70th birthday trip, Monday 19 June; travel day 8/15

This morning we enjoyed breakfast on the balcony of our apartment before setting off to walk the couple of kilometres to the Puszta Animal Park. This is a sort of zoo/safari park, only you walk round it rather than drive. It had lots of traditional Hungarian animals, like grey cattle and mangalica pigs, and lots of ducks and geese. We had a quick cup of coffee before we started our walk round. It was thoroughly enjoyable. One of the nicest things, almost, was the wealth of insect life and plants that we used to play with as children, like burdock and barley-grass, that you never see nowadays in England. Lots of  wild flowers beside the road, too.

We had hoped to lunch out, but the place that might have done us a meal (not the restaurant we ate at last night) was closed, so in the end we got a couple of filled rolls from a nearby grocery, and topped them up with ham and tomato. Followed by a peach. 

Then it was time to go - Angela had kindly let us stay on until 14:30, and she arrived to say goodbye shortly after that. It was not a long walk to the station, although our train was (of course) about 15 minutes late. But still in plenty of time for the connection, which was also late! We were only about 10 minutes late arriving in Budapest, and then it was easy to find our trolleybus back to the hotel.

We stopped off at Lidl to buy some salad for supper and some bread for the morning, and then straight to the hotel. The SW popped out again to get some beer, and I had a shower, badly needed, and got into my night clothes. He has gone out for another explore - don't know how he can find the energy. I have none! Over 13k steps today! 

70th birthday trip, Sunday 18 June; travel day 7/15

This morning we firmly boiled eggs in the kettle, rather than face the revolting hotel breakfast! Then the Swan Whisperer made sandwiches - cream cheese ham and tomato - and we packed the bare minimum into our overnight bags and stuffed the rest into our suitcases. We checked out of the hotel, leaving our suitcases behind, and headed off to find the English church.

I am not sure we would have found it but - miraculously - the people sitting next to us on the tram were on their way to the church and we had only to go with them! God is so nice, sometimes. The actual chapel was upstairs, and quite difficult to find. The service was quite long as there was a baptism, and a farewell to a diplomatic family who were moving on, and a presentation to a couple of people who had been confirmed in Vienna last weekend.

After the inevitable coffee (surprisingly drinkable), it was time to go, and we went on a direct metro line to Keleti station. This time, our first train was 20 minutes late, but that didn't affect our connection to Hortobágy, which was hot, slow, second-class only and on time!  It was a beautiful journey across the Hungarian plains,

some cultivation but not much, and scattered farms or ranches reminding me of Kate Seredy's The Good Master! 

We walked the couple of hundred metres to our accommodation only to find the gates locked and nobody at home. Again, miraculously, the proprietor of the holiday lets next door was in her garden and realised what had happened, so she rang the landlady of this place, Angela (sloth a hard g, like Frau Merkel), who was round within a couple of minutes to let us in. She had no English, so sent for a very nice young man called Mark - son? Toyboy? Neighbour? - who did speak English and we were soon sorted. A very nice studio apartment  with a shared kitchen, except we are the only people here, so not shared!

After a rest and a cup of tea, we set out to find the only restaurant in town that would be open. We ordered a sharing plate - allegedly for two people. Big mistake, and I do mean big - it would have fed, if not the five thousand, then at least six people.

The proprietor did offer us a box for the leftovers, but when would we have eaten them? We don't have a microwave in Budapest!

Then we wandered slowly back to the apartment via the church and are now relaxing before bed. 

70th birthday trip, Saturday 17th June

The day began with a huge disappointment - the hotel breakfast was utterly vile! Only white bread, with margarine rather than butter; squash instead of fruit juice; the eggs were slabs of cold over-cookedness; and, almost worst of all, the coffee was not only Instant but tasted burnt! Not doing that again - there is a Lidl at the end of the street and we have eggs and fruit juice and so on now! Plus ham to make sandwiches out of from for the train tomorrow!  I just wish we had a coffee-maker of some kind. 

So the first port of call was a coffee shop just down the road for a decent cup of coffee! Then round the corner and on to a trolley-bus which took us down to the Houses of Parliament. We walked along the river to the Chain Bridge, but this was closed to pedestrians so we took a bus over it and up to Fisherman's Bastion. After a walk round there, we caught another bus that took us to the major tram and bus interchange, and then a tram to see where it would go. Which was, usefully, past the station we shall need on Tuesday and down to a metro interchange which took us up to the station we shall want tomorrow!

By then it was lunch time and we found a little café that did us a sandwich and some very nice lemonade, and then caught another trolleybus to Hero Square, from where we walked back to the hotel via Andrassy Utca with its embassies and smart residences.  And also via the coffee shop we had patronised this morning as they had delicious cakes! 

We then flaked out for awhile, and then in late afternoon the Swan Whisperer, who had already been for a run in the morning, got restless again so he went out for a walk and on the way back saw a restaurant he thought would do nicely for supper. Which it did. 

70th birthday trip, Friday 16 June; travel day 6/15

Another long day of travel. Originally, we had been going to go to Budapest via Vienna and change trains there, but I remembered that years ago we had caught a direct train, and a bit of work with the timetable showed us we still could, so I reserved two seats on the 11:24.

We decided to breakfast in the hotel (although had I realised there was a McDonald's next door we might not have - I have a shaming taste for their Sausage and Egg McMuffins!). I was very restrained and just added fruit to my normal egg and toast (bread, in this case); the Swan Whisperer, who at home  thinks two slices of toast is almost greedy (although he does have an egg when we are in the motor home), was less restrained!  He did go for a walk after breakfast, though, which I didn't!

We found the train easily enough, and it was very nearly on time (only 12 minutes late in Budapest - that's practically early!). And then a long run to Budapest via Brno and Bratislava. We bought lunch on the train - it was delivered to our seats by a very nice waitress.

I should have liked a traditional meal with Czech dumplings, but the SW, unsurprisingly, wasn't very hungry, and I didn't want our appetites to be mismatched all day, so we just had a bowl of goulash soup (very good) and I had a slice of Czech honey cake. Later the SW got some rhubarb crumble, and I had some salted almonds.

When we arrived in Budapest, we had a terrible fright as one of my hearing aids fell out! Thankfully, the other one alerted me to its loss. We dashed back to the train, but no joy, so the SW retraced our steps towards the exit and, miracle of miracles, found it, not trodden on or anything! Phew! Much thankfulnesd. I suppose my neck pillow had dislodged it slightly. 

We took a taxi to the hotel, which had honoured my plea not to make us walk up too many stairs - our room is on the ground floor! After settling in, we researched local restaurants, and I realised that it was on our first Inter-rail holiday, ten years ago now, that I had first asked Google maps about local restaurants!

The first one we tried would have been lovely, but it was far too hot, and I realised I would feel faint if we stayed there any longer, so we came away and ate in the second one. I had cabbage stuffed with mangalica pork,

and very good it was, too, washed down with Apérol spritz

, and the SW had duck washed down with red wine. Then he discovered his phone was missing, so dashed back to the first restaurant to see if he had left it there, which he had, while I paid and said goodbye. Phew!

And so back to the hotel for bed. There is a Lidl a few yards away - we could easily be at home! 

70th birthday trip, Thursday 15 June. Travel day 5/15

We shook the dust of the so-called "hotel" off our feet quite early this morning, and got breakfast in the station. We had about an hour to wait, so took it in turns to go for a leg-stretch before heading down to the platform for our train to Prague. This was pretty much on time (amazing!) and we found our booked seats with no trouble.

The journey was uneventful, although we both got cold in the air-conditioning - I ended up changing into trousers (I had been wearing shorts) in the train loo!

There were engineering works on the line which held the train up, and we were about 30 minutes late getting to Prague, but that didn't matter as we were still in plenty of time to get to the hotel, a few minutes walk away, and freshen up before going out to meet our friend at the Výtopna Railway Restaurant, just round the corner.

The restaurant's USP is that it delivers your food and drink by model railway!

It has a sister branch in Vienna, featured in this video. I didn't expect much of the food but, actually, it was one of the most delicious burgers I have had for a long time! And it was lovely to see our friend again and catch up!

Tonight's hotel is very different from last night's - much more comfortable! And a great view from our bed, too! 

70th birthday trip, Wednesday 14 June; travel day 4/15.

Today was my 70th birthday. Many thanks, by the way, to all who took a moment to wish me a happy day. I appreciate it, although Facebook doesn't make it easy to see all the greetings!

The day started very well. We didn't get up early, but when we did get up, we went out for a very good breakfast at a nearby café. Then we checked out of the hostel and put our luggage in the facilities there before catching a bus down to Gammel Strand where we joined a canal boat tour, which was really fabulous, apart from the slightly irritating courier (but then they all are). However, she was knowledgeable and spoke excellent English, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We walked back, as our 24-hour tickets had expired. 

Our train was due to leave at 3, so we reclaimed our luggage and sat in the lounge of the hostel for a bit, but then decided to go and see whether the 1st class lounge at the station would give us any free food. Only fruit, but a seriously delicious peach!  So I went and bought us a couple of sandwiches, but of course the Swan Whisperer said he had had a large breakfast (true!) and wasn't hungry, thus neatly making me feel guilty for wanting something to eat. So I  only had half a sandwich then, rather cross because I knew that if we waited to eat until we were on the train, the SW would then not want any dinner - and I would. However, it was moot, as the train, of course, was an hour late. Remind me never, ever to travel in Scandinavia by train again! To be fair, the local S-bahn trains, which our inter-rail passes also covered, were frequent and on time.

Then they said that some of the coaches were at Odense and we should take the next train and change there. Couldn't find first class on that train, but we did get seats in the end. Of course, when we got to Odense, no sign of any coaches, but eventually the train from Copenhagen pulled in, and then four more coaches came to join it from the other direction. Of course, the coach numbers bore no resemblance to those on which we had been booked, but we found two seats in first class and eventually arrived in Hamburg only an hour late. No refreshment car, of course, that would have been too much to ask, although the guard did bring bottles of water and a few sweets. 

But oh dear, the hotel is a disaster! The room is so tiny there is barely room for the bed, even the bathroom is bigger, and I have had to sleep on the wrong side as there is no night table or anything on the inside. No kettle or anything (glad I bought ours), no breakfast (we can get that in the station), and, worst of all, we had to walk up the flights of stairs. The concierge did try to help us with our cases, but she was breathing nearly as badly as I was! 

There was no way I was going to go down those stairs and back up, so the SW went out and got us currywurst and chips, which were very nice (and by then it was nearly 10, so even the SW admitted to being hungry!). Of course, they only gave us one key card, which he had to take to get in the front door, so I had to sit in the dark until he got back (as in so many hotels, you need to put the key card in a slot before the electricity will work), so I had a shower. But I am very glad we don't have to stay in this flea-pit longer than overnight!

70th birthday trip, Tuesday 13 June.

We hadn't drawn the curtains last night - I seldom do unless we are overlooked - but this was a mistake as the sun shone right into my eyes when it was still too early to wake up, so I had to rectify that!

The Swan Whisperer went for a run, of course, as the lakes behind the hostel - I think the remnants of a moat - seem almost as if they were designed for that! 

The hostel doesn't include breakfast and, although you can buy it, the options are all sweet, and I do hate an all-sweet breakfast. So we made our own, boiling eggs in my little kettle and finishing the bread and cream cheese we had bought in Oslo. And the last two not-very-nice yoghurts. Then I went downstairs and bought a coffee, which was far too weak, and some orange juice, which says it's organic but it's made from concentrate, so I don't see how it can be. Anyway, there is plenty left.

Then we went out. We walked to Strøget, which is the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe - and not all Euro-high-street, although  some familiar chains. I did like the Royal Copenhagen pottery building.

Finally we found ourselves at the Gammel Strand metro station (it's called metro here), by a statue commemorating the fishwives who used to hold a market here until the 1950s.

We took a train out to Østerport, and then walked to see the Little Mermaid (well, one couldn't not!). After which, we caught a riverbus down to Knippelsbro, on the other side of the harbour. There wasn't much to see, so we found a fish restaurant that did a not-very-nice fish burger but some really nice chips.

After which we discovered that there was a bus that would take us back to the hostel, so we caught it, and had a rest while our phones charged. Then the SW went out for another walk, and after that we bought a sandwich for supper in the hostel café (under-seasoned!). 

And so ends my 7th decade!