Hungary

Three days into our European adventure we took off from Zagreb, Croatia and headed to Budapest, Hungary.  It was a lot of fun driving the 5 speed diesel Citroen automobile we rented.  I hate to admit it for fear some will judge me harshly, but on those European autobahns one doesn't go under 90 mph very often.  It was a blast.  The first adventure was crossing the border from Croatia to Hungary.  The typical passport check happened, but then I had to pull over 100 yards down the road, cross on foot four lanes of traffic (Not very heavy at the time) and go into a white shack and purchase a vignette to allow me to drive on the autobahn road for the two days were were going to be in Hungary.  It was rustic.

Here is a nice view of the church up on the Castle District Hill on the Buda side of the river.  I really enjoyed the colors that are in the roofs of the churches and houses in this part of the world.  The orange colors are deep and when you see a whole village with the orange roofs it is an awesome sight.  The Buda side is totally different than the Pest side.  It is hilly while the Pest side is flat.

Here we are at the Citadel on the Buda side of the river.  The picture looks great with Joycie in it.

Here is another view of the Pest side from the Citadel.

We have a neighbor who recently started serving a mission for our Church in Budapest.  We hunted down the offices of the mission, thanks to the Garmin, but it was still quite a hunt.  We actually made a lucky turn and found it.  We wanted to leave him a note and the folks working in the office promised they would get it to him.

Here is the Opera House on Andrassy Utca right around the corner from our hotel the K+K Opera House Hotel.

Joyce working the souvenir vendors at the Citadel.

I really like this shot of the St. Stephens Basilica down the street from our hotel.  It is fascinating to negotiate the narrow streets, many times with cars parked on both sides, having only a few inches on either side of the car to maneuver.  I didn't drive fast down these roads.

Here is an interior shot of Joyce as we rode on the Hop On Hop Off Bus.  When time is limited it is the only way to go to get around and see a lot of stuff.  In Budapest they had just one route, but it covered a lot of ground on both sides of the river.  The Danube is not Blue, at least not there.

Driving to Vienna, leaving Budapest we found these incredibly large fields of sunflowers.  The yellow petals were gone so I imagine they are going to harvest the seeds.  I am accustomed to only seeing an occasional sunflower around here, so these large fields were something new.