This morning I was up at 5:10 because we had to catch a 6:45 am train. Yuck. Breakfast was packed for us to take on the train so we just had to wake up and go. I was downstairs early enough to sit and enjoy the massage chair they had there for about 10 minutes. I had to kick Katherine out of the chair, however. They also had some magazines in English so I read Elle magazine while having a massage. Not too shabby.
Then we were off! We walked to the train station and it was quite a warm morning. I made the mistake of wearing my hoodie and worked up quite a sweat. We got to the station and all was well...
Two of the girls did a last minute passport check and it turned out they had left theirs at the hotel in the safe. They miraculously noticed about 5 minutes before the train was to arrive and notified Brian. Brian quickly phoned the hotel and got someone to meet him halfway with their passports. We weren't sure we would make it and Brian had left with the tickets but told us to get on the train regardless when it came. Somehow, he made it back in time with their passports. We got on to the train and into our seats. It was six to a compartment - I sat with Kerry, Katherine, Brian, and two nice people from Korea. I dug into my breakfast right away (ham and cheese sandwich, apple, and yogurt). I had bought a banana the day before to bring as well!
We were told that we had to get off the train and switch onto another one at one of the stops. Kerry and I were enjoying a nap so it wasn't exactly pleasant to be woken up in a hurry like that. We had already been stopped for quite some time when this was discovered as well so we had to move quickly. We got off and went to the track we were supposed to but the train wasn't coming until 10 so some of us tossed a football around and talked about how we were already ready to enjoy a glass of our wine that we had brought for the train ride (half jokingly, half not).
When we got onto the next train we figured we were in the right seats, but it turned out we were actually in the first class seats. It was the exact same as the seats we had been on the previous train however, so we figured it was right. We had a passport check when we entered Hungary and the conductor on this new train was on a bit of a power trip. Again, nobody had booked the first class seats but he felt the need to kick us out. The carriages that we were in were completely packed full with people as well so there was nowhere for us to go in a hurry. Nobody in the carriage we were in was actually travelling first class save for maybe 10 people I bet. So we made the move to several carriages down into the smaller, hotter, smellier seats. Luckily at this point we only had a few hours left out of our roughly 9 hour train journey.
My plan had been to sleep at some point while on the train, but because of all the chaos that never happened. It was also too hot to just sit in your seat and I was sitting next to some older lady. I stood for most of the way in a doorway by Brian and Steve because it had a breeze at least. We never did get to crack open our wine because we were afraid the conductor wouldn't approve. I did eat the lunch I had bought at the supermarket the day before though. It was yummy. I had olives with feta, a cheese roll, and cherry tomatoes. I accidentally got olive oil on my white shirt so I snuck to the first class washroom and washed it in the sink.
We got to Budapest around 5 but by the time we got off the train, and took the metro to our hotel it was around 6:30 when we got there. We were all desperate for a shower so that was the first order of business. Then the girls got all beautified and into dresses. We had our farewell dinner with Brian at 7:30 at the restaurant down the road (same one we went to last time in Budapest). I had chicken with grilled vegetables and Donna and I split a bottle of red. It was good.
From there we went off to the ruins bar we went to last time in Budapest as well to watch the Brazil vs. Netherlands football game. It was packed so we had to sit in the overfill room. It ended up being a late night because we stayed for a bit after the game and danced and drank more. It was a fun time.
It was a long day and I felt bad for Brian for having to deal with all the craziness!
This photo of Katherine captures it all:
Watching football at the ruins bar:
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