It was hard to say goodbye to the Austrian mountains and forests and all the lovely scenery that we've been seeing for the last week and longer. We almost didn't say goodbye soon enough -- I'd set the alarm for 6:25 instead of 5:25. Luckily, Verle woke up and checked the time.
As we were riding toward Salzburg, a group of young men and women dressed in native dress came on the train and got off later. They were evidently a performing group -- one carried a trombone. We had to think of Adam and Mary Beth in their Victorian caroling outfits performing in Europe a couple of years ago. We have had a wonderful time in Europe, but we miss everyone at home. Now that we are on our last week, we are getting very anxious to be home again.
On the way to Vienna, we found a train compartment in the first class section, kicked off our shoes, tipped back our chairs, and got really comfortable. Halfway there, a mother and father and their two children came in to join us. We thought, "Oh, darn," but we couldn't expect to keep a six seat compartment for the two of us! They turned out to be interesting travel companions. They were on their way to Vienna to see their new first grandson. They had two older sons and 24 years later they had a girl and a boy Alannah and Cole's ages. Patricia sang us a song in English-she learned it at school.
We have had great luck with our trains staying on schedule all over Europe -- until just before Vienna, where our train stopped. It sat there for an hour and a half, while they fixed some computer problem ahead of us. Trains were backed up all over, and many people missed their appointments and connections. It wasn't a big problem for us, because we could just take the next train, although it made us get to Budapest two hours later than we had planned.
On the way to Budapest, we heard English being spoken and introduced ourselves to two couples on their way to a convention for veterinarians in Budapest. One couple was from Wisconsin and the other fromn northwest of Grand Island. They used to live in Palmer and know the Watts and Lyle and Darlene Gee and their family. It was enjoyable to swap stories with them! Alan is probably wondering what their names are -- Bill and Jeanniene Burdett.
We treated ourselves to our first meal in the train restaurant. We split a meal of Hungarian paprika chicken and spetzula. Then we split a Hungarian dessert -- a kind of thin pancake with chocolate syrup. Peach juice completed this enjoyable experience.
The architecture of the buildings changed greatly as we left Austria and drove through Hungary. Hungary was depressed under Communism, and it's taking time to try to build up its infrastructure. We saw a lot of small houses built like a schoolhouse with a four-sided roof coming to a peak in the middle.
When we arrivded in Budapest, we decided to take a taxi instead of trying to catch two different buses to the Gallert Guest House, where we had reservations. We got a Budapest map on the train from a girl working for the city. The guest house is far from the train station, and we were afraid we'd get lost and have trouble knowing where to get off the buses. Also, we would have to get Hungarian money for the bus rides both ways, and we had no idea how much we would need. The taxi driver will pick us up again at 6:30 tomorrow morning so we can get to our train to Germany on time.
We checked into our home from the night -- it's in a quiet neighborhood. We checked in, talked outside with a Hungarian lady from Canada, and then walked back downtown to the Danube. It was fun to walk without our bags, and we got a better look at the city than we could get from the train and the taxi.
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