Cruisin' the Danube!: First full day in Budapest- afternoon/evening

This afternoon our first official tour of Andrassy Avenue, (the Champs Elysees of Hungary). Lots of luxury shops and restaurants and apartments.

This is the flagship store of a famous porcelain maker, depicting scenes from nature.

Some nature….

We just liked the sign for this store:

Pamela rubbing the statue’s tummy for luck.

Then we saw some Hari Krishna’s in the square.

Next: St Stephen’s Bascilica (flashbacks to my Pilgrimage). Important because St Stephen is the Father of Christianity in Hungary. Originally a pagan state, the Pope had a visit from the Angel Gabriel who told him to award the crown to the King of Hungary (Stephen) rather than the King of Poland (some other guy). The angel said Stephen would lead the country into the future.

In order to convince the citizens that they should abandon their pagan ways and adopt Christianity (specifically Catholicism), Stephen killed his half brother, cut him into 4 pieces and sent them to 4 leaders of areas to let them know they would suffer a similar fate if they didn’t get with the program. Hence, the miracle: Hungary was now a Catholic nation. The Pope declared the church a Bascilica and made Stephen the head of the church. He was later canonized and became St. Stephen. (St. Stephen’s right hand (eew) is housed in the Bascilica and is in a case that can be moved to other celebrations.) today, 60% of Hungary is Roman Catholic.

So below we see Elizabeth. Born a princess, she kept stealing food from the palace and giving it to poor people which annoyed her father, the King. One day as she was carrying bread in her apron for the people, her father caught her and asked what she was doing. She said she was just bringing roses in from the garden. By the grace of God, the bread was turned into roses. Miracle, canonization, Elizabeth becomes a Saint, statue in the Bascilica.

Amazing pipe organ in the Bascilica.

This was the HVAC system: grates in the floor. They put ice or hot rocks below the grates to cool or heat the Bascilica.

Next on to the Opera House.

Opera house by night.

Two Sphinx guard this temple of music much like the Sphinx guard the pyramids.

These are original wood tiles that were easier on the horses hooves.

We were treated to a mini concert in the Opera House hall.

Then this happened.

Stopped into a traditional Hungarian coffee shop for cake and coffee/wine/champagne. It was part of the tour so we were required to eat every bite. Chuck was happier about it than he looks here.

After the tour we took the second-oldest subway (Millennium Metro; London’s is the oldest) back to the hotel area. This is our guide Kata validating our tickets.

Whew. The weather held all day until the end of our 4.5 hour walking tour. Then the 4 of us walked in light rain to dinner at this great Italian place. Then we stopped for a drink at the bar in the Four Seasons.