Richard Lennox

It has been a few hectic weeks since Susan and I got back from our holidays. It was a short city break to the capital of Hungary, Budapest.  [To skip the chat click here to go to straight to the photo selection in the gallery!)  For those who do not know - Budapest straddles the Danube with Buda on one side of the river and Pest on the other.  It is apparently said by those on the Buda side of the river, that the only purpose of Pest is to see the beauty of Buda from the other side of the river.  From afar, and as a tourist it does look as if that may be the case, however I would disagree.  While the most populous (at least n my opinion) and most developed side of the river is Pest, it does have it's own charm and some delightful architecture.

Our short break started with a flight into Budapest form Gatwick (London) with Easyjet all nice and on time etc. which is a good start.  The flight took a little over  two and a half hours and was grand. On arrival at Budapest, we headed to the Shuttle service desk where a shuttle ticket purchased for about a tenner each would get us a door-to-door return shuttle service, great value when you get over the shock of paying out thousands of Forints. We also got a city card which gave us unlimited, although unrequired and little used, access to public transport as well as a whole host of discounts at the tourist attractions and was well worth the money in the end.

Monday evening was spent wandering around Pest and taking a walk along the Chain Bridge to the Buda side of the Danube and back again, before looking to find something to eat. This was the first bit of disappointment. Perhaps looking in the wrong place, we ended up in a traditional Hungarian restaurant playing [loud] traditional gypsy music.  Susan being a vegetarian, struggled and ended up with a plate of unappetising grilled veg with some deep fried stuff, while I plumped for a traditional sounding chicken dish, that was equally unappetising and bland. A bit of a worrying start….

Early in December my brother's second child was born – a bouncing boy named Joshua.   Last weekend was the first time Susan and I had made it down to London.  With small camera battery life only a half dozen photos were taken!! These can now be seen in the gallery section.

Having taken over a year to get down and meet Isabel, my niece, it was great to get down and see them all sooner rather than later. I am pleased to say everyone is doing great, and despite a scare that put Joshua in hospital for a night the Thursday before we got there, the children are happy little people.

It was great to see them!!