Breakfast is €12 in the hotel, good range except The Navigator doesn’t find the English Breakfast tea, can’t get the hot water going, then they find some Ceylon tea, jeez its tough. But she finally gets her cup of tea and is happy.

A €6 Uber to the Hlavni train station. We’re finally allocated platform 1, no lift needed thankfully. Our seats found and  were on our way to Budapest. I love train trips.

Maybe I ranted a bit in the last blog, the head cold and the train trip from Vienna did me in a bit I think. Maybe I was a little harsh on Bratislava as well, our hotel area was safe but a little tired is what I should have said. The hotel was quiet, close to the centre of old town, everything was super clean, staff were really good and I’m ok with it and would stay here again. And I’m guessing a flasher hotel would have meant higher cost.

Uber in Bratislava is cheap, effective and easy. Thoroughly recommend using Uber, although Bolt is here as well and some cars do both. So I imagine Bolt would be ok as well.

The country is small 5m people, gdp per person is about €32k so relatively wealthy, and developing. The tourist area is great, clean, busy, service good and prices in Bratislava are a bit cheaper than Prague and Vienna. You don’t need a lot of time there though it’s worth the visit. Bratislava itself only has a population of 500,000.

Let’s revisit the trains. Yesterday we were on a train you couldn’t allocate seats so we knew it would be difficult but it was a bit worse than we thought. Our issue. Same with the train today, it’s an open ticket because you can’t reserve seats on line, you can only do that at Hlvani station, which we subsequently did.

It’s chilly this morning 6degC, wispy cloud with sun shining through. The Navigator is now  addicted to Krowka Smietankowa lollies, a diebetics delight. She found them in a supermarket in Bratislava.

Our train arrives at the not main station of Budapest, can’t remember which one, Uber gets us to the hotel in no time, checked in and we have our room. It’s an old hotel but decked out nicely, staff are lovely, we’ve got a family suite with 2 bedrooms.

A short rest and then the Navigator leads a posse to a laundromat for some much needed clothes washing. I remain at the hotel mending a rip in a jumper, then walk down town and along the river.

We meet up at the hotel and head downtown, to check our the shops, the river and eat.

Dinner is at an Italian restaurant, food is good except The N. was not happy with her caprisi chicken dish and the orange juice tasted funny – why? ” I just don’t like it!”

We talk for ages with a couple from Colorado Springs in the US, semi retired but doing quite a bit of travelling.

As I write this The N. is watching Thor in Hungarian on the TV, and is engrossed. Language is no barrier to her TV watching ability.

Holnap találkozunk emberek, ( Hungarian)

I like the feel of Budapest already, old with modern, different architecture, the Danube, the green spaces. There is a buzz about it. Well giving a good going over in the few days

Pauolo