there (yes, even after living in the DC area for five years.  Government working people are busy working people) and Gordon hadn't been since the obligatory grade school field trip.  So, here's old George himself:

And a couple of views around his lovely homestead:

Next day, we headed to Arlington National Cemetery to pay our respects at the grave of our Uncle Carl Payne, who passed away at the end of 2013.

Since neither of us had been to Arlington for a long time and we felt like a walk, we decided to look around the more "touristy" portions of the cemetery.  Here's the view from the Curtis Lee mansion:

We arrived at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time for the changing of the guard, and then found some interesting grave sites, including Pappy Boyington (of Flying Tigers fame), Joe Lewis (he served in the Army) and, no kidding...Lee Marvin.

We had dinner with family and friends both nights, and then we were off for Canada.

Enough Snow Already!

Here's our back yard, on April 14, 2014:

'Nuff said.

By the way, the wiener dog count for the Asia trip was 0 to 0.

We've Made It to Hong Kong!

We arrived in Hong Kong for an overnight stay onboard before disembarkation.  The ship docked on the Kowloon side...and to prove it, here's the famous Kowloon Ferry, right next door:

Hong Kong's Central Business District by day:

The ship was docked right next to one of the biggest shopping malls in the area; in fact, everyone had to walk through the mall to get to and from the ship.  Good planning!  Rather than shop or walk around among the tall buildings, we opted to see some of Hong Kong's historical monuments.

First we visited the Tai Fu Tai Mansion.  It was probably built by Man Chung Luen around 1865.  The Man clan dates back to the 800's at least, having migrated to the area between 960 and 1279.  Man Chung Luen was a successful merchant and a renowned philanthropist.  His mansion is regarded as one of the most elegant buildings in Hong Kong.  It's a richly adorned residence situated on a large plot with open areas all around.  Here's the mansion's "front door", which enters into the courtyard:

Detail of the decoration:

And here's the courtyard, inside:

Next, we moved on to the Man Lun Fung Ancestral Hall.  According to the village elders, the hall was built in the late 17th century in honor of Man Fat Po, a member of the 8th generation of the clan.  It's inscribed as the hall of speaking with scholarship.  Fully renovated thanks to local donations, the hall is used today in the traditional manner as a place where the clan's ancestors are worshipped and ceremonies are celebrated.  Here, the hall is still decked out for lunar new year, the Year of the Horse:

The door guard.  He's painted on the outside of the door to keep bad guys and bad spirits out:

Finally, a visit to one final ancient temple in the middle of the local market.  This one was loaded with offerings of fruit and the incense was so thick that you couldn't stay inside for long!

Night fell and the view across the bay to the CBD was amazing:

Look closely...can you see Gordon?

The next morning, we disembarked the ship.  We walked around Hong Kong and spent the night in a really nice hotel.  Had dinner in a real Chinese restaurant...we were the only people speaking English and eating with forks!  Long flight home, 14 hours, but at least we were able to get a non-stop flight to Chicago.  After 33 days aboard the Seven Seas Voyager, we were ready to get off.  After two weeks at home, we were ready to get back on.  We do miss our many friends aboard, especially Joel, the Spontaneous Duo and J. P. Nadeau, the piano man.  We'll probably see them again...we're all like bad pennies.

Ha Long Bay Video

Ha Long Bay!

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay and its port, Cai Lan, is about 2-1/2 hours from Hanoi.  Going to Hanoi seemed a bit much to us, but we weren't about to miss a view of the amazing monoliths.  The tours use the very common Vietnamese Junk boat.  The Junks are outfitted mostly for monolith cruises, though some are quite a bit larger and have overnight accommodations.  Our guide told us that to see the entire bay, one needs to spend about three days on the water.

Most photos of Ha Long Bay will show the rock islands in the mist.  This, we learned, is because they usually are in the mist.  Our visit was no different.  Here we go.  First, a tour boat:

And here are some of the famous monoliths:

 When the junks leave the dock on the tours, smaller, faster boats come along side and locals try to sell fruit to the passengers through the windows.  When the first one came at us, Pati just about had a heart attack...it looked like they were going to ram us!  But at the last second, they turn and drop in right next to the junk.  Here's a fruit seller along side our boat:

The floating fish market:

A monolith, up close:

Many of the islands have names that reflect their appearance.  Here's Dog Island:

And the symbol of Ha Long Bay, Cocks Fighting Island:

All told, a great day!  The ship stayed overnight at Cai Lan.  There's not a lot in the little port town, so we stayed on board and took it easy.