329 Steps

Wed 25th April
Today we had another fine day, except for a minor hiccup created by me, Crackers on which I will comment later.
After another good breakfast, we packed our bags and checked out at 10 am, satisfied that for the money paid, La Prima was excellent value.
The Continental hotel was the Avalon assembly point, it is approx 600 meters from La Prima, we found that it was an easy walk even though we had to tow our luggage with us.
After dropping off luggage and taking refreshments we headed off sight seeing, our destination was St Stevens Basilica a catholic church of world fame. This church is large and open to the public for a small charge. 
Our first test was to climb to the rampart at the top, so after paying 500 Huff each we headed for the stairs. These then become a spiral metal stairway that you could see through and down, down, down, well this started to test Val's metal for she has a phobia re heights and it wasn't long before she pulled the pin and slowly retreated to a more solid position to await the return of the three remaining Hartels, ( Pieter, Lyn and myself ).       Up and up we went, we now found ourselves far into the roof among metal scaffolding and more metal stairways. We three are breathing heavily by this time and so high up that I felt that if I reached out I could surely touch Heaven. 
After 329 steps we emerged out onto a walkway which circled the massive copper dome of the church high above the streets. This walkway provides 360 degree views of the city which can only be described as mind blowing. It is here that we took numerous pictures as you get beautiful views far and wide including the Buda side of the city. Budapest  is a coming together of two ancient cities, Buda on the west side of the Danube and Pest on the east side to form the capital of Hungary, Budapest. The early history descends from the Mongolian hordes led by Ghengis Khan, who invaded in the 900s
The descent to say the least was much easier, but you had to be careful as a loss of footing would be dangerous.
After collecting Val on the way down to ground level we explored the equally interesting interior of the church.  I am amazed at the detail of the workmanship that has gone into this place of worship it actually felt a very special place with its statues, paintings, stained glass windows and an enormous amount of gold leaf that has been liberally applied to various structures throughout the church. It makes one wonder at the enormous amount of money that must have been spent here and if perhaps it could have been of a more socially beneficial use if spent elsewhere. We are all very pleased with our visit to St Stevens a must for all first time visitors to Budapest.
After a quick lunch we headed back to the Continental , where we did not have long to wait to be bussed to our home for the next two weeks "The Avalon Panorama"
Time for dinner and it is here that I get a little testy and vent my honest opinion and disappointment at the standard of the meal served up to Pieter, Val and myself. On reflection I could have handled the situation a little better, I was not rude or abusive to staff etc. but they knew in no uncertain terms that we were not happy with the meal that was provided.
Pieter, Val and myself ordered a mixed grill of three different meats and vegetables which included a baked potato that had been cut at the top and a sour cream of some sort applied. The grilled meat consisted of Pork, Chicken and beef served on a skewer, it was so dry that it was difficult to break up and the consistency was very chewy. The potato was rubbery, the flesh of this object was heavily discolored by over cooking and looked most un-appetizing  to say the least, however the Caesar salad was very good. It is obvious that this meal had been pre-cooked, possibly over cooked  and that the reheating had done further damage.
The waiter quickly questioned me as to why I had not eaten my food, I told him that I would not eat this much below standard meal, (perhaps some other more explicit wording may have been used) he looked aghast and summoned the Head Waiter he quickly came but I was so upset by this time that I told him to go away, I don't think he understood so I told him again, he quickly backed off. All this time Pieter who hadn't eaten much of his meal either, gave me the benefit of his generous  support only I can' t remember what he said. Val had eaten most of hers but the skin of the potato proved too much for her.
No more was said on this subject but I'm sure I have been labeled as a possible Australian hobby.
SUCH IS LIFE, Crackers the Eagle.