Sunday morning was a slightly less obscene start to the day than Saturday had been, but it still felt far too early to be wandering down to the Basilica for mass. However, the service was beautiful, complete with the first proper choral music of the trip: Mozart's Missa Brevis and motets. Suddenly it all looked much more beautiful than it had during the cursory glance we gave it on Thursday and it was lovely to be able to appreciate it as a member of the congregation, rather than as a tourist.
After mass, we had decided to climb Gellért Hill and have a picnic. However, we decided that we would try and find a place for coffee first. All the guidebooks recommend at least having a look at Gresham Palace, a fantastic Art Nouveau Palace built in 1907. It was taken over by the Four Seasons and surprisingly lovingly renovated so that it looks like it did originally. It is supposed to be a fantastic place for a coffee, however, Lucy and I were thwarted in our attempts, we couldn't even find the door to get in. This actually turned out to be a good thing as we ended up in the market square we had found a few days earlier outside the posh coffee house Gerbeaud. As part of the Spring Fesival, there were lots of folk artists playing, so we sat in the sun and rang our mothers for Mothering Sunday whilst sipping tea in the sunshine.
We climbed Gellért Hill in the afternoon. At only 235m high, it isn't enormous, but everything else is so flat that it does look quite striking. At the top is the Independance Monument, a giant woman holding a palm leaf, which almost acts as the city's mascot. There is also a modern looking citadell, but we didn't have an explore. Instead we had a lovely picnic of sausage sandwiches, Pom Bears, salad and fruit overlooking the city - beautiful.
Once back at the bottom of the hill, we walked along the river on the Buda side, seeing lots of quite grand houses before walking back over the suspension bridge to Pest. We tried to find the Orthodox Cathedral, but all the directions seemed to point in opposite directions and in the end, we arrived at the Inner City Parish Church, which from the outside looks like it is falling apart, but inside is beautiful and it is very obvious that it is well loved by its congregation.
We decided that we would treat ourselves to coffee and cake at Gerbeaud
, the most famous cafe in Budapest. From its beginning in 1858, it has been the place where the rich and fabulous come to people watch and drink coffee. It is very beautiful inside, lots of thick drapes and patterned wallpaper, but is very touristy now and the staff are quite grumpy. Nevertheless, they certainly 
know how to make a fantastic cappucino and yummy cakes. We shared the Gerbeaud cake (chocolate and alcohol) and the Esterhazy cake (nuttly and creamy) which were delicious. Well worth a visit.
As we left, the outdoor concert had taken a turn towards 'world music', which seemed to consist of a woman screaming down the microphone. Lucy and I shared puzzled expressions and decided we wouldn't stay to hear the rest. However, in the market we did find absolutely fantastic 1930s hats and we had decided to turn up in Bratislava looking effortlessly fashionable in them. Unfortunately, this looking stylish will have to wait as the 55 euro price tag was just a little over our budget...
Instead we headed to the local cinema to see if there were any films in English. We ended up seeing Doubt, which was brillant and thought provoking. It stars Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffmann who are fantastic. It gave us a lot of food for thought, and we spent most of the night, whilst cooking veggie stirfry discussing it.
After mass, we had decided to climb Gellért Hill and have a picnic. However, we decided that we would try and find a place for coffee first. All the guidebooks recommend at least having a look at Gresham Palace, a fantastic Art Nouveau Palace built in 1907. It was taken over by the Four Seasons and surprisingly lovingly renovated so that it looks like it did originally. It is supposed to be a fantastic place for a coffee, however, Lucy and I were thwarted in our attempts, we couldn't even find the door to get in. This actually turned out to be a good thing as we ended up in the market square we had found a few days earlier outside the posh coffee house Gerbeaud. As part of the Spring Fesival, there were lots of folk artists playing, so we sat in the sun and rang our mothers for Mothering Sunday whilst sipping tea in the sunshine.
We climbed Gellért Hill in the afternoon. At only 235m high, it isn't enormous, but everything else is so flat that it does look quite striking. At the top is the Independance Monument, a giant woman holding a palm leaf, which almost acts as the city's mascot. There is also a modern looking citadell, but we didn't have an explore. Instead we had a lovely picnic of sausage sandwiches, Pom Bears, salad and fruit overlooking the city - beautiful.Once back at the bottom of the hill, we walked along the river on the Buda side, seeing lots of quite grand houses before walking back over the suspension bridge to Pest. We tried to find the Orthodox Cathedral, but all the directions seemed to point in opposite directions and in the end, we arrived at the Inner City Parish Church, which from the outside looks like it is falling apart, but inside is beautiful and it is very obvious that it is well loved by its congregation.
We decided that we would treat ourselves to coffee and cake at Gerbeaud
, the most famous cafe in Budapest. From its beginning in 1858, it has been the place where the rich and fabulous come to people watch and drink coffee. It is very beautiful inside, lots of thick drapes and patterned wallpaper, but is very touristy now and the staff are quite grumpy. Nevertheless, they certainly 
know how to make a fantastic cappucino and yummy cakes. We shared the Gerbeaud cake (chocolate and alcohol) and the Esterhazy cake (nuttly and creamy) which were delicious. Well worth a visit.As we left, the outdoor concert had taken a turn towards 'world music', which seemed to consist of a woman screaming down the microphone. Lucy and I shared puzzled expressions and decided we wouldn't stay to hear the rest. However, in the market we did find absolutely fantastic 1930s hats and we had decided to turn up in Bratislava looking effortlessly fashionable in them. Unfortunately, this looking stylish will have to wait as the 55 euro price tag was just a little over our budget...
Instead we headed to the local cinema to see if there were any films in English. We ended up seeing Doubt, which was brillant and thought provoking. It stars Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffmann who are fantastic. It gave us a lot of food for thought, and we spent most of the night, whilst cooking veggie stirfry discussing it.
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