Finally kleenex….
I don’t think they believe in kleenex in Romania. Even in the expensive hotel in Brasov, there was no kleenex. Now, our room at KT Boarding house in Vienna has kleenex… and aren’t they presented so well?
In Budapest, they had Kleenex, but it was hidden away in a drawer. We had to find it and set it out.
One more story about Budapest:
We got back to the room about 7pm after dinner…Jack’s stomach was still bothering him, so we quit walking early and headed back.
Since it was still kinda early, I decided to head back out on my own, determined to find a place that I could get Kim a watch. Her Nike watch broke on the first day of the trip and she has been without one. So, I was strolling a few blocks of Budapest and got back to the main street near our hotel. A couple of “ladies” approached me and said something in Hungarian. I mumbled something like “I don’t understand” and they said in English, “where are you going?” Realizing what was happening, I said “I am going home!” and kept on walking. When I got back to the room, I told Kim she was lucky to have me back…there were mobs of women after me on the streets of Budapest! I really don’t think I looked that lonely.
Leaving for Vienna:
We got up this morning in our very nice Marriot hotel in Budapest after a good night’s rest. We had some breakfast at the continental breakfast. I have been surprised that in Brasov, and Budapest, there is a continental breakfast. We like it because it is similar to home. Not much protein though…
We hiked down to the Hydrofoil launch about 1/4 mile from our hotel. Not too tough considering all of the gear we have with us. Kim was in the lead and took a couple pictures.
The boat ride was smooth and easy. There were not many people on board and we could easily move around. It was amazing as it traveled about 35mph upstream on the Danube. We went through 2 locks; one in Slovakia and another as we entered Vienna. We were able to stand in a doorway of the boat and feel the breeze as we went up the river. It was really fun. We left at 9:00am and got there at 3:30pm.
One mistake we made was not having any cash (Euro) with us on the boat. They did not take credit cards for any of the food/snacks. Fortunately we anticipated the food part of this and had some PB&J sandwiches Kim made and some other snacky stuff. We also had water with us, so we were OK.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
Parliament building in Budapest.
We were on top of the boat in the Locks in Slovakia. I bet the total height we traveled up was at least 60 feet. We have it on video to show later.
This was the cog rail that took you to the top of the hill in Budapest. We did not get to see this because Jack was not feeling well.
There were lots of cool castles and old forts/fortresses along the Danube. Very cool to see all of the old walls.
Another castle.
Jack playing his Play Station upside down.
A picture before we took off. That is our boat behind us to the left.
Arrival in Vienna:
When we got off the boat, we grabbed our luggage and started heading off the docks. We had a vague idea of where we were going to catch the subway, but not positive. Before we could get off the docks it started raining on us. We got under some umbrellas at a restaurant and got our rain coats out. We hiked probably 6-8 blocks to the U1 subway line. The rain was only heavy for a few minutes. First time we have been rained on since we got over here.
When we got to the subway station, we still did not have any Euro. There was a panhandler in the station, and he was helping us know how to run the ticketing machine. It was pretty interesting. The machine would not take our credit or debit cards and all we had was USD and a little souvenir money from Hungary. We decided to hike to the other end of the terminal to see if there was a place we could buy our travel passes or get up top to get some cash. Before we headed back up (there was an elevator on this end of the station), we tried the machine on this end. It accepted the Mastercard, so we were off. We took the U1 to downtown, and then the U3 to our stop near KT boarding house. We missed it the first time, but found that is only about a 1/2 block from the station exit. See below.
This is the view when you come out of the subway station. Cafe Ritter us supposed to be one of the most famous Cafe’s in Vienna. Then, if you look to your left, you can see our room in the boarding house (below): We are on the second floor where the structure “juts” out. Those are our windows.
Around the corner from the picture above, is the entrance to our hotel. It is really cozy, with only 5 rooms. See the entrance below:
Then, check out this entryway (below)…for those of you who have ever lived in a big city, this probably does not impress….but to us “suburbanites” it is really cool.
Jack was intrigued buy the graffiti on the walls outside our room, so he was in the window trying to copy it. There he is below:
Our room is small and cozy, but very clean.
I made a trip out tonight to get a few things. Had to go a couple stops down on the U-bahn (subway) to an underground market that was open. It is a holiday of some kind here and all the shops are closed. Thankfully, tonight I did not get propositioned.
In closing, I know Kim would like for me to assure you all that I did graduate from college. Both she and Jessica have found numerous “type-o’s" in my posts, and I think they have even been a bit embarrassed. Please bear in mind that I am typing this in the dark, not proof-reading it, and pressing send as soon as I am done so I can go to bed. I really do no the differnece between new and knew :-). oh, did I mess that up?
Thanks for the prayers. We are praying that Jack get some confidence and calm his nerves a little so he doesn’t get a stomach ache and have to stop for the bathroom every hour. Ever since we lost him for a few minutes at the water park in Williamsburg Virginia, he has been worried we will lose him again. We assured him we were much worse parents then and would never let that happen again. He is also coming off 2 days of being really sick and not liking the food. So…tomorrow is a new day. Gute Nacht!
No comments:
Post a Comment