Beautiful Budapest

Early breakfast in the cellar of Old Town Venezia before heading off to Budapest via minibus to the station with an all day train journey ahead of us- but oh, what an exciting journey! We had reserved first class seats and paid about 4 euro for each, but had no idea we were going to have to pay another 43 euro! Apparently, Slovakia ( which is part of EU) is not a part of Eurail so our passes and ticket seats were not valid for the Slovakia part of the journey even though we weren't stopping in Slovakia. I had not one red cent on me, and between the other four, they raked up 90 euro- still not 215 euro as requested- and our fear was they actually might put us off the train at the next stop if we couldn't come up with the cash! Credit cards not accepted! Eventually, after lots of smiles and sorries, he told us he would let us go but to keep it hush hush. He didn't give us any sort of ticket because we hadn't paid the correct amount, so I think we are feeding his family this week.

We met up with Stacey who has been staying with her friends in Bratislava while we were in Vienna and Prague. She only had a second class ticket so we were very wary of the ticket inspector until we got across the border into Hungary where Stacey shouted us all a very strong coffee. Under normal circumstances, I would not have been able to stomach it but desperate times require desperate measures.

We arrived in Budapest after dark, and were organised onto a metro which took us straight to our accommodation which was perfect! A view overlooking St Stephen's Basilica- beautifully lit up at night- three bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen, washing machine, drying room, and a huge lounge and dining area and a verandah! We couldn't ask for more, and right in the middle of town close to everything. I would definitely stay here again if I am ever lucky enough to return to this amazing part of the world.

Keeley and Elizabeth organised a delicious pasta dish for dinner, while Kiryn and Stacey opted to go out for dinner. I simply did not have the energy. I also had a pile of washing as high as an elephant's eye which I offered to do since I don't do much else. The poor little washing machine was kept busy till late into the night. I was unbelievably tired but could not get to sleep (again) so dug into my medicine bag for help and slept soundly for the rest of the night awaking to the tantalising aroma of bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and chorizo cooking in the kitchen compliments of Elizabeth and Keeley again. They are both fantastic cooks.

Then off to explore St Stephen's Basilica. It was incredibly beautiful both inside and out. The interior took 11 years to decorate from 1894-1905. The rest of the gang went up the tower, but I kept my feet planted on terra firma. Coffee time at Starbucks- I don't know what Keeley aka Shelly ordered but it was delicious. Then off to catch the hop on hop off bus which took us along the Champs Elysees of Budapest called Andrassy up to Heroes' Square seeing many statues along the boulevard, all of which I have never heard of except for Franz Liszt and Zoltan Kodaly. The bus then turned back towards the Danube and crossed over the relatively new Elisabeth Bridge and up to the Castle District in Buda which is the mountainous side dropping off Lorelle at the bottom of the funicular. All except Elizabeth hopped, jumped or rolled ( me) off at the top and went to find the wine tasting. We found the most decoratively roofed Matthias Church named after King Matthias and the Fisherman's Bastion which lent itself to photographic endeavours. We then walked and walked and walked to find the elusive wine tasting, but of course, it was closed. We seem to have a knack of arriving on public holidays of which there have been several in the last few countries we have visited.

Back on the bus to the next stop at the Peace Statue from where we walked, slid, run, hobbled ( me) down the mountain to the Gellert Thermal Baths. Oh what bliss! 38C water- so relaxing and to top it off, I had booked what i thought was going to be an hour long indulgent chocolate massage. It turned out to be a salt scrub rub down, a body wrap for 20 minutes, a shower and then a pounding by Mrs Hitler who spoke no English, did not smile once, and obviously took her bad mood out on me! I suppose she had had a long day as it was 6pm by the time she finished with me. I walked out feeling more bruised and battered than when I walked in. Keeley and I climbed aboard a passing tram and managed to alight at the right stop. We were both famished or if there's a word for more than famished, we were it!

Keeley knew where there were some cheap restaurants closeby so she led the way. We trundled into one that looked ok with booth type seating only to discover the rest of our party had chosen the same restaurant and had already ordered their dinner. We quickly ordered something for entree and mains; we didn't really care what it was, and were amazed to find it was delicious and cheap and so huge we couldn't even finish it! It tasted like tuna crepes for entree, and chicken done in a variety of ways for mains. And so to bed...

This morning, we had to pack up by 11 even though our train does not leave until 10 past 7 tonight. I dilly-dallied around until 12, so was left to my own devices. I was intending to catch the hop on hop off bus to the boat cruise but ended up walking and walking and walking. I walked down to the Danube and then across the Green Liberty Bridge along the Buda bank of the river past the Elisabeth Bridge, past the Chain Bridge and almost up to the Margrit Bridge, all the time looking for the bloody boat! I walked back again, thinking I must have walked past ( which I did a couple of times in fact) all the time looking for a boat! What I should have been looking for was the empty pier that the boat would pull in to! Oh well, that was my exercise for the day! I finally figured this out but was exhausted and dehydrated since I hadn't brought water with me as I had intended just catching the bus. I must have looked like I was going to pass out as a lovely Irish couple gave me a bottle of water which revived me. I then hopped on the boat and just sat. When it finally got back to its starting point ( on the other side of the river!), there were Lorelle and Elizabeth sitting on the bank waiting for the 3pm cruise, so I grabbed us seats up the front and just sat for the next hour. We then found a short cut through the shopping streets and came out right at our corner due to Lorelle's navigation skills. I would have gone back the same way I came which was much longer. Lorelle and Elizabeth went off to find coffee, but all I wanted was water so I stayed in the reception area chatting to the lovely girls who work there until our taxi arrived to take us to the station. It was a 7 seater but there was no way 6 of us AND our luggage were going to fit in so Kiryn and Stacey valiantly offered to metro it to the station. The metro system is so efficient that they arrived only minutes after the taxi. The train pulled in and we all piled in to our sleeping cabins, much better than the Queensland trains. Well, the last time I was on a sleeper at home was 40 years ago so they may have improved since then...

Breakfast in Budapest- yummy

Looking up into the Dome

Inside St Stephen's

St Stephen's Basilica

Matthias Church

The decorative roof on the church

Matthias Church

The Fishermen's Bastion

The Fishermen's Bastion

Dinner- all sorts of chicken!

The Green Liberty Bridge

Ruins of Bishop Gellert's lodge

The cruise boats on the Danube

The Chain Bridge

The Houses of Parliament

I did not want to go to sleep early and since sitting up in our cabin was impossible, I headed to the dining car to sit and eat and drink which I did quite successfully- too successfully in fact! I ate a yummy dinner of roasted capsicum, tomato and pickled cabbage followed by pork, chips and mushrooms. We played a game of euchre while Keeley slept and Elizabeth watched before everyone except Stacey and me headed to bed. We stayed up reading about Brasov on Stacey's web archive pages, and drinking and chatting until we were joined by a tearful Keeley whose cabin had been broken into by the Romanian Police demanding to see her passport. Stacey had to go back to my cabin to get my passport as well as hers. The policewoman was not happy at being kept waiting, and I tried to make small talk- very hard when she didn't speak English and I don't speak Romanian, but I did compliment her on her lovely nails which were done very artistically. Pity I didn't have mine to show her! Keeley then stayed up with us until about 2 when we headed to bed. It didn't take me long to fall asleep and had many vodka-fuelled dreams before being awoken by Stacey as we had to pack up, get dressed, and have some breakfast before hopping off in Brasov. We made it, but only just!