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Day 9
I checked out and headed for the station to leave my luggage. A large sign indicated the ‘Luggage Room’, which turned out to be a big but very dark room despite the bright sun outside. A man sitting behind the desk took my bag and wordlessly tore off a ticket for me. I wondered how many hours of sunlight he got each day. Maybe his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light and were now super-sensitive.Another short metro ride back to the centre of the city, and I switched lines to the city’s park. Lunch used up most of my remaining florents at a restaurant near the national museum of culture. I’d had quite enough culture the previous evening and was feeling very poor, so I skipped that museum in favour of the transport museum, which cost just 150 florents to enter (about 40p, US$0.28).
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Day 8
No repeats of the previous days delay – I knew the metro by now and I was in the centre in no time. I had a few other things to do before seeing more of Budapest, the first of which was to arrange to leave it. I went to the MAV office (Hungarian railways) to book a seat, and found yet another take-a-number system. I took a number and went to play with the touch screen information terminal while I waited.It was quite a long wait, but the system on the touch screen terminal was excellent. I looked up trains to Istanbul, Venice, Bucharest and Athens, so I had quite a lot of food for thought by the time my number was called. It was all getting very complicated. I could go to Istanbul, where I could then connect to Greece easily, but I’d be way ahead of John, Chris and Sunil so we’d probably never regroup. Bucharest would be a good place to stop on the way to Istanbul or Athens, but it seemed silly to go there simply because it was conveniently located. Going to Athens directly was a long trip, and it would probably result in passing the others in Italy somewhere but not managing a proper regroup. Venice was an interesting option, putting me in northern Italy to get to Greece from the other side, and almost certainly meet up with the others en-route, but it meant cutting short on Eastern Europe.
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Day 7
I imagined I might be sharing a compartment with some seasoned travellers, and that we’d exchange stories about our adventures long into the early hours.Of course, as it turned out, none spoke English – though one, a Romanian farmer, was happy to try out his high-school English. The others also looked as though they were on business rather than pleasure, so we were all in bed by 22:30.
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Day 5
I woke up at one o’clock. PM. I didn’t know that yet, but I did notice that everyone else has disappeared so I leaned over for my phone to check the time. I did a double take and had to check again to make sure I really had slept though the whole morning.For a moment I panicked and thought that the others had probably got up and gone out at 8 or some equally reasonable hour, leaving me to slumber through the whole day, but then I found that the bathroom was occupied so at least one of them was still there. It turned out to be Chris.
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Day 4
Our second-class couchette could not have been more impressive given the class we were travelling. The carriage was brand new, with aircon that worked, sockets to plug in phones, pleasant staff, and even a questionnaire in German asking us to comment on the quality of the service, rating each part on a scale of 1 to 5.Berlin-Zoo station turned out to be rather disappointing, considering our train had come all the way from Holland and chosen this particular place to stop. No tourist information kiosks were obvious, but there was a guy waiting outside who delivered his pitch. We decided to go there – it was reasonably cheap, included breakfast, and the room was nice.
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Day 3
We woke up at about 0940, and just made the checkout time. At the station our bags went into lockers. Probably the most complicated, over-engineered lockers I’ve ever seen, since in order to store an item you needed to find an empty one, stow your luggage (ok so far), close the door, wait for it to automatically lock, insert money in a nearby touchscreen terminal, and take a printed ticket which was dispensed.The problem was not so much the complexity of the system as the springyness of the doors. If they weren’t locked, they sprung open, which obviously helps people considerably when they are on the finding an empty locker stage, but becomes an issue when trying to close them, because you actually needed to HOLD the door closed while the motorised locking mechanism engaged the bolts. All over the room loud clangs could be heard where frustrated people slammed the doors with ever increasing force, only for them to spring open again immediately, because the locking mechanism hadn’t had a chance to close the lock.
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Day 2
We woke at 0730, not sure why, but as sure as night follows day John was first in the shower. He’d first begun to exhibit this behaviour when I travelled Australia with him in 2000. It begins with everyone agreeing on what time we’ll wake up the next morning, and then sure enough John’s gotten up half and hour beforehand to get the shower. I don’t want to sound like I’m being pedantic about this – my complaint is about the lack of hot water that seems to result from John’s showering process.Anyway, breakfast was included at this hostel so we grabbed our entitlement of corn flakes, one slice of bread and one plastic cup of squash, and set off for the European Parliament.
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Day 1
The Plan: to take a rail holiday in Europe, going where we want, changing plans on a whim. The players: John, Chris, and Sunil, all old friends from school. Sunil is after the cool climates and rugged landscapes of Scandinavia, while John would rather have the sun and the sand of the Med. Chris likes the coasts, and I prefer the cities. So I go into this with a sense of trepidation.At 09:30, Chris and Sunil arrived at my house. At ten dad drove us to our local train station for a short journey to London’s Waterloo, where we met John and checked in for our Eurostar service to Brussels.
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Europe 2002
DayLocationSummary1London / BrusselsIn transit2Brussels / AmsterdamBored in belgium, European democracy and how to buy cheap weed in Amsterdam3AmsterdamA day of education in the ways of windmills and wonky houses, loopy lockers and the art of queueing4Berlin”Eventually, every wall falls”5BerlinWe visited the Bundestag, and I got conned by a pensioner, but the most important thing about today was ice cream7BudapestPoor directions send me on a wild goose chase, but it was worth it for the escalators8BudapestTook a hot thermal bath to recover from a cheesy labyrinth, and finished the evening with some Hungarian folk dancing. Yee-har it is not9BudapestA jammed locker makes for an unelegant introduction to an interesting fellow traveller on the train to Venice10VeniceA stream of immigration officers fails to stop me getting a good nights sleep, and there’s a surprise reunion in store11VeniceI watch in amazement as globs of glass turn into horses in seconds, and I’m a little close for comfort when the bells ring two o’clock12Venice / CortinaA ten minute detour costs me almost four hours on the way to Cortina, where the local delicacy looks exactly like a yellow cow pat13CortinaThe dolomites prove breathtaking in more ways than one, as I almost kill myself on a hiking trail14CortinaWaking up above the clouds, I spent the day walking back to civilisation and a train to somewhere less expensive15RomeThe Vatican Museums didn’t impress, but St Peters Basilica and the Coliseum provided the necessary wow factor16RomeThe day was in ruins, but only of the Roman kind17RomeA visit to the catacombs and how not to avoid a nasty encounter with an Italian ticket inspector18BrindisiA new traveller joins us as we wait for a boat in Brindisi, while Chris decides first class is the only way to go19Patras / AthensThe benefits of being a student, the delights of the Acropolis, and someone who isn’t me falls off a chair20AthensSome more ancient wonders to see, with a modern touch provided by a crowd of football supporters21SantoriniMet an old friend and learnt how to drive a scooter on the wrong side of the road22SantoriniDriving scooter on wrong side of road proves more difficult than it initially appeared. No fatalities, nice sunset23SantoriniVolcano tour. I get to play the hero and miss the boat in the process24SantoriniHaving learnt lessons from scooter hire, we got a car. Driving standards appeared to be improving25Athens / PatrasSome fast connections and a luxury ferry have us speeding our way back to Italy26Ancona / FlorenceA last minute decision has Chris and I on a train to Florence27FlorenceMore artwork than I think I’ve ever seen before, but there’s no substitute for getting really seriously lost. And we did28FlorenceMichaelangelo’s David, the Ponte Vecchio, and a long walk in the rain is required29Florence – LondonOn reflection, flying would have been more sensible