Duna Keringőt: Budapest vagy bust 8

Nephew Robert took us out to dinner and took us a crepe place for lunch: Nagyi Pali. Everything was terrific there! Here is another shot of the Parliment Building. I guess that during Robert and my mom's walk there early in the morning the fog was rising off the Danube and here is a photo of that.

Here is the Opera House, a stature of the composer Liszt and some shots of its interior. Mom bought a music box that played a Franz Liszt composition.

We then took the subway to Vajdahunyad Castle and ambled around the grounds. I don't know who this sculpture of a bearded man was, but he reminded me of my husband. Robert commented that the entwining of these fishes' tails seemed x-rated to him. LOL! I told him that it couldn't be, since it is in a public park.
Suddenly, like a flash, a Yorkshire Terrier pup ran into and out of my camera frame.

Here we are at the Széchenyi thermal baths, which is only a short walk from the Castle. The cement block is a steam vent and lets steam escape into the air. In the winter, there is a huge cloud of vapor here. The interior was highly decorated, with a marine theme. The first mosaic is of Poseidon with his two sons who are Ichthyocentaurs. In the second mosaic, mermaids assist Aphrodite as per Homer:

Of august gold-wreathed and beautiful

Aphrodite I shall sing to whose domain

belong the battlements of all sea-loved

Cyprus where, blown by the moist breath

of Zephyros, she was carried over the

waves of the resounding sea on soft foam.

The gold-filleted Horae happily welcomed

her and clothed her with heavenly raiment.

A large urn is decorated with abalone, scallops and other sea shells. A small mosaic of a mermaid. A tile detail with mermaid and mermen faces plus waterlilies. The floor tiles are also decorated with a fish motif. This metal radiator has a dragon motif that must be related to the heat theme. Are these innocent children bathing, or is that a note of shame in the boy as he is hiding himself? This must be none other than Apollo driving his chariot across the sky. Clerestory windows are the source of much of the lighting in the building. Finally, we have two street shots of the baths. We never did go on to bathe, if we had, we would have seen the wonderful outdoor bathing areas.

Across the way, there is the zoo. And we just wanted to get some shots of the bactrian camel that we saw there on our first visit. And so we did!


The day that mom and I were on our own, we went to the Great Market Hall to shop for more souveniers. It was interesting but not as interesting as the open markets in Asia, were there are huge areas to buy fresh fish and such. Mostly it was for foreigners to buy trinkets at a market rate.

This guy with his huge bread loaf was posted all over town, and my mom got a laugh out of it. So here it is mom, just for you!

This is a chestnut macaron I had at Le Meridien the night before we left. Sigh. Am I back there yet???