Day 28, Budapest, Hungary - Explore and pack Bicycle

Tony's View

 It is Sunday morning and the weather is wonderful again. We have been so blessed with great weather this entire trip, very little rain, mostly in the 70's or a little lower, and sunshine. Wind was mild if it was against us. You know, it gave me very little to complain about. Complaining is my favorite thing. I take after my nephew, Trevor, 😁
I finished taking the bicycle apart today. The picture to the right is a clamp that Lochard's designed and built for Joan's windshield. It works so much better than the pipe clamps. I brought it up to Mike Lochard and said there has to be a better way. They came through for us. I got the bicycle apart into all the pieces and Joan helped. She separated the pieces into separate rooms for what goes in what suitcase. She used the picture from the beginning of the blog on the ping pong table. That is great help. 
After getting the bicycle apart and sorted, we headed out for more touring. We walked across an old famous bridge from the Pest side to the Buda side. The pictures below shows me before getting on the bridge and then later, Joan on it. The pictures don't do it justice. It has sculptures of lions and is very ornate. 

We got into Buda  
and went to the church we saw in yesterday's blog, St Mattias with the beautiful spire (see yesterday's blog for what it looks like from outside). It is much more beautiful outside. We got inside before a mass for Hungarian Hand Signing. I took a picture of the altar to the left. It was nice inside, but not overly beautiful like the outside. We stayed and prayed our rosary and left. The picture to the right is the Joyful Mysteries, below left is the Sorrowful mysteries and below right is the Glorious mysteries. These were pretty cool, but the pictures could be better. Mass had started, so I didn't have a lot of options for the picture.

When we got out of church there was this eagle that for a small fee you could hold. It looked pretty intimidating to me and I am not sure that I would do it for free. It was neat to see others do it.

The two pictures above are of the Parliament and St Stephen's Cathedral. They are the exact same height and the tallest points in Budapest. It is giving equal appreciation for state and church. I think that is pretty cool. The pictures to the right and below are the same sculpture. One side is representing state in meeting room and the other side is a bishop crowning the king of Hungary. They were very interconnected. 

The Parliament Building has all these spires in it. There are 365 spires that represent everyday of freedom. Hungary has always been in a battle to have their freedom from all different empires. The latest one is from Communist rule. Joan and I went under the Parliament court yard and saw a memorial that explained what happened with the communist shooting in October, 1956. It was a massacre. It is amazing the current history here. That was just a few years before we were born, and many years after my brother and sisters were born, though.😂 I had to throw that in just in case they are reading this. Which reminds me, I miss my Mom. I am so thankful that Jerry and Nancy made her last few years on earth good ones. She knew she was loved.💔

 On the way to Church tonight we had to take a break on these cool chairs.

We decided to go to Mass again today for the English Mass in St. Stephen's Cathedral. The picture below is the altar taken from a front row seat. After communion, the Preist asked us all to sit done for the communion meditation song. He walked over to the choir, grab a guitar and started playing. It was really neat to see. Afterwards, we got a picture with Fr. Richard. You could feel the love aura around him. 

The picture above is a case holding the holy hand of Saint Stephen. King Stephen died on 15th August,1038. This is a highly esteemed relic of the nation of Hungary.

Not sure who this guy is in the picture to the right, but Joan thought it would be a good idea for me to rub his belly. 

Joan ran into this fountain and was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to get out. It was a rectangle fountain and every so often a 3 foot opening in different areas would stop to allow you to get out. Dang it. Joan got out without getting wet. I had the camera ready just incase she did get wet. There was a pizza place right by the fountain that we ate at. Maybe we got too much pizza for both of us?

After eating, we went to the Parliament Building again to see it all lit up at night. Joan is holding our leftover pizza in a model pose. The pictures above are from both sides of it. We then sat down on a bench on the Danube and watch all the evening boats go by. I decided to call Marla and wake her up from her nap. Through FaceTime she could see all the beautiful views too. The picture to the left is one that Marla saw live.

Joan's Extras

Today was another day of lots of walking around Budapest.

We were in that memorial for the shootings of innocent Hungarians in Kossuth square when there was this continuous high beep. We both noticed it, but because we were underground, it was kind of tricky knowing where it was coming from. Minutes went by and Tony asked me, "Is that beeping coming from me?" I put my ear near his pump. Yes, it was Tony. His insulin pump just quit working. We left there and walked back to our airbnb so that Tony could reinstall a pump. Glad that he brought extras. At our room, we took a break since it was past noon, ate, and took a quick nap before we headed out for more exploring Budapest. 

By the way, our next post will be on our last post of this trip which we will publish when we get home on Tuesday. You'll get to see the final statistics from our trip then. Stay tuned!