Hi there,
It isn't long since my last update but last week was action-packed. Travelling by myself meant I could do a lot, mainly because I'm used to an intense London-paced life. To squeeze as much in as possible I was narrowly catching (or missing) trains, planes, buses and boats all week. Starting with the plane from London (to Budapest) which was overbooked. Luckily I got the last ticket; the person behind me was told the plane was full (they had nearly pushed in front of me). Leaving Budapest was even more exciting – I got to the train station on time then found out I was at the wrong train station. I didn't want to wait 2 hours with my bags so I risked a taxi even though drivers in Budapest are known for ripping off tourists. Sure enough the price was high and at one point he took the meter out of the console and jiggled the cables a bit. I then realised I didn't have enough money in their currency so we also had to debate what the exchange rate was from Euros. But I made the train (by about 30 seconds) so it was well worth it.
By the way photos of Budapest and Austria are at http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=720958974&k=Y5G4ZWR5W62M5AF1YEXXRT and http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=720958974&k=ZWGT54WZ4W2M5AF1YEXXRT (you don't need facebook to see them).
In Budapest I did the usual touristy things, including the hot baths in natural spring water. I went early on a Monday morning so there were no other tourists there, just the regulars – the old men in dire need of new swimsuits. The people at the door weren't too good at telling me where to go. First they sent me to what might have been the women's bath (the lady at the door wouldn't let me in). Then they sent me to the massage room where I scared a blind man. It wasn't open yet but the door was open and a guy was wandering about. He didn't acknowledge me so I thought he was another customer and kept looking for someone to help me. He went around the corner and called something out (in Hungarian) then came back toward me; just before he walked into me I realised he was blind and presumably had been calling out 'who is there?'. So yeah, I scared a blind man. He didn't speak English so we had a good little chat and 15 minutes later I was finally in the hot bath which was cool – kind of like swimming in a church.
After my expensive taxi and a train I was in Vienna. The museums there were awesome. I think I went to five of them but there were many more. There was old stuff (including the oldest statue in the world (I think it was 32,000 years old). They had 5 of these very old statues, all about 5-10 cms high carved from a rock, all of the same thing: naked women). There was less old stuff such the impressionists and various ninja turtle namesakes and there was new stuff (I particularly liked Julian Opie). One night Germany was playing Austria in the Euro cup (in Vienna). So I bought myself a cheap football shirt (red and white) and beer to join the crowd of 100,000 people in the centre of Vienna. It was a weeknight so it wasn't too rowdy but an amazing atmosphere.
I missed my train from Vienna (by about 30 seconds) and was very annoyed at myself. It gave me an hour to plan for my next destination which was Durnstein on the Danube. This is possibly my favourite place in Europe so far. I planned to do a hike one morning but ended up hiking for 2 days because it was great. I found a fantastic castle above Spitz where I had lunch. I was there for almost an hour and literally no one else was there – I couldn't believe I had a castle to myself.
As I left my hotel in Durnstein (I was sad to leave it behind) I was sure I would miss my boat, luckily the walk wasn't as far as I thought so I made it (by well over 30 seconds). It was a nice cruise down the Danube en-route to Salzburg. I was surprised how beautiful Salzburg was in the evening (from the North bank of the river); other than that is was so-so. I saw a Marionette performance of the Sound of Music one night and a Mozart concert the other (both were excellent).
I took a day trip to Werfen to see the ice caves (a 42km long tunnel covered with ice) and I squeezed in a little more hiking while I was there – a great path which I would love to go back and finish. That's about it. I made my flight back to London (by then I didn't want any more excitement) and am now catching up on the week of work I missed and planning my next three holidays. Hope you are well. Keep in touch. Andy.
