Singapore to Budapest




  Saturday night at 8pm we were collected from Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel and driven to the Changi Airport in a BMW limo!!! Very nice way to travel. We got through all of the various checks and our luggage was checked through to Budapest. Our flight left at 11.10pm We wereto land in Munich at 5.35am but of course we still had to turn back our watches by 6 hours. So 12 hours in the air. We were looked after very well, nice meals and just when you were feeling a bit thirsty a glass of water or whatever you wanted was available. We both watched a movie and then tried to sleep. I woke as we were flying over the Bay of Bengal by the flight tracker. Oh dear not even half way there......oh well - another movie. One frustration was that we flew over Budapest but unfortunately parachutes were not an option..at that stage I think we both would have considered it.
We landed in Munich at 5.35am and then went through all of their checks and went to the boarding gate - 6 hours to wait. Surprisingly the time seemed to go reasonable quickly - Den did some crosswords and I read. We boarded what looked like a tiny plane but was really just the regular size and we headed off to Budapest. This flight only took 1 1/2 hours. The airport is similar in size to Hobart airport. We were collected and transfered to the Marriott Hotel. Our first impressions of Budapest were not great - where everything in Singapore (even the high rise housing buildings) were neat and tidy and obviously well cared for everything near the airpost and the first 20 minutes was very shabby and had the look of poverty. It was very hot, mid 30s, and the van we were travelling in had been parked in the sun. After awhile the aircon kicked in and as we approached the city centre everything looked different. Most of the buildings are quite old but beautiful. Gorgeous old lamp posts and great views across the river.
We checked in and went up to our room - it was now 2pm. We had been travelling for 24 hours. We freshened up and then set out in the heat to explore and also to find something for lunch. We found a lovely square set around a lawn with lots of street cafes. We chose the one with the strongest looking fan to sit in front of and ordered some lunch. This area reminded us of Paris. The building styles are very similar, but then around the corner will be a different type of architecture and you know you are not in Paris. There are lovely little side laneways that look delightful except there is a huge MacDonalds sign. We wondered how the town planning had allowed this to happen. We bought ourselves a hat each and wandered back to the hotel. A nice cool drink in the lobby bar and then up to our room to watch some of the Olympics (to keep ourselves awake). It is quite different watching the Games here as it is difficult to follow what Australia is competing in....although we did watch a German coverage of the beach volley ball Germany versus Australia in which we were beaten. What is happening????? Oh well at least we watched a few Hungarians who did well.
We were going to head back out to have some dinner in the sqare but a heavy storm arrived and so we headed back into the lobby and went to the hotels restrauant. and had a couple of traditional Hungarian dishes for dinner - Den had Paprika Chicken and I had Veal stew. We were both impressed. A wine in the bar listening to a reggae singer capped off the evening. We were glad to head to bed back in line with the time zone.

This is part of the view from our window

Wouldn't this have been nice without the golden arches!!!



.The view from our window at 5.30 am.  Moments later the lights were turned off - timing is everything