Ferihegy Airpost, Budapest, Hungary, August 2009

As Frances, one of our owners, was going to Budapest in Hungary for a conference, we were invited for a weekend in the Hungarian capital. Here we are sitting in the arrivals hall in Ferihegy Airport waiting for the airport shuttle to bring us to our hotel.

Click each photo to enlarge

We would be staying at the famous Gellért Hotel near the city centre. We were joined by Olivia and the Pinbear bros. plus Goye the-one-and-a-half-eyed parrot TA. The Gellért Hotel was a fine hotel.
"A fine hotel for a fine bear; that's very appropriate." Roger said. "After all, I am a big Hollywood star!"
"No!" Olivia interrupted. "You WAS a big Hollywood star!"
McBear, being a bit pedantic from his years in Denmark, pointed out:
"No, it's 'you WERE'..."

The next morning we got up early. After a lovely breakfast, we went outside to start on sightseeing. Here we are in front of the Gellért Hotel. The hotel is in fact famous for its old roman baths. The hotel is built in a style called Art Nouveau, which Budapest, like Prague, is famous for.

Frances would be speaking at an conference called "Astronomy and Civilization". This inspired Roger to plan a talk on "The Royal Star Regulus in my Birth Chart". Frances, however, was not sure the organisers would approve...

We helped Frances find the venue for the conference. Here we are in front of the conference centre at Eötvös University. Some of us were grasping for air as it was a hot summer day...

Before going uphill, we had a look at the Szabadság bridge, also known as the Liberty bridge and it was completed around 1896. Considering how old the bridge was, it was actually in a fine state...

Finally reaching the top of the 140 m tall Gellért Hill we had a look at the Liberation Statue. It's the statue of a woman holding a palm leave high in the air as a symbol of liberation and it was erected after the ending of the German occupation in World War II.

Then McBear stopped to study an old car.
"What car is that?" Roger wanted to know.
"Well, it's an old Trabant from East Germany from before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. People used to laugh at Trabants because they had a weak and polluting engine, but today they have become famous."

Having finished lunch, we find ourselves walking the streets again to find our way around Budapest.
"Although it's not like on Skiathos with the Greek unreadable letters, nor in Wales with their impossible place names, it's still not easy to read road signs!" Roger sighed. "There's a Zrinyi utca and a Nador utca! I wonder if utca means street..."
"I think you have a point, Roger, a good point!"

The bridge was built to connect Buda on the west side of the Danube with Pest on the east side. This was before Buda and Pest had become one city: Budapest.
"That means..." Roger pointed out philosofically, "that on the west side of the river we are Buda bears, while on the east side we are Pest bears!"

We went inside the Gresham Kávéház (coffe house) and found the lounge. Here, we enjoyed a cup of coffee.
"Have you bear sized cups?" McBear asked the waiter.
The waiter apologised and assured us that they had not been expecting such famous visitors! He said he'd get us a straw so we could sip from the cup on the table. To us it was an entire basin...
When the bill came, McBear nearly had a heartattck as it said 1600!
"Calm-calm," Roger said. "It's not Euros, but Hungarian Forint - one thousand Forint is only 4 Euros...!"