Walking Pest & Buda, Evening Concert, May 9

We walked pretty much all day.  The weather was sunny and warm, probably around 80F.  We started by finding the information center in Deak Ferenc Square where we bought a 72 hour Budapest  
Card for about $37 each.  It gets us on all transport and in many museums.  We activated it at 2:00.  Mark bought a hamburger for a homeless young man, who, sadly did not recognize him just 2o minutes later.
We made our way to the Opera House and got tickets for our first ever opera for Saturday, so that is something to look forward to.  Then, we went on a quest to find a Jewish bistro which we saw and walked into yesterday, but wandered around for a while, never to find it. We looked at the largest synagogue in Europe, but did not go in, partly because we were so hungry.  Mark even had photos of the restaurant  on the camera and no one seemed to recognize it.  So, we asked two local students and they took us to a restaurant they like and we had a pretty good lunch.  Mark had a tuna burger and I had a vegetarian jacket potato which was unusual.

       

 By then, it was 2:00 so we could use our pass.  We took the bus over the Danube to Buda.  We took the funicular up to the castle.  We did a quick trip into the Hungarian National Gallery and then to the

Budapest History Museum, situated in the old fortress.  In recent years, they have found new discoveries of statues etc, as well as old vaulted cellars which we explored.  The place was destroyed during WWII and it was when they were renovating, that they discovered the cellars.  They were cool and refreshing and, amazingly no guards around and very few people, either.After a break (ice cream, cherry cake), we walked  to Matthias Church which was built in the 14th century and was a mosque for a while under the Ottoman Empire.  It has a beautiful tiled roof.  We walked to the overlook behind the church where we could look down on the Parliament, modeled after Parliament in England on the other side of the river.  Then, we took the funicular down, walked across the Chain Bridge and took the tram back.  Chain Bridge was the first permanent bridge across the Danube here, built in 1849, considered an engineering marvel.  After  a short respite, we walked to St Michael's Church and heard a wonderful concert by Florida State which filled the church with beautiful sound.  It was nice to see a bunch of American kids..it reminded us of what mutts we Americans are.

Quite a day.  We are content, but have sore feet!