Budapest

Sunday 10 July
Had a great night's sleep and woke up just after 5 am. It was already light. Got up at 6 and retraced the steps taken last night along the riverbank to take some more photos. Men were collecting any rubbish accumulated by the walkway - probably explains why the area is so clean.

After breakfast we went for a walk by the river in the opposite direction to last night. After check out we explored the other direction walking towards the Parliament buildings

and ending up at Margit-sziget - an island consisting of parks and sporting grounds - athletics track, small soccer ground, a pool. There were lots of families in the park trying to find somewhere to cool off on the hot day. Surprisingly though few people wore hats. There is a large fountain in the park which also periodically plays music. A number of children and adults were cooling off in the waters of the fountain. Pedestrian access to the island is via the two bridges at either end of the island.

As in the main tourist area of the city there are ice-cream sellers everywhere - in some cases the ice-cream was melted as it often appears to be kept in plastic tubs without refrigeration. We found some ice-cream that was frozen before heading back to the hotel to wait for the APT guide to take us to the ship.

In the evening there was an information session followed by a Hungarian dinner at 8. Plans to go for a walk on this side of the river were aborted as it was very hot.