With Brooks home sick in bed, Bailey, Taylor, and I started off the day attempting to catch up with a free Budapest walking tour…but when we arrived where the group was scheduled to meet, we came upon a festival much like the Budapest Christmas fair. Many of the same vendors were there, but the prices were much more reasonable than during the famed Christmas fair. Vendors with handmade goods dominated the area, selling handmade and dyed scarves, hats, and purses. Bailey and Taylor were entranced by the jewelers, and I, of course, found myself delighted by the hats and purses.
Stopping at every stall, and stepping in every store, we spent our afternoon tootling around the fair, making little purchases, and stopping to enjoy the scintillating smells of roasting bratwurst, slow-cooked pork and chicken, sautéed veggies, acidic cabbage, roasting coffees, and flaky desserts. Merry tunes enlivened the market place as Hungarians put their traditional dances on display, hopping, slapping, and spinning to the Gypsy music. Women dancers balanced sloshing liquid bottles on their heads as the men jumped in synchrony.
After we’d had our fill of shopping, we continued to meander down the Danube, stopping for pictures along the way. We luxuriated in the sunny weather, soaking in the sun underneath the shadow of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and lapping up the dribbles from our intricate flower-shaped ice creams.
We concluded our evening by going back to buy the purse I’d admired at the fair. We found a seat by a saxophonist, away from the children blowing on their handmade animal whistles, and tried a couple of traditional Hungarian pork and chicken dishes. Our shared meal ended a fabulous day of tootling around, and we made our way back to the hotel to prepare to send off our beloved guests.
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