Budapest EXPLORATION Day & AmaMagna Boarding!!

As if Saturday's 24-hour travel and arrival day wasn't grand enough, today turned out to be grander yet!   Is this what TRAVEL in retirement is going to be like .. always?   Whoa!   I need to get in better shape!

Started with a European breakfast at our Marriott hotel.   Europeans, ala Sweden and England in my previous travels .. LOVE their breakfast.   What a monstrous selection of food .. lots of different fresh fruit, cereals, hot oatmeal and porridge, made-to-order omelettes, many selections of meats/sausages/bacon-types, traditional Hungarian goulash, many pastries, made-to-order espresso drinks, several fruit juices, .. and on and on !!

This was our wake-up view from our hotel room :

We filled up on these goodies and checked-out and left our luggage with the concierge.   And the HIKE began.

Walked across the Chain Bridge to the Castle District.   Took a shuttle up to the top and enjoyed this very historic area.  Enjoy some pic's and descriptions:

a partial map of the area we walked through

one of the souvenir stores we stopped at 

Matthias Church

the view from Fisherman's Bastion looking across the Danube

walking down the narrow streets

National Archives Building

Got back to the bottom of the hill and took another picture .. looking across the Danube at the Parliament Buildings.

Walked across the bridge to get some better views.

Started walking back to the hotel, but had to take some more pics of interesting buildings.

We found, by our meandering, the Christmas Market.   We took this opportunity to reconnoiter for our visit tomorrow.

Back to the hotel we walked.   Picked up our luggage and took a taxi to our boat.

And ... NOW .. it's WOW WOW WOW time !!!   What a gorgeous new boat. AmaWaterway's 2019-christened AmaMagna.   I'm now in the 'lap of luxury'!!
UNBELIEVABLE.   The captain and crew greets you at the end of the gangway!

Following Jan heading to our stateroom 

this is our stateroom

wine from Italy, chocolates from Vienna

supplied with tablet, large screen, keypad

up to the lounge, women given roses, everyone champagne, to meet the crew and go over safety instructions

after dinner the captain re-positioned the boat, cruising back to the heart of town .. these pic's taken from up on top of the boat

Wow Wow Wow .. what a boat.    Luxury accommodations.   Ate dinner with a couple from Ontario, Canada.  I'll take some meal pictures over the next several days.

What another fantastic day!!   What fun!   A beautiful, grand European city!  So much history.   Many, many beautiful buildings, similar to Washington,DC .. but 200+ years older in design & construction.