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Saturday 16th August

Talk about rain. I have read that the UK has had a naff summer (again!) and whilst I've had many periods of rain, its always been hot here in Eastern Europe mailnly 28C+ and above even in the rain. Thankfully I continued traveling this summer but I will make one point... not to travel again in summer. Its full of teenagers on inter-rail passes who just come to another country to get drunk and sleep with other tourists (or maybe the occasional local). Call me jaded "jaded" but if I wanted to meet this sort of person, I'd have 18-30s holidayed somewhere in Spain/Greece rather than explored Europe. Well actually it wasnt like this in Ukraine/Belarus/Balkans so maybe I needed to stay true East.

Oh well, I got my train and whoa, hardly any backpackers on a 8hr day trip to Budapest. I even got a whole cabin to myself until we crossed into Hungary and had to jump on a rail replacement bus for an hour to the next train stop and on another train which had rows rather than cabins. No border checks, just the multiple ticket checks. I may have to make up my own stamps or no-one will believe I've actaully visited some of these countries .

Got into Budapest at 5pm and in Buda (my hostel in Pest). Couldnt find the metro-stop so I decided to walk and it also allowed me to find a bank that accepts my card (again Nationwide crap of 'you can use our card everywhere that takes visa' :- four out of five banks in Hungary dont!). After an hour and sore shoulders I found Banksi Hostel.

At least they had laundry facilities so I could be human for a while. My roomies were French and all at the Sziget festival (again another thing I didnt know again and missed as it was the last day here). I caught one guy in the room and had a little chat before he headed off but once again, no-one in Budapest in the hostel to chat to .  Was back at my mexican "Arriba" for burritos and chips before another LP disaster...

I aimed to go to this club Angyal rated highly in LP and the web. I got there to find a husk of a building. It turned out the club closed in mid-2006 but the LP guide (researched in 2007) still had it in, as do many websites. Does no-one keep things current? I went to plan f as I hadnt anything else planned and went off to Margit Island to see if there was anything going on. I found this great bar/dancer place called Holdudvars which I stayed at for a few hours as it was full of adults not teenagers and you could actually stand by the bar and talk to locals or older travellers . I guess I have hit that point where I have grown up... even my face has aged over the summer. Time to start acting my chronological age.

I think though I have one last confession. I dont smoke (anymore) and have tried some nights sans alcohol but my snoring is getting really bad, even on my stomach. I felt so sorry for the frenchies as I woke myself up twice that night.

Sunday 17th August

I had a lie-in till 930 and repacked my lovely clean clothes. Look when you live out of a rucksack for this amount of time, freshness is the closest to variation in clothing you can get, he he. I had to bin my second pair of shorts though as the mud stains from Beograd still hadnt come out and they were unwearable. I ended up in McDs for brekkie as it was closest but I really havent missed the naff brekkies.

Couldnt find a cheap internet (which I am now in) so payed a fortune in the recommended one just to check my messages. I kept going the wrong way here in Budapest but eventually got back to the hostel for shorts (again roasting) and then across the Margit bridge to explore the Buda Castle complex. Quaint, I wandered for a while but nothing jumped out as must pay to enter.

I headed back along the river where they were setting up for the Red Bull air race and then through Buda and through Pest to the Tescos for late lunch/dinner (a 90min walk). The street fair on Chain Bridge was fun to explore but a little too crowded for my current mood. After dinner relaxing in City Park I hit the baths and boy are these ones nice in Szechenyi Furdo. I spent two hours just enjoying and refreshing between pools, thermal baths and saunas. Oh heaven!

Right. Finished at the baths at 9pm and got to the cheap internet place for blog update. I changed at the hostel and actually got a fun night out in Budapest in some bars meeting some great locals. Got back at 3am and slept like a log thankfully.

Monday 18th August

A mixed day actually. I aimed to go to the Terror Musuem but all musuems are closed on Mondays in Central/East Europe- Doh! It took me ages of decision making and then of planning to choose an alternative. I used tomorrows plan of the Memento Park. Still getting there was fun as the whole of the shore in Buda is closed for this Red Bull Air Race (on Wedsnesday but timetrials on Tuesday).

Eventually got to Memento Park which is where they put all the old soviet statues after the fall of the USSR. It is cute but after Belarus/Ukraine, it seemed a bit tame. I much prefered the movie in the Barracks which is made from actual KGB films about how to spy on people, plant bugs, co-urce people to spy on their friends... scary but it was all real films used to train people in the old Hungary. Well worth the 50 minutes.

By the time I got back to town the day was almost up, it was already 5pm. I got off near Tescos to get some food. Walked back and started the eventual repack as tomorrow I wil be sleeping in an airport (my first flight is at 5am and its a bank holiday here for St. Stephens day). Chatted to my new roomies who had all been to Sziget and then this little baby before an early night as I will need it.

Tuesday 19th August

Checked out after saying goodbye to my Finnish roomie (who had also been to Belarus and Ukraine), and the long queue for the shower. Finally the terror musuem was open and one of the displays was sickening... I have seen some bad images of Nazi holocast atrocities but in their short film the bulldozer moving the bodies and the partially cremeated body in the oven were enough for me to want ot leave there and then. The rest of the museum I'm afraid was pretty dull after the Soviet bashing that I'd seen in the Baltic museums, even the basement cells didnt give me the terror of previous museums. Maybe if this had been the first soviet occupation musuem rather than my last... hey ho.

I went via the bank to the food court, made my plans for tonight (someone will have to find a comfortable bench in the airport) and then off to the river to watch the timetrials for the Red Bull AirShow. I spent three hours watching the acrobatics and fly overs and speed timetrials. Amazing but I may have caught some more sun here. Some short videos and photos to also view at a later date but you miss the action when behind a lense so I gave up and enjoyed the show.

Now my last few hours in Budapest will envolve this thing, last food shop and sneaking back to the hostel to freshen up before I go to the airport. Oh well, I will see people as time progresses and hopefully not get too sad about the end of this journey 

Will leave you there. Gremskie.