But Mr. Tumble has a red nose!!!!

Royal Wedding Luncheon... Tiaras and Tea

I just got this picture today from one of my girlfriends (thanks Amanda)...  thought you folks at home might like to see what I elected to wear as hostess to the Tiaras and Tea Luncheon...   always fun to recycle old formal dresses - who said you can't wear them twice???

It was so much fun I had to post a picture!!

Royal Wedding Luncheon... Tiaras and Tea

All dressed up and soooooo excited!  Everytime the doorbell rings... look out!  She'll knock you over on her way to answer it!

Scones and clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, quiche, cakes... yum. yum. yum.

Budapest Souvenirs

Admittedly, this is for my lady friends...  who can understand and appreciate what this means for my kitchen... :)

I collect blue and white "stuff" for my kitchen... some of it Dutch Delft inspired, some of it just kind of old-fashioned and "kitcheny," and increasingly... stuff we find on our travels.  I try to stick with items that can be hung on the walls, but have some items which sit on a shelf as well...

We also collect black and white prints from as many cities as we can find them in...  believe it or not, there are many places which only have colored ones...  This is something my parents did when they lived in Europe, and I always liked it...

SO here are our finds...  A print with Hungarian Parliament, a blue and white tin of Hungarian paprika (they cook everything with it...) a ceramic relief tile with Hungarian dancers - the white one which looks kind of like a mold, and a lovely blue and white ceramic plate.  Pretty good, for I think about 30 Euros? 35?

Budapest - Easter Sunday

Budapest has a "Cafe Culture" very similar to Vienna, owing mostly, I would imagine, to the old Austro-Hungarian Empire...  Whatever the case, we thought it would make for a lovely and special setting for our Easter brunch, so we headed over to Gerbeauds.  It was so much fun.  And really good food, too!

One of the salons not in use.  The big, heavy, posh drapes were between each salon, which all railroaded along the front of the building.

The main room with the confectionery counter.

Our spread.  Cafe tables are too small for all this!

Luna noticed the ceiling...

Whoa...

The name "Gerbeauds" was engraved into the wood veneer on the chair back.

More beautiful drapes and chandeliers...

Luna got macaroons for desert.  She says they were good...

We wouldn't know, we didn't get to try them...

Beautifully boxed chocolates behind the counter glass...

After brunch we decided to head across the river and up Gellert Hill to work off some calories... Luna quickly found a friend.

This time we walked across the Elizabeth Bridge... a slightly more trafficky situation!

We ran into this creative park job.  Efficient use of space, I thought.

Wrought iron bridge further up river... I thought was beautiful and rather unusual...

Hotel Gellert is at the base of Gellert Hill.  It is famous for its extensive bath house.  Public baths are quite important in Hungarian culture I guess owing to the Turkish culture left here by their occupation, and the complex here is HUGE.  Wave pool, separate men's and women's sections, towers, terraces, restaurants... not to mention the hotel...

Fountain outside...

We decided to take the public mini-bus to get to the top of the hill.  It was fun.

No smoking, no eating, beware of pick-pockets... but could NOT figure out what this other one was... I thought maybe it meant "Be sure to hold on?"

Liberty monument is at the top...

We hopped on the tram after taking the mini-bus back down the hill.  It had us back in central Pest in no time.

So we headed over to the largest Synagogue in central Europe... but it was closed for Easter.  (That's a joke. It was just closed...)

Another synagogue in the Jewish Quarter...

And then we headed to the basilica... which is HUGE!  It was built between 1851 and 1905, and has gilt on just about every surface you can find...

I couldn't even get the whole building in the shot...

After I finally realized that my ISO was set on 200, I was able to adjust that and take some photos...

The square outside the basilica...

Another beautiful building...  I could see the Turkish influence all over Budapest!  (Mixed with Doric columns of course!)

And this is the old Bank of Turkey building... perfect Secessionist example...

Another beautiful facade...

And another... this one carved wood...

multi-colored tiles again...

For dinner we rounded out our Cafe experience by doing it again, but for dinner!  Picked this place out of our book, and after scoping out a few, made this outstanding choice!

One of the real treats of travelling for me is getting to splurge on nice restaurants...

It was called, quite simply "Central."

Picking out dessert...

After dessert a string trio and harpsichord-type instrument opened up with "The Blue Danube" by Strauss... how fitting.  I "waltzed" a little with Luna before we left...

Early the next morning we were on a plane back to Germany.  Nothing like barf-bag hand puppets to occupy the free-time before take-off!