Baths and bogs in Budapest

It feels like it´s been an eternity since my last post. So much has happened and a couple of countries crossed off the list as well.

Since the last entry in Sighisoara, we caught the overnight train to Budapest. Aiming for the 9pm train we were told it would be arriving at midnight, after the already sold out 11pm train. For some reason the woman in the ticket booth took pity on us and wrote us a ticket for a non-reserved seat - which could have resulted in an overnight trip spent in the aisles of a carriage hugging our bags (probably next to a toilet....). Luckily the sleeper carriages could be bought in consultation with the conductor and after some last minute scrambling between carriages we were allocated a narrow rack to share in a 6 berth room full of possibly drugged up Pragatians (my term for people who come from Prague - unless someone can suggest a better one). Once again I slept fairly soundly, despite my probable relocation to the bed across the gap if the train hit the brakes too hard.

Our two nights in Budapest were used to do a 15-ish kilometre walk around Pest, an afternoon at the cinema, a morning in the Schzezgeny (spelling not accurate) baths and generally looking at the squillions of monuments a beautiful old buildings without having a clue about their history of who they were. Unfortunately our only Buda experience was the view from the across the Danube. We also met up with some friends we had met a couple of times in Bulgaria and Romania and had a couple of the local brews (which includes watered down wine).

One of the highlights was a toilet flushing experience in our hostel. Much like the Perfect Storm, it seemed that the elements involved had all coordinated themselves to cause a near disaster. To start with we had just been gorging ourselves on cheesy foods and creamy coffees and my bowels were not performing optimally. The toilets in Hungary are designed so that whatever is put into them will sit in a small elevated dish - out of the water, until it is flushed. Third - the flush mechanism was broken. Fourth - it was a pull cord that attached to a cistern high overhead not even reachable when standing on the toilet. So you can see my dilemma when I had just had an emergency bowel movement. Luckily the walls were made from cement and were quite close together. So with my best rock climbing technique I wedged myself between the walls and worked my way up until I could see down into the cistern. I removed the lid and lifted the thing that allows the water to accumulate once more. Then I began the wait - about three minutes in total (felt like an hour) precariously perched above a toilet filled with horrendous excrement - praying that it would flush. It did. And I lowered myself to the ground without injury, bursting to tell Heather my exciting toilet story.

Being slightly ahead of our very tight schedule it was deemed possible to have a two night splurge in Vienna before heading to Poland. So we booked ourselves into a 5-star hotel and bought the appropriate attire for a night at the opera. Amazing how cheaply you can spruce yourself up - I even managed an extremely comfortable pair of half price Italian leather shoes. Although I don´t think I quite matched Heather for elegance and glamour - if only I had worn a pashmina too! Needless to say, the sounds of Mozart and Strauss drifted gently through the gothic towers during a starry Vienna night.

So after our two days of living in the lap of luxury, it is the overnight bus to Krakow this evening for the final 10 days of our little adventure together.