Tuesday 20 August – Prague to Budapest

We finished packing up and checked out, using the app on the phone, simply dropping off the keys on the way. We decided to drag our cases the 900 metres to the train station. It was not very hot and we knew how far we had to go, so it seemed sensible. I went and got stuff for breakfast and to take on the train. It all cost about $6, again a bargain.

Arrival at the train station was a little bit early as the platform had not yet been displayed. A couple of minutes later though, it was displayed and off we went. The escalator up wasn’t working so I had to lift and drag both cases up the stairs – 23kg and 17kg. Everything seemed to happen after a few minutes – including the train turning up and us in the perfect place to get on our carriage.

We could have stayed in Prague for a lot longer than we did, still so much to see and do! Prague is an amazing city, would definitely go back and spend more time there.

We were off to Budapest to start our river cruise the next day. We were meeting Carol and Mick (flying in today from Edinburgh, via Amsterdam) and Neal (flew in a few days prior) and Rose (flying in the next day).

Seats had been reserved on this train so we quickly found them. The duration of the journey was meant to be about 6.5 hours. How eventful could a train trip be? Quite.

We enjoyed breakfast – ham and eggs along with toast, tea and coffee. A couple of hours later we had some Pepsi’s. I was distracted looking at stuff on my phone and we were coming into a station. I mis-judged everything and the Pepsi came flying off the table and landed all over my lap and shirt. Ros was pissing herself laughing at me, as she had earlier said make sure you hold onto your drink!

I cleaned up as best as I could in the toilet and sat back down. Ros was still laughing as I had wet pants too. Our journey continued through various stations. We had been delayed about an hour by around 12:30, so instead of a 2:30pm arrival it was looking more like 3:30pm.

As we changed conductors etc. on arrival into Hungary, this is where things got interesting. We still had about 1.5 hours to go. There was a guy who got on with the conductor and sat at the end of the first class carriage. The air con wasn’t working too well, so it was getting a bit stuffy and warm. The guy moved up the carriage checking the air con by placing his hands on the ceiling where the air came out. He ended up on the other side of us.

A little bit later Ros wanted a drink. She gave me 5 Euro, rather than the 20 Euro note, but I wasn’t sure how much they were and wasn’t sure if that would actually cover drinks for us. I said that I had some coins in my backpack that I could use in addition. The bag wasn’t where we had put it earlier – under my seat. I looked under Ros’s seat and then above our seats. It was nowhere to be seen. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted something strange. The guy who had been at the end of the carriage was sitting right behind us. He had his black backpack hiding another backpack – mine! As he saw I noticed, he pointed at the bag. I snatched it back off the thief and said that’s mine and then went through my bag to see that everything was still there – camera, lens, drone, hard drive with all photos, spare cables etc. The zipper to the smallest compartment – the one with my coins – was part way open. I was pissed off by this stage that somebody could be so brazen! We later assumed that he kicked the bag through as he distracted us by pretending to check the air con, as Ros noticed he was looking back at us when he was waving his hands up high and probably making sure we were looking up rather than down where our bags were.

I went to get a drink after taking my coins with me. As I came back through the carriage he was leaving the first class carriage and passing me to go into the second class carriage – I stared directly at him but he didn’t even have the guts to make eye contact. He knew exactly what had happened and no doubt had done it numerous times before! He got off at the next stop (about 15 minutes further). If Ros hadn’t wanted a drink at that point in time, things could have been so much worse for us. We won’t make that mistake again, ever!

We arrived into Budapest and were talking to the two guys in front of us about it all – they saw me grab my bag but weren’t sure of the circumstances. They were shocked by it all too.

Budapest was hot, stinking hot. The taxi driver we approached wanted to know where we were going. We told him The Ritz-Carlton and showed him the address. He pretended not to know where it was and proceeded to walk away. He obviously wanted a taxi ride that was a lot further away! The next taxi driver was great – he knew exactly where to go and took us there very quickly.

The Ritz-Carlton was luxurious and exactly what we needed after the day we had. Neal was on his way from another place to check-in, so we waited for him. After he arrived, we had a few drinks waiting for Carol and Mick to arrive from the airport.

We had a booking at the New York Palace Cafe at 7pm. Around 6:30pm we were heading off. It would take about 20 minutes to walk or a 15 minute taxi ride. Mick and I said that we would walk while the three of them grab a taxi. We decided that we would all go on a train – about 15 minutes in total to get there.

The adventure begins! We bought return tickets, attempted to punch them but nothing happened. The train station we were at was the central one where three lines go through – Yellow 1, Red 2 and Blue 3. We had to go two stations on the red 2 line. I don’t know how, or who jumped on first, but we ended up on the first train that arrived, which was the yellow line (wrong one). We ended up at a station called ‘Opera’ – nothing like what we needed. We were still a similar distance from the restaurant, but off to the side instead.

After a bit of map consultation and much discussion, we decide to we needed to go back to where we came from and get on the right train. We made our way back to the original station by taking the train back two stops. I said again that we needed to go two stops on the red line. We found the red line and proceeded there. It was underground, and in a totally different area to the one we had got on previously. The escalator down was huge – and fast! We found the right train (and direction) and headed off. We got there in the end and had a few hundred metres to walk. We realised later that we could have exited through another exit and not had to contend with traffic on the road. There were no real places to cross, so we were looking at traffic and when to go. Carol just about walked out, but a car came screaming around the corner. So we looked right left right left. We needed to be more careful!

After arriving at the restaurant there was quite a line-up. Neal had his confirmation of booking and proceeded through the crowd to the front and presented his rebooking form. We then got called through, to the table the room was amazing, very ornate, with a piano player above us then later a mini orchestra playing above us, which at times was rather loud. Dinner was lovely – with various dishes enjoyed including duck, fish and chicken. Desserts were fantastic too. After dinner Neal, Ros and Carol headed back in a taxi. Mick and I went back via train. We arrived about a minute after the taxi due to traffic from the celebration in Budapest for their national day. There was a thick mist in the air from all fireworks. We enjoyed coffees and hot chocolate before heading off to bed.

Tomorrow we would be heading off on our river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest.