On the Road: The Budapest Grand Hotel! June 23, 2014

June 23, 2014

Before Budapest, Athens, Berlin, Dublin, Dubrovnik, and Rome are on our escapism list. Eyeing on the cheap flight and hotel fees, plus the imagination of Hungarian invasion history, Budapest is the city of the final choice.

We decide to travel light. I fill my clothes, glasses and towel in IVANAhelsinki Maatuska-mummo cotton bag and fasten it inside of the cabin luggage; my 10-year-old Paul Frank flip-flops, cosmetic kit, Camera guidebook and Budapest travel guide (in Finnish, of course) are packed in my Longchamp Le Pliage. Finally, in my summer purchase---Marc by Marc Jacobs berry red leather bag---are: passport, miun daily kit (a 2 ml fragrance, a 1 ml mascara, a 7 ml lip cream, 2 tampons, and a mini mirror), SEE BY CHLOÉ leather key pouch as for travel wallet (I abandon Minna Parikka wallet for 4 days for the fewer grams to carry abroad), and the most important of all, Fujifilm X10 DSLR-like camera wrapped in another SEE BY CHLOÉ cosmetic purse.

From Helsinki Vantaa Airport to Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport, by Finnair, only takes 2,5 hours duration of flight. Our Budapest arrival time is 11:30, the local temperature: 28’c. We take bus 200E to Metro M3 final destination Kőbánya-Kispest, from where we reach to Deák Ferenc tér, walking 3 minutes to our Budapest Grand Hotel (Regency Suites Hotel Budapest).

After the fulfilling lunch and check-in, we walk along Váci utca, the highly tourist pedestrian shopping street in city centre. Though there are consecutive door-by-door cheapo souvenir stores blinking at us (which, is quite an international situation in all European main streets or old towns), the line of cafes and vivid people are worth seeing.

Strolling along the Duna River shore, the sun is burning bright. Suddenly I spot the flyer hanging on the post ‘Concert in St. Michael’s Church’, and the programme includes Mozart’s A Little Night Music’, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. After the walk, we go back to Váci utca and I immediately purchase the ticket, C zone, 6000 HUF(around 20e) for the late night event.

St. Michael’s Church originally belongs to Dominicans, who founded the cloister at around A.D.E 1230. The church was destroyed by the Mongol and the Turkish, the latest restoration work started in 1999. From the prayers’ donations, church shop and concerts incomes, St. Michael’s Church self-supports the operation and renovation. The 70-minute concert is performing by Duna String Orchestra, and the soloist Gabora Gyula is very comfortably playing, sometimes Gyula even just jaws the violin for some seconds before picks up the chords. After the concert, there is an American couple who sit next to me, commenting that: Wow, usually I would fall asleep during the classical concert, but today it is so amazing!

This is our first night in Budapest. In Budapest Grand Hotel, we are having a very good dream.

Regency Suites Hotel Budapest

1075 Budapest

Madách Imre tér 2

http://regencyhotelbudapest.com/

St. Michael’s Church

Budapest Váci utca 47