Day 10: A Kind of Glitz and Glamour

Sunday, 18th November, was our last full day in Budapest so we cut down our list of things we wanted to do and put them in order of importance and opening times. First off we visited parliament, which we had kept postponing since the first day. The exterior of the building was beautiful and we had read that the interior was too, and it wasn't a lie. It was a stunning building and worth the visit and because Sarah and I are both travelling on Irish and British passports, we were allowed to do the tour for free as it is free for all EU citizens. My British passport finally paid off!

Part of the dome ceiling at parliament

 Another ceiling

 The left side of the front exterior of parliament

The view of parliament from the bridge to Margaret Island (please excuse the fog)

Next we walked to nearby Margaret Island, which is sort of like a smaller version of Central Park. Obviously being autumn/winter, there wasn't quite as much to do there than if it had been summer but as usual, we found plenty of fun could be had with the beautiful autumn leaves.

 On Margaret Island

Next on the list was a visit to the major shopping centre, West End. This ended up being a bit of a waste of time as we were both tired and hot (being indoors in all our layers) and didn't really feel up to it, although we did buy a couple of pieces in the end.

 The Christmas display at West End Shopping Centre

To cheer ourselves up, we stopped by the New York Cafe, which was voted the most beautiful cafe in the world. It really was amazing, with beautiful deserts and drinks. I had a fresh vanilla-apple lemonade and Sarah and some kind of coffee (sorry is that too general for you coffee lovers?). We also shared a plate of selected Hungarian deserts but the real clincher was the decor, it was beautiful.

Inside New York Cafe

We then headed back to the hotel and attempted to pack our bags for Stockholm, but found it too depressing, so instead we went down to the hotel bar and had a couple of cocktails. After getting tipsy way too quickly, we went for our last meal at La Botte before reattempting to pack our luggage, now slightly inebriated.

 Free cocktails are not necessarily a good idea...