Rough Day

Day 27 - Budapest, Hungary:

This morning I woke up likely still a little intoxicated. Everyone was in rough shape. After a nice shower and a big breakfast I felt a bit better, but still not nearly 100%.

We had a private bus transport to Budapest that left at 8:30 am. It was a 4 hour drive that mostly consisted of complete silence and everyone sleeping. 

Once we arrived in Budapest we got settled in and then went for a group walk around town to get oriented. We stopped and had some delicious and cheap chicken gyros for lunch. My hungover stomach needed that. We walked past the Budapest version of the London Eye. We also went into St.Stephens Basilica that took 46 years to build. It was gorgeous inside.

From there we walked across the river on the Chain Bridge. The views along the river were beautiful. You could see the Budapest Palace perched high up on the Buda side of the river. There was a funicular you could take up, which in my state would have been my preference, or you can walk up. The group decided to walk up so I persevered and made it. From up there you could see the views of the Pest side down below. The Danube river seemed to be quiet busy with boats and river cruises of all kinds. 

We were pressed for time however, as we had a new group of people and tour leader to meet for the next leg of the trip at 6pm. I was walking around like a zombie by this time and struggled to stay awake through the meeting. Brian, from New York, is our new leader for the next leg and then Andy will be our leader again for the last 2 weeks. Joining the group is a mother and daughter (same age as me) from Australia, an older Australian couple, and an Irish girl. More people will be joining us in a weeks time though. 

Once that meeting was done, I rushed back to the hotel to get half an hour of shut eye in before meeting my group for a farewell dinner. Fortunately, I got my second wind at dinner after having some delicious Hungarian stew. My second wind was so big that I even agreed to go out for a beer afterwards. Andy took Sean, Adrienne, and myself to an old ruins bar that was basically an outdoor courtyard with trees and lanterns everywhere and two large screens playing the FIFA World Cup (Argentina vs. Bosnia). It was a really neat atmosphere with a good DJ. We had a tasty local beer each and then it was back home and off to bed!

It was a very long day. Tomorrow afternoon I'm off to Serbia by train. 

St. Stephens Basilica:

Chain bridge:

View across to the "Pest" side: