Tuesday, April 29. We walked to the Parliament building and passed the Cop with a Big Belly statue. We passed the park where protest signs are hung, protesting that the current Hungarian government denying its responsibility in the holocaust. Then we found a small sculpture of Kermit the Frog.
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| Kermit the Frog! |
After sharing a Kermit pic with my sister, Tracy responded with an article about many renegade sculptors throughout Budapest, and the work of a local artist. I already knew about another sculptor, the man in a boat on the bridge.
We stopped for a beer on the Spoon Boat, then lunched at our usual Central Market goulash spot. Funny moment: Bill grabbed a table spot (overlooking the Market) and I went through the cafeteria line getting food and 2 beers. After paying, I looked at the tray of food and beers and realized the carry to the table would not end well. Just as I let out a deep sigh, a cafeteria worker swooped in, grabbed the beers, and said she would follow me to my table. Another big sigh, only this was of relief.
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| View from our lunch table in Grand Central Market. |
Our evening plan was to watch the sunset from Fisherman’s Bastion. We took bus #216 (so simple!) up to the Bastion and then spied the Hilton’s Skytop bar. We managed to get seated with a great view and dirty martinis. It turned out that the Hilton was the ‘official’ post-trip hotel for the riverboat cruise; the Skytop bar had about 16-20 people from the AmaVerde.
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| This pic series show the Hungarian Parlament Building. |
Wednesday, April 30. Fly day to Paris. We took the 110E public direct bus to the airport. Again, so simple. We got to use a perk from Bill’s Credit Card and got into the Platinum Lounge for self-serve food and drinks. We flew Air France to Paris (CDG). Then we learned about taking the RER-B train to Paris. There are 2 tracks; looking at the monitor, you can tell which train is the express (many stops are blacked out). We got on the express train and were at the Luxembourg Gardens exit in 1.25 hours. With a 5-minute walk, we were at the Hotel Design Sorbonne. Since this was our 4th time there, the desk person upgraded us to a larger room 34.
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| Hotel Design Sorbonne elevator. |
We unpacked and then had a beer at the local quad in front of the Sorbonne Uni. Dinner was around St Germain, then we walked to the Seine River, Shakespeare and Company bookstore, and saw the repaired Notre Dame.
Thursday, May 1. We discovered today was a national French National Holiday (Their Labor Day?). So museums and some stores were closed. We did plenty of walking today. First stop was to have a beer at St Legate along the Seine. So much beauty! Lunch was at our usual spot, Central Cafe on Rue Cler, a pedestrian walkway near the Eiffel Tower.
That evening, we Ubered (done with walking!) to the Edmond Terrace Hotel rooftop restaurant in Montmartre. During our 1998 Paris visit, our group had a Montmartre dinner with an incredible view of Paris as the sun set and Parisian lights came up. We failed to capture the restaurant name then, and I researched to find the best spot to recreate that view. Unfortunately, this wasn’t it.
Friday, May 2. Bill took off for Disneyland Paris, and I took off for Musee D’ Orsay. The French National Holiday affected both of us; Disneyland was sold out when Bill arrived, and I encountered huge crowds/lines even with timed entry.
I spent time in front of priceless Impressionist art, then went to the museum café for a cappuccino just to recover from seeing so much beauty.
Bill texted that he was returning to the hotel. We met for lunch at the Sorbonne quad. Later, we walked down to the Seine and wandered about on both sides. Notably, a 3-piece band playing jazz on one of the bridges. Dinner was at our usual crepe place, Creperie Genia on 7 Rue de la Harpe.
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| The usual Creperie. |
Saturday, May 3. While prepping for this trip, I had discovered the Musee Marmottan, a slightly out-of-main-town museum that was gifted 149 Monet artworks from Monet’s son. At the beginning bus stop, an obviously unbalanced woman (talking to herself, yelling) tried to walk onto the bus right past ticket validation. The bus driver would have none of it – he grabbed her by the coat and pushed her off the bus. We took Bus #63 to the museum and arrived early enough to walk about a beautiful garden/park. The museum had early Impressionist works by Boudin on the first floor (He was the mentor for Monet). The basement floor held lots of Monet’s, especially the famous one, Impression Soleil Levant (Sunrise), which inspired art critic Louis Leroy to coin the term Impressionist and gave its name to the group formed by Monet and his artistic friends.
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| Impression, Soleil Levant (Sunrise) by Monet. Stunning. |
We walked towards the Eiffel Tower after the museum.
A storm was brewing in the distance. And we dawdled too long and got caught in a terrible hailstorm.
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| The bridge we should have stayed under. |
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| The storm that dropped sleet/hail/rain in about 20 minutes. |
Everyone was scattering to find cover. Bill got bloodied, and my iPhone in the cargo shorts pocket got soaked and died. The storm subsided, so we changed into dry clothes at the hotel, and I repurposed my old iPhone as my primary phone. Dinner was more crepes and beers.
