Yesterday was anything but relaxed so we owed ourselves a slow day.

Steve slept and slept. I woke as usual around 7 and pottered and wrote and edited photos then went walking around the Sunday streets. It’s much quieter in the morning – especially Sunday . We are staying in the Butterfly on Wellington St. It’s in the busier restaurant, shopping area. Not the big high-end shops. The interesting boutique shops. It’s off Pottinger St and down from Hollywood Rd.

It’s turned out to be a great find. We didn’t want the expense of the 4 Seasons where the others are staying. So I opted for this busier area and a boutique style hotel. We’re on the 21st floor a corner room,  large with a lounge and a big bathroom. It also has a Nespresso machine, an iPod and, best of all, a pocket wifi. This is a wifi about as big as a iPod ,that can be taken around with you and supplies wifi to your phone / iPad. It’s great as I haven’t had to look for free wifi when out. Great for messaging our group when seperated or for following maps or booking an uber.

Steve finally surfaced and we made our way out for coffee before catching up with the guys at the Four Seasons. Then it was shopping time. Scott and his new fiancé Yan took us out for a browse. Ben bought a beautiful cashmere jumper from a place on Hollywood Rd , then it was time for a beer. It’s hot thirsty work shopping so we stepped into The Globe around the corner. The streets are steep and there are lots of steps.

We then visited an old Police Station which has had a great conversion into an arty shopping precinct. There were lots of little shops along the building with artisans showing their wares. A really interesting place.

Check out the swimmers, Steve did not buy! And the bag I did buy!

We took a short break for cheesecake and gelato. Dan hit the keys. Fortunately they were fake!

The boys then decided they needed a massage to get the stiffness out of their bones. I decided a swim was in order so I took Dan’s room key and headed to the 4 Seasons as Fran Garr (Dans surname). I had a lovely tine at the pool and jacuzzi. And what a view.

The weather is very warm even though it looks cloudy. It’s more smoggy than overcast!

Steve came back relaxed and happy and we headed back to our hotel to prepare for dinner. I had to choose the restaurant  – tonight just the four of us. Chris and brother Ben have both gone, so Dan, Yves,  Steve and I went for an early dinner. This time they needed meat! So it was the Tango Argentinian. Yum. The best steaks ever.

After dinner  we wandered down the steep hills of Central and bid our swim friends Yves and Dan a big good bye. They leave tomorrow as do we. But. We don’t go till midnight so  we are  visiting Zoe and Kunal Dey ( our friend Jill’s daughter ) and their gorgeous little boy Jack. They live here but out at Discovery Bay. It’s a ferry ride away towards the airport. After living in Central HK they decided on a quieter place to live. We’re looking forward to catching up with them and discovering Discovery Bay.

After the BIG swim we made a quick return to our hotel for a shower & change. No time for rest.

Scott (Chris’ son) booked Inakata

We had a private dining room on the 101st floor. Amazing views amazing dinner.

Lots of Dom Perignon champagne and a never ending degustation.

Memorable.

We’d had a great first night with swim trek friends Chris, his brother Ben, Dan and Yves. Chris, from London, is always thinking up a swim they can do together.

Our dinner tonight hosted by Ben was in a great Japanese restaurant featuring meat! Lots of it to BBQ. I wish I’d kept the map of the cow showing the 6 parts of the cow we ate. It came to the table on a large tray in the order to be cooked on the small BBQ set into the table. Washed down with beer and sake it was a great night to catch-up.

The swim day started early. We had to leave by taxi at 8.30 to get to Stanley Beach where the swim began. Stanley is across the island past Repulse Bay and once was a fishing village. Now it’s gone ahead and on a Saturday morning the locals, mostly expats, were down at the beach windsurfing. The beach sadly is littered with plastic and other assorted rubbish.

The swimmers were assembling and it all looked fairly disorganised. For a 15 km swim there weren’t many safety measures. The boys met their paddlers and started stacking the canoe with the drinks and food they would need for the swim. Yves is very experienced at distance swimming. He’s done the Channel  so knows what he’s doing.

Kenny, Steve’s paddler, seemed to understand the importance of making Steve stop for food ( banana, lollies,water, gels ) every 30 mins.

Conditions looked bad. There was a very strong wind which they had to swim into. I was having my doubts and Steve was just a little nervous.

So I waved Goodbye and went off to explore Stanley, the markets, the new mall, bus to Repulse Bay before arriving at Deep Water Bay.

Map of the swim course. Full of rips , currents and wind!

They hoped to be about 5 hours but I thought with these conditions it might take longer.

I was right. After about 5 1/2 hrs Ben came in – but had been pulled out of the water earlier. He was so disappointed. Then in came Chris, Dan and Yves very P*#}# off as they said he wouldn’t make the time so had to stop. Meanwhile no Steve.

By 6 1/2 hrs I was worrying. Everyone was finishing. Young groups of swimmers had formed teams and were all high-fiving each other. Still no word on Steve.

The light was fading, the post-swim BBQ roaring, beer running out. I’m getting frantic by now. The prize giving started.  The race organisers said ‘ they thought they had found him’.

Finally 7 1/2/hrs later he swam in with Kenny who went above the call of duty and stayed firmly with him,  encouraging and feeding him.

He made it. The by now slightly inebriated crowd erupted into astonished applause and I started breathing.

A chair, a drink and he was fine!  Then the hard part … getting a taxi back into Central and a rush to  make dinner as we were now an hour late! Chris was hosting us to a great restaurant on floor 101 looking over the harbour. Then he was flying back to London!

Hello readers I hope you’re ready for a very different holiday experience.

This time I’m not swim trekking! Well Steve is but not me. I’m cruising.

We leave today for Hong Kong and a reunion of sorts with fellow swimmers and now friends Yves, Dan, Chris and his brother Ben. You have heard me talk about them before. (if not check out my blog stories on Tarifa, Morocco). We’ve swum with them in Sardinia – twice, Spain to Morocco and Croatia. Now its Hong Kong. A big 15 km swim.

Some say Steve is mad. That HK is not a great place for open water swimming. But when did Steve worry about things like dirty water, strange currents, long distances. They go in at Stanley and turn right, away from all the busy harbour traffic and then swim along for 15 km. I’ll wander around trying to stay cool and dry for about 5 hours!

Our friend Yves has bought the snacks they will consume along the way to give them energy. Yves knows what he’s talking about. He’s swum the ENGLISH Channel. Here’s the collection for the 5 swimmers!

So it’s 4 days in HK before we fly onto Rome for the family cruise.

It’s Steve’s sister Marg’s special 0 birthday and we are going on the beautiful Royal Princess with 3 of her 4 children and 5 of her 6 (almost 7) grandchildren. So it will be a lot of fun. We are fortunate to be sailing on Marg’s daughter Roberta’s  ( Berti) husband Fabio’s ship. The Royal Princess,  where he is the  chief engineer. So they know the ship well and we’ll be looked after so well.

So our first cruise. Will we enjoy it! It’s ten days long. So not too big to start with.

Have you been cruising? Is so please add a comment about your cruise experiences.

How often do you get to the end of your holiday and realise you haven’t done everything you wanted to do or see?

This time it hasn’t happened to us. We allowed 6 days in Budapest so we could enjoy everything and not feel rushed. After the swim trek last week in Croatia( if you haven’t read about it please go back on the blog. ) we wanted to relax and enjoy this lovely city.

After our very good dinner last night at Bock Bistro we started slowly and had coffee at the little coffee place next to our apartment.

This area has proved to be a really good place to stay. We like the area of Nyagassy St and the public transport options nearby.

This morning we walked to the markets. All the great European cities have their markets. Here they don’t seem to have more local markets like in France or Italy – they do have lots of little fruit shops around the streets.

The central market is housed in a large high ceiling hanger type building. Very grand from the outside and vast and spacious inside. The aisles are wide and the ground floor has lots of meat stalls with big fat Hungarian sausages hanging and cabinets displaying chicken, pork, veal but not much beef.

The fruit areas are bursting with colour. It’s summer berry season and they are everywhere.

Upstairs there are souvenir stalls with lots of embroidered peasant style blouses. Some very pretty.

Then there are the food stalls. Running the length of one side they are like food trucks with high bench tables. The food looks good so we decide to return after our visit to the National Museum which is nearby.

Once again the size of the Museum is impressive. We toured it starting with Hungary’s history which involved a lot of fighting! This country had others coming at them from all sides. It’s amazing they survived and have developed as strongly as they have done.

The rooms of the Museum are lovely, richly painted, domed ceilings in the central areas and guards who don’t seem to take any notice of visitors as they tap away on their mobile phones!

After a lovely casual market lunch we took the tram 6 and to Buda, across the city. We wanted to take a cog tram up the side of the hill overlooking Buda. Fascinating ride up a very steep hill. There is a carriage especially for bike riders with a rack to store bikes. It’s just so steep!

We got to the top and took a walk. There were lots of trees around so we walked through and found a small train offering a ride through the forest. What was special was that it was completely manned by children.

They were so cute in their little uniforms. There were six stops along the 50 min ride with passengers getting off and on and buying tickets.

They were saluted at each stop.

Such a great ride.

We made our way home to pack and head out to the waterpolo couresty of Rob’s friend Pietro who is captain of the Italian waterpolo team.

They were playing Aus. It was a good game but not the result Australia wanted. Though the Hungarians supported Aus. They don’t like Italy!

Locky Hollis in the Australian team. You may remember him for the Support Rob and Locky campaign. He played so well.

Not a bad way to spend our last hours in Budapest. Surrounded by cheering Hungarians.

And as this looks like being the last blog on this trip, it remains for Frannie’s editor to say what a fantastic observer and author she has become; and also what super swimmer – only a couple of years from “first strokes” to playing with the big kids. Well Done Frannie my travel buddy!

Sometimes it’s better to take a tour than to wander around trying to read non-existent English captions.

We’ve found here in Budapest they like to keep you in groups and guide you around.

So that’s how we visited the Dohany Jewish Synagogue.

It’s the 2nd largest in the world and is beautiful. Our guide was great – a mix of good humour and wealth of knowledge.

Its domed roof has a hint of Moorish architecture and some think it’s a mosque. There are also some lovely rose windows.

Within the grounds there is a lovely memorial garden and a sculpture of a willow tree. Each of the weeping leaves has the name of a Jewish person who died in the holocaust. It’s very moving.

Then we attempted to go to the Terror Museum by bus but were hampered by the police blocking off roads and changing bus routes. So we had lunch and walked to the Opera House for a tour.

As you can see there was a lot of work going on inside the main theatre. The poor guides moving around with different language groups had to speak up when we were seated in the theatre itself. It’s being prepared for a function for the FINA World Water Sports. Not an indoor pool we hope!

There were many other areas to visit and it is truly beautiful.

We’d love to go to an Opera performance so were quite pleased when we were asked to sit on the steps of the grand staircase and were treated to two arias.

After the tour concluded we attempted again to get to the Terror  Museum. This time the metro was closed as well as the bus missing! We believe Prime Minister Netanyahu is in town and moving him around requires huge numbers of Police,  helicopters continually buzzing overhead, and closed roads, and missing public transport!

So home we headed to rest up before going to St Stephen’s Cathedral tonight for an organ concert.

Not before Steve had a little sit down with a new friend. The sculptures here are great. This was was outside a theatre and was a writer.

A big city throws up challenges and one of them is sorting the public transport. As much as we love walking, the distances can be a killer. So we dutifully studied the maps and used some guides which suggested which buses , trolleys buses, trams and metro ran near the sights we want to visit. We also bought a 5 day travel pass. It just means we can travel on any means of transport as many times as we like. This is good for a new big city.

I’m also good at asking one of the visitor helpers or even the Police for help. In doing so we got across the river and up to the Palace in good time before the crowds. We saw the “informal changing of the guard”. Not quite Buckingham Palace but very good.

Then walked along in front of the rather huge Palace. It’s slowly being restored after earthquakes and bombing from the war and the views back across the river to Pest are wonderful.

We stopped for coffee with a view. This is how we manage to keep going all day. We have little breaks.

My rather bad attempt at a timed selfie!

We then  made it to St Matthias. A beautiful church which appears to be so huge outside but is more intimate inside. It’s heavily painted inside and has lovely ceramic tiles on the roof which had to be replaced after WW2. It was inside that we found out more about the crowning of Austrian Franz Josef as King and his beautiful wife Elizabeth as his Queen. The story is well told in the museum adjoining the church.   It was here I looked up and down.

We walked along the wall called The Fishermens’ Bastion. It’s stunning with it turreted towers and beautifully restored stone work.

Beautifully restored Fishermens’ Bastion.

Then it was time for lunch sitting under  jaunty red umbrellas in a Parisian style cafe.

Steve was keen to go to the Hospital in the Rock. What a story. We had Timi as our guide and heard the story of the caves under the Palace Hill and how they were hollowed and used  as a Red Cross hospital during the war. Such great displays in the labyrinth of tunnels. They were also set up for a nuclear bomb in the 1950’s. The story touched on the bombs dropped on Japan during WW2 and how now we should understand the devastation this brings, and so – “No War”.

By now we had walked all around the hilltop known as Buda, so returned by bus to the river to visit our first of the Spas. Budapest is known as The City of Spas so we felt we had to start checking them out.

The baths of Budapest date back to the first century. Both Romans and Turkish influences can be seen. In the late 19th century the artisan wells were drilled to provide the thermal waters. So now Budapest boasts about having the largest number of spa thermal pools in Europe.

So we entered the St Gellert Thermal pools and went through the process of preparing our bodies for the variety of spas available! There are 4 outdoor thermal pools, several indoor spas and pools, an activity pool and various corridors of lockers and cabins and treatment rooms. It’s huge. And swimming costumes are required, so I wasn’t facing nude day like when I was in Baden Baden in Germany a few years ago!

We said goodbye to each other as we headed into the change rooms with our plastic wrist watch with a tag to be able to access a locker. Then it’s into the swimmers , have a shower and meet up again outside. It was quite crowded with people. Unfortunately I don’t have many  pictures. I had to leave my camera in the locker as I didn’t trust myself not to lose it outside.

These three I took of posters on the wall! It’s so over the top. We have nothing like it in Australia.

Our first pool was 36′ and we slipped in and found a step. It was wall to wall sitters. All in state of relaxation. We sat under a rather forceful shower which hammered at our necks and after awhile it proved to be relaxing. Then we took to the cool pool at 26′ so felt quite refreshed. Then we went to the indoor pools and wallowed a little more. We’d forgotten our bathing caps so couldn’t enter the ‘swimming pool’!

So for about 2 hours we relaxed and enjoyed and finished with a shower before returning to our apartment relaxed.

I’d recommend it ! And we’re doing it all again at another spa on Wednesday.

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