Conquistadora Feliz: A Ridiculous amount of food was consumed and not one picture was taken.

Sunday

The Intercontinental Hotel in Budapest has two things going for it: the breakfast buffet and an incredible location on the Danube across from one of the most beautifully lit buildings I've ever seen (Buda Castle). It was our last morning in the hotel, I had to have one more delicious omelette, one more flaky croissant, and one more pile of sweet sweet pineapple.

We had our bags packed and out by ten am and rather than scurry to "see something" we opted to sit in the lobby and watch the people. We got an earful from people who deboarded a Viking ship this morning, and earful of speculation from people boarding Viking ships this morning. It was really interesting and informative. Did not hear ONE disparaging word re: the Viking Franchise.

One cool cool thing I've noticed here are all the tall queens. SO many tall girls with pants that are long enough.

Vikings are punctual. At exactly 1pm, 20 of us boarded a huge bus that took us to the dock. We trotted across two boats to arrive on Jarl, were welcomed with cold washcloths and a speedy check in. Our room is stunning and spacious, soon our luggage arrived so we quickly unpacked, shoved our shitcases under the bed, read the literature and sauntered up for a "light lunch buffet". Ha! I had a beautiful salad and all was well until a guy at the serving station started frying garlic, tossing in green beans, pasta and some teensy potatoes. Outrageous.

After a pasta coma, Ev woke me for the safety talk, staff introductions and....dinner. Was I hungry? No. Did I eat? Of course. The regional dish on offer was Chicken Paprikash enjoyed by everyone at the table except me. I needed beef and had a great steak and a pile of vegetables.

At Central Market yesterday, in addition to sausages every stall was selling paprika in bags and tins and glass jars. The peppers were strung like the ristras much like we have in New Mexico. Paprika everywhere. No one can really explain how it became "the spice" of Hungary. Only that it was brought here around the time of the Ottoman empire as an ornamental, and then they started eating it. End of story.

Monday

Feeling great and so happy.

Parliament Bldg, last view.

Today is our official start of the tour. While the rest of the travelers got off the boat, boarded a bus and drove around Budapest, I opted to stay on board and sail out of the city. We'll dock at a little village around noon where we will meet the bus of 150 or so passengers and they will reboard.

It's cool and breezy this morning. Our cabin is on the west side of the boat in the shade, so our balcony is a perfect place to sit and watch life on the river. The Danube has gotten shallow, there are nice beaches for people to kayak and stand in waist deep water to cool off.