Budapest

Hi all,
Budapest (capital of Hungary) was a great city to visit. We had an apartment for 2 days not far from the centre of town (Pest). The Danube splits Budapest into 2 parts, the hilly side (Buda) has the castle and the flat side (Pest) is the commercial/retail/.. area. The currency of hungary is the Forint - the exchange rate is something like 157 florint to A$1 - so they have big notes - e.g. 20000 Ft - so I'm thinking in Hungary, I could be a millionaire!!
For the first time on our tours we did a "Hop-On-Hop-Off" tour. Even though we enjoy the walking around the towns, it was quite enjoyable. It was 33 C, so it was probably a good idea! The buses are open topped and have a audio commentary via headsets. We did all the sites of Budapest, check the albums for photos, including the castle, citadel, heroes park, jewish synagogue, parliament etc.. As part of the ticket we also got a free 1 hour ride on the Danube. It went around Margaret Island and gave another view of the wonderful sites along the river, but must have been too much for Andy and Kristin as they both had a little nap!
Budapest had a very similar geography to Prague, but we enjoyed Budapest a lot more - maybe it wasn't as a "tourist city" as Prague. The streets were a lot more open.
Anyhow we arrived home in Cardiff for a couple of nights and guess what? Rain!! On Thursday we head off to London and Friday morning we start our coach tour. Hope all is well and will try to keep you informed of our travels.
cheers,
GO PIES!