Devin and I woke up at 2:15 in the morning in Bratislava in order to catch a train to Zagreb, Croatia. For having less than two hours of sleep the night before, we were relatively cheery. We took the night bus to the train station only find out that our train had been delayed forty-five minutes. We were not happy about getting up so early only to have to sit at the station and try to stay awake. We finally boarded the train and immediately wanted breakfast. I pulled some granola out of my magical bag of snacks (I stock up at grocery stores because Devin gets grouchy when he's hungry, so I try to feed him every few hours), and we munched away on the way to Vienna, Austria. When we got to Vienna, we only had one minute to get to the train that would take us to Zagreb. Devin took off sprinting, and I was hobbling along behind him with my sore foot and big backpack. Unfortunately, the train was two minutes ahead of the time on my watch, and we ended up having to wait two hours for the next train.
We took a walk around Vienna and watched the sun rise. When we got back to the train station, Devin immediately planted himself on the floor and sprawled out for a nap. I headed off to explore and came back forty-five minutes later only to see a security guard waking Devin from his slumber. He told us we had to move to a bench and get off the floor. It was about time for our train to come anyway, so we grabbed some lunch, at 7:30 in the morning, and boarded.
The ride to Zagreb was long, and we had to layover and change trains in Slovenia. We finally got our first real passport stamps of the trip. We were pretty excited and looked at and discussed them for at least five minutes. Nerds (maybe Devin can join our club, Kali). It was a typical train ride: we wrote in our journals, slept, and wished that the car had air conditioning.
In Zagreb we ate at a pub and had some traditional Croatian fare. I had a fried porkchop wrapped in bacon (my cholesterol has to be through the roof by now) and a salad. Devin had venison stew and dumplings. We did a little exploring after dinner before heading back and going to bed before ten o'clock. I was SO excited to be in bed that early. In fact, I didn't even get up the next morning until 8:30. That's eleven hours of sleep! We should have left early that morning because we had seen just about all we could of Zagreb and were looking for things to do. We should have gone to the coast to Split, but oh well. McDonalds in Europe is at least twenty times better than at home, so once again we ate there for lunch. My Greek burger was so big I could hardly fit it in my mouth. It was on artisan bread and tasted like it was grilled at home. Yum!
While trying to kill some time we hit up yet another sidewalk cafe for a coffee (I think I've developed a new habit. I have coffee at least twice a day. It must be the Kimberling in me...just like Grandma Ina.). It was pretty hot outside and Devin and I wanted Americanized iced coffee, so we ordered our coffee and chocolate lattes and asked the waiter to make them cold and put ice in them. He looked at us like we were crazy, but he obliged. I think that cold hot chocolate could catch on... We then walked around looking for post cards. I found a giant outdoor fruit market, and Devin couldn't hold me back. I successfully spent the rest of my Croatian korunas in five minutes and added six pounds of fruit to my bag.
We caught the train to Budapest and ended up in a compartment with six seats. All six seats were full...with big sweaty men and me. There was no air conditioning, and the sun was glaring in the window. If you've ever sat in a greenhouse on the equator at noon in the middle of August then you know what it was like. We met a couple of guys from Budapest and ended up talking to them all about the city. They told us what to go see and how to avoid the gypsies. We finally arrived in Budapest, six hours later, and made our way to the hostel. There were ticket inspectors EVERYWHERE in the subway, but luckily Devin and I never break the rules and always buy tickets. We arrived at our hostel and were pleasantly suprised by the cleanliness and awesome location.
This morning I woke up to the owner making me my morning latte. Awesome. We headed out into the city, first to the train station to reserve our beds for the train tonight. We got our subway tickets and made it all the way to the train station. We were once again stopped by the inspectors. We showed them our tickets, and they told us that they were no good. WHAT?!? We explained to them that we had just got them before boarding the subway and that we had not exited and then gotten back on the train. They then informed us that each time you switch stations that you have to buy a new ticket. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? To make things even better, they then informed us that our fine would be 6,000 forint...each. Who carries 12,000 forint on them? Seriously. Devin was slightly angry and gave the inpector a piece of his mind. We ended up paying in Euros, and made our way to the train statin where we had to wait in line for an hour. Lovely morning.
We explored the city from East to West and walked the entire way. We stopped at a restaraunt in a back alley (they always have the best, most traditional food, and the lowest prices) for lunch where I had turkey with a wonderful red sauce, probably made with paprika and some type of vegetable soup/casserole with potatoes, cabbage, and onions. We continued our trek to the Danube river and crossed the Chain Bridge. What a beautiful city! The architecture is so intricate and unlike any we've see so far. We've gotten pretty far east, and the Turkish inluence is quite noticeable. Budapest is my favorite city of the trip so far. I have great hopes for Greece, and Venice is still my favorite city in the world. By the time we made it back to our hostel to pick up our bags we were incredibly sweaty and tired. I asked the owner if we could take a quick shower before heading out. He told us we could pay a small fee and stay until our train tonight. We payed, showered, and are now using the internet trying to catch up with email, facebook, and our blogs. There's no time for pictures today, but I wanted to get in an update. We'll be on night trains for the next three nights (that shower on Monday will feel great) so we won't have internet access.
Also, somewhere along the way I have acquired some type of bed bug. I have bites all over my body, and I itch like you wouldn't believe. Devin says it's because Europeans are boring and bland and I must be like them so that's why I'm being eaten alive and he isn't. I think it's because I'm sophisticated and cultured like Europeans and that's why they like me. Hmmm, I wonder why they aren't eating you, Devin?
Time to run! We've got a night train to catch, and we've got to make sure to take our time and buy the correct subway tickets so we don't get fined again.
