Day 63 (Friday...continued). Budapest.

After having lunch with my tour companions, I walked back down to the bridge from the Castle District. I somehow sensed that something was going on, although I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But I don't remember this policeman guarding the tunnel.





Before I got back over the bridge, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there was a stream of cars and trucks coming through the tunnel and across the beidge...


















...honking their horns, and waving flags and signs. It felt like another May Day event...but it wasn't May Day.

So I followed them down the street...where they seemed to be holding some kind of a rally in front of the Parliament Building...






Then they started parading through the streets...












Not sure who this was supposed to be...





There were some groups in the mix with full firemen gear on...





It looked like official gear....and I noticed they seemed to all be friendly with the policemen who were patrolling the rally.

Even when they started to set off smoke bombs...I started to back off, of course, but noticed the policemen just walking up to the smoke, then shrugging to each other and laughing. So somehow I didn't feel threatened...





But nonetheless, I started walking another way to get to my hotel. But no matter which way I walked, they kept crossing my path, until they stopped at this plaza for another rally...






...this statue must have represented someone or something to them as they really started setting off the smoke bombs here. (ps, remember, I have a good long lens on my camera, so wasn't that close to this :-)

I finally found a nice, quiet plaza, where I stopped to listen to wine glass music...





...and was intriqued by the bike stands...lots of great bike lanes in this city...





When I got back to the hotel, I tried to find out if anyone knew what was going on. I found out that the police/firemen were protesting a new retirement law which requires them to work until 62 to get a pension...previously they could collect a pension after 20 years. So the relationship I sensed between the protesters and the policemen was real. Anyway, it all added a little excitement to my afternoon.

So before dinner, I stopped off in the lobby bar and decided to try one of the local drinks that the tour guides had told us about...Tokaji. It is a drink made out of honey and grapes, and each bottle has a number on it...3, 4, 5, 6, which represents the number of bags of grapes used per batch. The higher the number, the sweeter and thicker the drink. They suggested the average "3" level, so that's what I had. Yum, I really liked it.

Then I went to a restaurant, Tigris, which had gotten good reviews online. I am so glad I went there because my first dinner in town last night had been a disappointment, and this place was great. I also tried a couple of different Hungarian wines with dinner. Another tidbit from our guides...Hungary has 22 wine districts and makes great wine, but their marketing/exporting is not that great, so people aren't as aware of their wines. I had two different whites, and both were excellent.

Ok, and as if I hadn't had enough to drink already, after dinner I tried another local drink, Palinka. It is made from different fruits....apricots, pears, etc...so I tried sour cherry. It was good, but really high test....it apparently has a 70% alcohol content!! So I was glad I had it in the lobby bar, so I could call it a night and get to bed.

Because tomorrow I have a Hungarian cooking class scheduled.

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