This post has been uploaded as a blog post retrospectively from the diary written at the time.
The advantages of having my own cabin were grossly outweighed by the fact that my passport was checked four times in the night. As I wake up, dawn is rising and I drift in and out of sleep. We arrive in Budapest at just gone 8.10am.
I say goodbye to Graham, a Canadian that I met on the train and then go to change money. At this point some rogue spots me and tries to give me cash in the queue for the exchange. I say no. He says yes. I say no. He puts out 5000 Florins. I think that’s too much. It’s probably fake. Then he puts out 6000 Florins. Fuck it, yeah, take the money and run. 100 French Francs for 6000 Florins. I don’t think the guy recognised the currency. He kind of looked confused. I walk swiftly out, counting my money. I have just fucked a pony.
I go to the supermarket to buy breakfast and sit on the main road watching the Trabants, Ladas and Skodas go by. I have a limited time.
I cross over into Buda and go to the castle. It is excellently kept, with a funicular train to take you to it. However, the wonderful awe of the place was quickly outdone when I read a guide book that said it had been rebuilt after World War 2. Obviously…
Back over to Pest and stop on the windy Danube. It had evaded me in Vienna, but this time I was actually crossing it! I grab some lunch in a shameful Burger King, then head up to St Stephen’s. Every city has one. After that I go out to the park to see a castle. It turns out to be an agricultural museum, and whilst interesting, it is all written in Hungarian.
Frankly, fed up with the heat and the travelling, I head up to Keleti at about 4pm. My cabin is with an Austrian couple and an Irish/Canadian guy. I have lunch with the Irish/Canadian guy and enjoy it but that night is a bastard as the Austrian guy snores like fuck, and I really want to punch him.
