Man it was cold and windy up on that deck. In the mornings, the temperature was generally in the 40’s with the usual winds on the river.  But it was a clear day and the view made it worth it.

Some of the little cottages along the river before we got to Budapest were really interesting.

An art installation in a park along the river.

We passed under many beautiful bridges. Some modern like this one, some very old.  When the boat was too tall to pass under a bridge, they had to fold the chairs on the top deck and lay them down, take down the glass walls around the deck and hydraulically lower the pilot house.

Very striking bridge.  This one wasn’t that low.

Soviet-era apartment buildings.

This is how the Parliament building looked when we first sailed into town.

But this is a photo I took when we were here in 2015 and got to see it from a dinner boat on the river at night. It’s just stunning.

This old building was converted into The Whale – a shopping, cultural and entertainment center.

In the cliff on the right side is an underground church which is accessed from the back of the cliff and totally invisible from the outside. To the left of the cliff is Hotel Gellert, a very old world-famous hotel and spa.

Matthias Church.  Many of the church roofs burned during the war and have replacements of patterned tiles like this one.

Inside the Matthias Church.

Windows inside the Matthias Church.

A hot air balloon just cruising overhead. What a great way to get an amazing view of the city.

This old government building is now a large complex of art museums, the main one being the Hungarian National Gallery.

The castle in the rear is an art museum in a big city park. In the wintertime, the ugly gray concrete area becomes a huge ice skating rink bustling with activity.

The “Shoes on the Danube Holocaust memorial” is made up of 60 pairs of iron sculpted shoes that honor the Jews who were executed by the river Danube in World War II. The Jews were told to line up facing the river, take their shoes off and then shot to death in broad daylight by the Nazis to terrorize both Jews and supporters of Jews. The bodies were carried away by the water, the river cleaned up the mess, and the shoes were re-sold on the black market. It’s a gut-wrenching memorial and very effective.

The Liberty Statue is a monument on the Gellért Hill. It commemorates those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary. (Locals sometimes refer to her as the Fish Lady.)

Okay, our bus is stopped at a stoplight. I’m looking down the aisle and through the front windshield. Do YOU think this is what I should be seeing from this vantage point? I think not.