BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

Well DEAR FRIENDS....
I have 2 stories to write.
First I will tell you about Budapest and how I got there. And why I decided to go there.
Well, I had my euro rail ticket so I decided that I could go to Budapest and back to Vienna on one day on the eurorail ticket.
It is 3 hours by train, so I did that. Wanted to go onthe 10 am train, and I thought it would leve from south station. So I went to sought station by tram( 15 min) turns out, the train leaves from West station, (near where I stay....) So I had to go back by tram, and of course, by the time I got back the 10 am train had already gone..
So then I took the 12 noon train, and I got in Budapest at 3 pm. On the train there was armed police and armed soldiers, sometimes checking people's ID. It felt like we were still in communist days. But maybe they were looking for a runaway criminal.On the way back, same thing. Polizei came to check but not me.( only tickets by the conductor)
I had emailed Peter that I was coming and if he was there he could briefly meet me at the trainstation before I would catch the train back to Vienna.
I gave him my cell phone number to be able to text me.
So I arrived in Budapest and took the circular " hop on hop off" sightseeing bus.
it was the best thing I did.
I felt I had seen everything. it was a 2 hour tour.It showed us all the famous building, and the beautiful parliament buildings, and told us about the history of Hungary.( we had headsets on and picked the language I preferred) They stopped at the citadel for picture taking oppertunity. I took tons of photos.
I got a txt from Peter that he would meet me at the train station at 6 pm.
The circular bus was now stuck in heavy trafic jam and the bus driver sid he wouldn't get to the train station on time, not by 6 pm, but more likely 6.30 pm.
So the guide onn the bus explained to me that if I got off now, and took the red metro to Keliti train station, I would be there in 5 min.
So I thought I better do that.
After getting off it took me a while to find an underground sign, as everything is in Hungarian language.
Oh and the money reminds me of when I was in Vietman, thousand of forint for 2 euro or one .
Anyway, I found the underground.. Then buying a ticket., again everything in Hungarian, how did I know what to buy?
Anyway, a nice guard helped me and I found the right train.
Hopped off at keleti and walked around the station, and there I saw Peter standing there looking out for me.
I walked up to him and I got a big hug, and he said it was so strange to see someone from katikati here in his home town of Budapest.
We had a coffee together and took a picture with the self timer.
The we walked to the gate and he then showed me a train that was going to Vienna but it went to the Southy station, not West( where I stayed) but he said, it will go to Vienna.
So I hopped on, and he left.
I sat in the chair and started to look at all my pictures, deleting the ones I didn't like etc.
Then I heard a voice in my mind" This is not the right train." I wondered about that and started asking some of the other passengers in german if this train was going to Vienna.
One said" probably the front part"
I didn't like the sound of that so I then went to an other passenger and he said" to ' something something, can't rtemember the name"
At that point I took my stuff, ran out the train and ran to an other platform, which had the RIGHT train, the fast Eurocity trainn to Vienna West.
I hopped on and when I looked out the window, that train I was on had left.
Wow, did God ever look after me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was the fast connection with only one stop.
The train left on time aand drove very fast, 180 km's at least.
It felt good to be on the right train.
I nearly did a " getting lost in China" again, but this time in Hungary.
Thanks to God for speaking into my ear.

I arrived on time at the hostel.

I had a good day though and Budapest is amazing. Very very interesting and beautiful.
marianna.