BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary.

The metropolitan area holds 3.3 million, with 1.75 million in the city. Hungary has 9.9 million people, while the European Union population is 508 million.
The usual beginning for this region: Celtic settlement, transformed into a Roman town.
The three cities of Buda, Obuda and Pest were unified in 1893 and called Budapest.

The Buda side is hilly, while the Pest side has the city.
From left to right: Saint Anne Parish, Matthias Church, Fisherman's Bastion and Stigmatisation of St Francis Church.

There are thermal springs, and Budapest is known for spas.
11 casinos in Hungary and 5 in Budapest.
Has over 35 higher education institutions.
Sister cities include, New York City, Shanghai, Beijing Tehran, Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna, Lisbon, Tel Aviv and Florence.

Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe.

9.5 million people.
University tuition is free.
It is a unitary, parliamentary republic.

Like many countries of Europe, you don't know the president, who is Tamas Sulyok.
You do know Prime Minister Viktor Orban, pal of Donald Trump. He has held that position since 2010. The PM is leader of the largest party in parliament and heads the government.
Known for goulash, a Hungarian stew.

So how safe is Budapest? By most accounts, very safe. Just be smart and careful.

The Romani people, Hungarian Gypsies, form 3% of the population, the largest minority in the country. However, certain surveys show that this percentage could be 9%. They originated from northwestern India, beginning in the 14th century.
There is Romani crime problem in Budapest, but most say this is no different from other cities like Paris. The USA could well be more dangerous for tourists than Hungary. According to Nationmaster, Hungary is 53% safer than the U.S.

Well, this will be my final day of the 14-day cruise. Lunch started with two appetizers, a beets concoction and a salad something or another, with red wine and beer.

Lunch of pork and pasta.

Dinner began with a final briefing, presentation on departure from ship tomorrow and salute to the captain, who must be in trouble because of our sand bar incident.

Dinner menu

Started with asparagus soup and salad, followed by a Chateaubriand and noodles.

Dessert of sachertorte.

Walked 1819 on December 3.

This is our final full day on the Viking Tir. In Budapest. First lunch.

Artichoke soup and pasta, with white wine and beer.

I've been wanting to have the cheeseburger the past two weeks, so I ordered it on this final lunch. The end of the cheeseburger.

So off on our walk through the Pest side of Budapest.

Our ship was parked close to the city center, so waked to the Budapest Christmas Market.

Met by my Blue-Bar Pigeon.

Food.

Trinkets.

Walked back to the Viking Tir, parked alongside another Viking ship.

Tomorrow, we fly to Zurich.

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

COVID WAVES

Before getting into the topic of the day, a few notes about the state of politics in the USA. Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney today joined Kamala Harris in her Wisconsin stop. More specifically, Ripon, where the Republican Party was formed in 1854. This was the first time Cheney has campaigned with Harris. This will be all about the future of Democracy. She is only one of hundreds of prominent Republicans who have endorsed Harris over Donald Trump. And about The Donald, DC Judge Tanya Chutkan released the 165-page filing from the Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, arguing that the former president doesn't deserve immunity from criminal charges because his conduct was for private gain rather than duty of public office . There won't be any trial anytime soon, but these details further diminish Trump's hope to be re-elected. Basically, there are four charges of conspiring to overturn the November 2020 election and the attack on the U.S. ...

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