Daily journal notrd
Good bye Budapest! I have seen so many interesting things and met interesting people. I have so many more things to see and probably more interesting people to meet. I shall return! The apartment was great My “cage” The courtyard Now relaxing in a Eurail Lounge awaiting my train to Sofia
Explored Buda . Chain Bridge between Buda and Pest View of Pesht from Buda Could not get into Buda castle as there was a wine exhibition and tasting. Purchased tickets and got in. Explored the castle and tasted best Hungarian wines. Got a wine tasting glass in a holding bag
I am moving from country to country and city to city at a speed that does not leave much room for taking a break and writing notes. Today is the third day of the voyage. I have forced myself to sleep in. Yes, I actually took a sleeping pill yesterday to have a good rest and overcome the jet lag.It worked like a charm. Luckily, it is raining this morning so I did not miss much. Ok back to Day 1. Dublin. The city is vibrant and interesting Between the late arrival, morning rain, and 5:55 am departure next morning I had a short day to see it. I took the Hop on Hop off tour and made the best out it. I will write a separate post about Dublin. It well deserves it. On to the Day 2. The day started at 3:30am with several more disappointments. The cab came almost 20 minutes late! Considering my day 0 experiences and this tardiness I realized that Ireland is not Switzerland. The flight to Budapest was OK despite the fact that Aer Lingus was charging for everything, even water! Budapest greeted me with many nice surprises: -A reasonably priced door to door mini bus service from the airport. Very cozy apartment. Thank you, AirBnb Free public transit for seniors Good warm weather My first task was to find a Eurail office and make the reservation for the railway trip from Budapest to Belgrad. From there I just walked the streets and took pictures. In the heart of the city, near the Liberation square, I joined an English tour for international students interested in Hungary’s Communist past. Tired but full of information, emotion, and enjoyment of the wonderful scenery I ventured to take a short cut and walk home. I took a wrong advice or made a mistake and ended up in the heart of the Jewish Quarters. This is the statue of me at the end of the day yesterday.
Last minute tasks, final goodbyes, and first hiccups. An attempt to do online checkin for the Aer Lingus flight from Toronto to Budapest with a stop over in Dublin failed.The system complained that there are more than 24 hrs for the flight Dublin Budapest and refused to process check in for the Toronto Dublin flight that was less than 8 hours away. What a bright system they have. Another system brightness showed up when we boarded. The TV screens were showing some bogus times at the origin, destination and estimated arrival. Passengers kept asking questions, flight attendancta just shrug their shoulders: ” it’s a system error”. The flight was delayed for 2 hours. Finally, we took off and more disappointments appeared. Alcohol was not complimentary. This is a transcontinental flight is it not? Asked 2 attendants for an additional tomato juice. Both promised come back in a minute, both forgot. Otherwise, the flight was smooth and wonderfully uneventful. Just the way it should be.
