Last day in Budapest - Dubai - Perth - day 16 and 17

After sleeping for about 6 hours without being interrupted by coughing, I woke up feeling a little better. 
Friday 13th of April, was our last day in Budapest, and we got busy packing our bags.
By 10am we left our luggage at the reception of the Avantegarde Apartments, and walked a couple of blocks to join the family for a late breakfast.
My daughter had bought some more anti-histamine and gave me a few tablets and I took another one with breakfast as they had helped with the cough the previous night. I certainly didn't want to be coughing during my flight to Dubai and then the long flight to Perth, so during one of the flights when I started coughing again I took another tablet and it helped!

Blue Bird Cafe - right next to the Sissy mural

The family sat around chatting , until it was time to return to the apartment and collect our bags from Reception.

We waited in front of the building for a short while and soon the Taxi that we ordered for 12,30 pm was there to pick us up, and we bade farewell to the family.

The ride to the airport took about 30 min, and after we checked-in, my husband went to the Lost and Found department in another part of the Airport to collect his Tablet.

When we had arrived from Lisbon a few days before Jose had left his tablet on the plane, in the compartment in front of his seat, and only realized it the next day when he wanted to use it!

Our very enterprising daughter called the airline who said they weren't aware of it but that she could call the Lost and Found office. They suggested she send an email with all details of the tablet and after a while they replied that it was there and she could collect it with identification. 

As she was the one corresponding with them, she then had to write a note to her Dad to allow him to be given his own tablet. But it all worked out and I'm sure he will pay more attention in future 😉.

Our flight only departed at 4pm and we still had plenty of time in the departure lounge and decided we should spend our last Forints (Hungarian currency) buying a coffee for Jose, a juice for myself and a packet of crisps. 

We really enjoyed our visit to Budapest and I leave you with a few more photos from the city:

Just a block or two from our apartment was the Kazinczy street Orthodox Synagogue, with the Art Nouveau facade. Because it's in the middle of a narrow street you can't take a photo that encompasses the whole building.

Some of the beautiful buildings around the city.

My obsession with unusual doors and windows meant I took lots of photos of these around Budapest!  I also have lots of them from Lisbon...

 Quirky stuff:

Top left - One evening on our way to a restaurant I noticed this plain looking building  that faced a park, and had one single balcony and this gentleman was enjoying a meal outdoors. I thought it was quite funny.

Top right - My generation and older will remember the LP's. I saw this LP sculpture outside a music store.

Bottom left - In many parts of the city I saw pigeon feeders - I wonder if they have special "anti-conceptional" feed? 

Many years ago pigeons were a pest in Lisbon and the only way to control them was for the Lisbon Council to feed pigeons with a special feed so they wouldn't procreate as much. It worked, as I haven't noticed as many pigeons around Lisbon.

Bottom right - I didn't realize the Hungarians had a good sense of humour, but obviously this pet owner has!

Much was left unseen of course - we didn't go to Hero's Square, which my daughter visited as she and her in-laws stayed one more day, or we didn't get to see the Castle, Parliament, or Hero's square all lit up at night.  Karina has sent me some photos and they are beautiful!

Hero's square - statues

Gellert Hill - St Stephen's church, Fisherman's Bastion, and Parliament on the other side of the Danube

Goodbye Budapest - the family in front of the sign

The only downside I encountered in Budapest was seeing so many people smoke - on the streets, in demarcated zones in cafes and restaurants, outdoor esplanades... The rate of smokers is also high in Portugal, but I found in Budapest there were a lot more smokers, mainly young people.

Cigarettes can only be sold in licensed shops, and apparently sales have fallen 40% in the last couple of years...so I can imagine it was a lot worse before!

    

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In Dubai, Jose and I took different flights - he was flying to Sydney and I was flying to Perth. 

His flight departed about 1 hour before mine, but we sat outside my departure lounge for a while (it was just 2 lounges down from his).

We were chatting in Portuguese and a lady about my age approached us and asked if we could help her. She was Brazilian, travelling overseas for the first time, couldn't speak English and was trying to send her daughter a message on WhatsApp to notify her she had arrived safely in Dubai, but she couldn't get the airport wi-fi working.

She was also travelling to Perth, and I told her it was 3am in Perth, not to worry as her daughter would most likely be asleep.

Jose tried in vain to connect to the wi-fi but couldn't either, so I offered for her to send the daughter a message with my mobile.

A short while later I went with my husband to his departure door to say goodbye and then returned to my lounge again.

I spotted the lady again, sat next to her and we chatted about our jobs (both in medical clinics), our children, life in Brazil...

Inside the plane we sat almost in the same row but on opposite sides of the plane. The flight wasn't full and I managed to get the seat next to me to stretch a little bit and managed a few hours sleep.

When we were given our disembarkation cards I walked to her seat to make sure she knew how to fill it in, but her daughter had sent her a photocopy of what to fill in. 

On the A380 flight home we have 2 hours of free wi-fi and I had sent the daughter a text on WhatsApp to say we would be landing 30 minutes earlier.

At the Perth airport, I stood in the queue behind her in case she needed help and when she was asked if she had anything to declare she turned back to look at me, I asked her and I answered the agent.

I had brought cheese with me from Portugal, so had to declare it and had to go stand with a few other people while the dog came to sniff our bags and we were then allowed to go out.

Outside the lady was waiting for me with her daughter who wanted to thank me personally for helping her Mom.  

I was going to get a taxi home, but the young lady insisted she would take me home, as she lived in a suburb further south from me and driving on the same freeway that would bring me home, so eventually I accepted.

Once in the car she mentioned she would have to drop off her Mom's carry-on bag to a friend as it contained party stuff for a small child who was celebrating a birthday the following day.

I agreed, but when we arrived at the friend's house, they basically unpacked the small bag and then got the big bag from the boot as well and there was more stuff there in between the clothes....anyway I eventually got home one and a half hours later, when it would have taken me half an hour by taxi!

On the positive side I saved the taxi fare of about $50.

At home my cats awaited me, at first looking at me from afar to make sure it was really me, and later they just wanted to sit on top of me and get patted.

At Dubai airport - taking over from Dubai and landing in Perth

                                      From left to right: Fluffy, Shelley and Twiggy

And so ended our 17 day holiday! It was a short holiday, but we managed to see a lot in such a short time and didn't feel rushed or tired from it all.

Strangely enough my husband's idea of a holiday is just sitting somewhere on a beach sleeping, people watching on an esplanade and not having to walk from monument to monument or to be dragged to visit one more church, or mural 😊 ...

My idea of a holiday is to see as much as I can from the city we are visiting, allowing for a few stops to eat and rest my feet - but on this trip Jose never once complained about all the walking we did, maybe because he was busy chatting away in French with the in-laws.  

There were a lot of coffee and food stops during the day though, and he didn't climb Gellert Hill due to his knees, nor did he go into the Synagogue, preferring to sit at the cafe across the street with our son in law drinking coffee and people watching.

Hope you enjoyed my final post about Budapest.