Budapest

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  Budapest, Hungary
Monday, July 28, 2008

We arrived in Budapest about an hour late so I didn't have too long to wait for my train to Berlin. I had 250 Forints I had put in my purse from my trip to Budapest 2 years ago and so I managed to grab a sweet pastry from one of the outlets in the station. I'm ashamed to say that the first thing I did when I get to the station was to head outside and folornly look around and go 'where are the golden arches?' Yes, since I've been away I have become a McDonalds addict. Well, not an addict, but it was the one place I knew I could get clean Western European style toilets and something I could actually eat (Fillet o' fish or tuna salad). I've probably had about 7 meals there in 13 days but I won't be eating there when I get back home! But the path to McD's was blocked by roadworks so I just grabbed my pastry and headed for the train. When I first got on some bloke tried to talk to me and then left and came back, and managed to muster up the words '30 euros' 'brother write', to which I just said no I don't have any Euros! He was pretty well dressed for a beggar by all accounts. I was in a compartment with a couple of Italian blokes for the first part of the trip. I had to supress a giggle though as they really sounded like Peter in 'Family Guy' when he grows a mustache and goes into an Italian deli and tries to order in 'Italian' now that he has the power of facial hair ('Babbity boopy, beebity babady doopy'). They were replaced by some Hungarians and some Germans later on.

The journey was a long one, 12 hours in all. Although I had had a shower in VT I was starting to feel a bit minging in the heat, and I had run out of socks the day before so I was wearing 2+ day old socks and was starting to smell like a homeless person. Seriously. I sheepishly went to the dining car for some food, as I had read on seat61.com that they took Euros as well as Forints (I guess cos although the train originated in Hungary, it passed through Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Germany, and while only the latter has the Euro, they had to offer some alternative to Forints) and had a very civilised time eating an omlette and then went back there later to pick up a sandwich to take back to my compartment. I had noticed that the train was starting to run a little late though. I managed to find the train manager to see if he knew what platform the Brussels train was going to leave from in Berlin, and he said he thought it was 12 or 13. Note to self - do not leave only 25 minutes between catching trains if it is imperative that you catch the second train. You will only spend the last stages of the first journey stressing out. Seriously, I'm not doing that again, in hindsight it was rather silly, but it was the only way to squeeze out those last couple of days of holiday from my time off. The 25 minutes ticked by and we arrive at the southern Berlin train station at the time my train was due to leave. At least another 5 mins to the western train station I wanted.....

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