Monday, 21 April 2014

Big Bus boat Trip

The day didn't start very auspiciously when Tom was too busy watching the lovely views along the Danube and fell in a hole in the pavement, staving his hand, resulting in swelling and bruising. Making use of a coffee stop, a tumbler of lemon tea came with a glass of ice and proved very useful in reducing the swelling. Every time we heard an ambulance after that we joked it was probably another tourist falling off the pavement.

Our bus ticket included a boat trip on the Danube, cruising up and down with a chance to see the splendid Parliament from the water. There was an opportunity to disembark at Margaret Island, a park area with walks, leisure areas, sports grounds and a swimming pool. We are impressed by the lack of litter in Prague and Budapest though graffiti is a big problem. Maybe it relates to the old days when it could be a used as a political statement. It was a lovely place to walk and watch those who were riding bikes, bikes for 2 or 4 folk and sedge ways.

The return walk took in close ups of the Parliament, making the acquaintance of  The statue of Ronald Regan and chancing upon a street event where there was what seemed to be an art installation of various old tools bolted together and a few banners. A newsreader (looking a bit like the girl from Borgen) was being interviewed for TV. We eventually asked a couple of policemen what it was about and they agreed it was a demonstration but they weren't sure what it was about. There were certainly a few interesting characters in the audience.

Our evening was quite entertaining as more by good luck than planning, we found the area behind the Synagogue where the "ruined pubs" are found. These were set up mostly in disused buildings or outside spaces, furnished with any old furniture acquired from home or a junk shop and set up as a pub. They evidently could change venues regularly but nowadays there are popular venues which were obviously very popular with young locals. In fact most of the folk we saw were about a third of our age or younger. By chance we found a whole street of interesting nightlife and pitied those who had to live in the area.

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