After breakfast, we met John downstairs and got picked up by his driver to go to the flea market in the Southeast outskirts of Pest.  There are an amazing variety of goods for sale, ranging from coffee grinders to violins to pictures of Lenin and Marx.  There were quite a few nice pieces of furniture, for which we have no room nor means of transporting them home. Some nice hand embroidered napkins and table runners were also everywhere.  We just looked at everything, didn’t buy anything, and then were picked up and dropped off at the apartment again.

After a brief rest stop at the apartment, we walked over towards the Parliament building, stopping for a nice lunch at the Budapest Bisztro just off Liberty Square.

After lunch which included a roast marrow bone, steak tartare (BJ) and roast duck breast (Alan), we walked over to Parliament and wandered around a little, including looking across the Danube to Buda, but it was very hazy and we didn’t get good photos. There was some interesting architecture around Parliament and quite a number of large statues.

We caught a tram right next to the Parliament Building and used public transport for the first time in Budapest.  That dropped us off just a few blocks from the apartment. We walked back down one of the main shopping streets, Vasi, and then we were home.  Tonight, we will have left over chicken paprikash from our cooking class.

Tomorrow we sleep in.