Buda

Ah, the joys of the first day back after holiday.

A wonderful holiday was spent on the banks of the river Danube in Budapest. A bit of a slow burner this one, not a city that immediatly grabbed us and said "yes, it's great to be here" but by the end of the holiday it's charms had kicked in and we loved it.

Day one was spent mooching about the Parliament building, but as it was raining we took shelter in a number of cafes having very strong coffee! In the afternoon we wandered round one of the museums, detailing the history of the country. It's a very interesting place and some of the words used were very carefully chosen (I may be being cynical) but along the lines of "the germans gave us no option but to help them" etc. Now, my world history of Hungary in the war is not up to much, so I may be doing them an injustice, but it did make a really interesting visit.

Day 2 was spent up at the castle and in Gellert Hill. Anyone who goes to budapest I would implore you to explain to me how on earth the Hilton hotel beside the castle got planning permission. I'll put up a photo later, but oh my god it's hideous!!

Dinner was had in numerous great restaurants, Cafe Kor was superb, as was a little place (which was SO cheap). Tom George was an incredible experience, although the food lacked a little from Cafe Kor and it's goulash. What was very good was the wine, and the price of drinks. We went to this very stylish cocktail bar and drank champagne cocktails for less than £2.50 - in London you'd be paying 10 quid for a similar drink.

Even sleazyjet with it's delayed homebound flight (an hour and 30 mins late, which was then met by South West Trains finest not managing to finish engineering works in time, meaning we had to wait for a train as well) means I'm quite tired today (got in the door at 9:40). However, the missus had to leave at 8 this morning to spend the week in Glasgow, I'm very glad to be working from home.