Budapest

The train left Bratislava late, and got later. In the middle of the Slovakian countryside it stopped altogether. The first class carriage seemed to be inhabited solely by English-speakers so none of us understood the official announcement, which was followed by a mass evacuation of the 2nd class coaches. It seems that the first theory that they were heading for a nearby station was incorrect. They had just hopped outside for a smoke! Eve's hypothesis was that the engine had broken down, and the later appearance of a fresh locomotive bore out this theory.

We sent a text message to our Airbnb host to alert him to the delay. We were therefore surprised when we got a 'Where are you?' text from the host's cousin as the train crawled through the suburbs of Budapest. The apartment was operated as tourist accommodation by the Andrassy family, and during our stay we met several cousins. They were charming and very helpful when alongside us, but text messages never got passed on to the right individual.

Having messaged our arrival it was frustrating to stand on the pavement in the evening gloom beside a locked gate for half an hour waiting to be let in. And then the flat was without electricity. The day before Budapest had been drenched by a tremendous storm, and power was still out in many places, including the block of flats where we were staying. While we saw several individual buildings in darkness, it was not affecting the whole area. Not far along the street we found a suitable restaurant where apparently everything worked except the EFTPOS machine.

In the morning the power was back on, but there was no Internet. An Andrassy cousin appeared, rebooted the router and still we had no Internet. So he telephoned the ISP and discovered that the problem was that the ISP itself was still without power. Across the street a fire engine was pumping out someone's basement. It must have been a memorable storm.

A local pastry shop and the coffee shop opposite provided breakfast for a total of $4.

Our first task in Budapest was to reserve our next train. By the time we had bought tickets and negotiated the metro it was 11am when we arrived at the main train station to book our sleeper berth to Romania. For some reason Eurail cannot reserve sleeper berths anywhere, and most of the trains as we got further East were 'reservation required'. I suspect that this is merely to wring a few extra dollars out of travellers for a booking fee. Under communist rule there was only one class of travel, and most trains in the former Eastern bloc still lack first class coaches. Back at the station to make an international booking the system is very simple. You take a ticket with a number and go to a ticket window when your number is called. At the time we took our ticket we were approximately 80th in the queue. Our number was called roughly 2 hours after we took our ticket.

Internet research had provided contradictory information about trains between Budapest and our next destination, Sighişoara. Some sites said we had to change, while some reckoned we could go straight through. Some advertised sleeper accommodation and some didn't. Our international reservations lady was built like a prop forward and gave me the initial impression of having a sore head. However, it was her computer that was troublesome, not us. After much scowling investigation we were told that no sleeper berths were available, and the only seats were in 2nd class. But we didn't have to change trains.

You couldn't help noticing a lot of people in a covered area between the main station and the entrance to the underground. They were just sitting and/or sleeping in family groups. We didn't realise until we got home that they must have been Syrian refugees

To see lots of Budapest in the day and a half remaining, we invested in a hop-on hop-off bus ticket. Not the smartest move. The open air bus was too cold and the covered one too stuffy. The commentary was available in lots of languages, but it was occasional factoids buried in lots of music, which was most disappointing. However, the tariff includes a boat ride on the Danube.

It turned into a showery afternoon, so deserting the open-top bus was a good choice. We went right around the route and determined that we would return and explore Buda Castle on the morrow.

The nearest metro line to the flat was the oldest underground railway in continental Europe. It still features little 2-car trains and very Victorian platforms. It's the underground railway that hobbits would build. Luckily it's very shallow. The lack of escalators doesn't matter.

Station name and walls in ceramic tiles.

Across the tracks to the opposite platform.

The next day was 20 August, which is Hungary's first king St. Stephen's Day, also the day of the Foundation of Hungary and "the day of the new bread". St. Stephen of Hungary (ca. 975 – 15 August 1038), as the first king of Hungary, led the country into the Christian church and established the institutions of the kingdom and the church. I mention this because the celebrations involve closing some roads and Buda Castle.

Thus we had to rapidly revise our programme. We had a pleasant amble through the park on Gellért Hill, but it wasn't the same as a castle. The hill is named after St. Gellért, an Italian who came to Hungary as a missionary bishop upon the invitation of King St. Stephen I around 1000 AD. His task was to convert the Hungarians to Christianity. Some pagan leaders who did not want to convert captured St. Gellért and rolled him down from the hill in a barrel. Whilst we deplore such a violent response, we can understand the pagans' frustrations at the uninvited door-knocker.

The weather was suitable for rising in an open-top bus on the 2nd day.

Fortunately the Danube boats were still running on the holiday, so we got our boat ride. The commentary on the boat was far more informative than the bus, but the sound quality wasn't very good.

Buda Castle

Matthias Church

Some of the blocks of flats had sporting designs on the walls.  This one is fencing.

An unknown, but very colourful building by the river.

The Parliament building faces the river.

After our excursion afloat we promenaded the streets of Pest. (Originally there were two towns, Buda on the West bank of the river and Pest on the East.) There was definitely a carnival atmosphere, including some great music.

This violinist was superb.

A wine-glass xylophone, well tuned and played with great skill.

We drifted to the Parliament building. It faces the river and our tour had overloaded us with statistics about the umpteen kilometres of corridors, total height of lift shafts and numbers of minions that work there. In the vernacular, it is humongous.

Parliament from the back.

We have not located an explanation for this piece of art.  Is it significant that it faces the Parliament Building?  Maybe all politicians should be greeted with a similar salute when they leave the chamber.

The highlight of the holiday is a huge fireworks display from the river bank. People were already thronging bridges and streets beside the river long before nightfall but we had to forgo the entertainment and catch a train.

We had stored our luggage at the flat. Lonely Planet recommends a couple of taxi companies, but warns that the dispatchers only speak Hungarian. Uber is the answer. You don't need to speak any foreign languages to use the app. The drivers were very busy that evening (or had gone off duty to watch the fireworks) but eventually we got a car to the station. This time the estimate was very accurate, and the fare was significantly less than the regular taxi we used on arrival.