28 July: Farewell Avalon with its Intercontinental Hotel - Hello Caisley/Lewis with their Airbnb.
I have sent through 2 FB postings today because the day was truly split in two. We checked out of the decadence of the hotel Avalon shouted us and then found our way to the St Stephen's Cathedral which was started in 1851 and finished in 1861. The dome was completed in 1889. The interior was totally breathtaking. Mind you, my breath is already taken by all the other phenomenal European cathedrals we have been introduced to.
As we continued wandering we discovered the Aria Hotel which is obviously for a different socioeconomic bracket from us. However I did my charming smile thing and the guard at the door escorted me into the foyer to take a photo. The carpet was woven as a piano keyboard leading to a central feature of a vertical digital keyboard that played by itself with the keys moving. Budapest is undergoing a comprehensive rebuild after its liberation from Communism, and the new creations are beyond description.  You really must book yourself to visit Budapest in  a couple of years. I'm sure it will rival Paris and Prague.
After coffee and the famed Ersterhaus cake, we caught a taxi to our Airbnb which is in Old Buda by yet another beautiful town square,  souvenir shops and the #2 tram which appears to be free. Our Irish host was waiting for us and carried our 50kg of luggage up the stairs for us. Charming guy - as the Irish are.
Peter needed to go to the Budapest Technical Museum but I found I did not. So I slept soundly while Peter walked 20,000 steps to find the Museum is shut for renovations until 2018. He got 1 photo of 1 Russian bi-plane.

Tonight was our 20th anniversary and we thought it might be fun to do a Danube River dinner and cruise that was longer than the 10 minute one we had 12 days ago. This one was 2 hours!!!! Oh my, did we enjoy every one of those 120 Mins. We saw our Avalon Vista tied up at the wharf so she's been repaired. All she wants now is some water to cruise in. 😂