Train to Budapest

Budapest stairwell [Enlarge]

We walked down to Munich's Hauptbahnhof in plenty of time for the 09:28 train to Budapest Keleti Pályaudvar (East Station), via Salzburg, Vienna and Győr. We had paid the extra EUR 6.00 (GBP 4.00 / USD 8.00) for a reservation and our non-smoking window seats were in a compartment in carriage 258. As we walked along the platform we passed carriages 260, 259, then 257… We eventually found 258 right at the end of the train, dark and empty. "Der Wagen ist kaputt" came a shout from inside, along with an instruction in German that our reservations were probably to be found in coach 259. Indeed they were, but unfortunately we no longer had window seats. The other people in our compartment were all German, three going to Salzburg and one to Vienna. We moved over to the window seats when they got out.

As we crossed the border into Hungary a troop of border guards got on at the frontier station of Hegyeshalom and made their way down the train. These were the first border guards we had seen since the French ones at Dover, but their visit was uneventful and they quickly worked their way down the train before getting off at the next station. It got dark soon afterwards so we didn’t see much of the Hungarian countryside before Budapest.

The Vámház Hostel was about 25 minutes’ walk from Keleti Station, but the walk was well worth it as the hostel is located right next to the Danube and bang in the middle of Pest (Budapest is actually the result of the merger of two old cities, Buda on the West bank of the Danube and Pest on the East). The hostel is in a top-floor apartment of a massive townhouse and the long climb up the staircase to it (see photo) evokes images of the communist era. The hostel was very clean and friendly, with unlimited free internet and coffee. Having checked in we headed out for a meal of Goulash Soup (Gulyásleves) followed by veal at the first restaurant we could find without a board outside proudly inviting us in to sample the "Tourist Menu". Anything would have probably tasted good after a long day's travelling, but this was excellent.

Day 007
Munich to Budapest

This map shows the route we took in this post. Click it to see larger maps of our whole route at flickr.

Maps are taken from the CIA World Factbook.

Dachau memorial

Dachau memorial [Enlarge]

We took a tour from Munich to the nearby town of Dachau today: specifically the infamous Konzentrationslager Dachau. Our guide from Radius Tours was a very friendly and knowledgable Irishman called Brendan, who is in Munich teaching English but is also an accredited Dachau tour guide.

Nothing more to say other than it is a very powerful experience and if you ever get the chance to go there or to any of the other WW2 concentration camp memorial sites, take it.

Our photos from the tour are here.

Brussels to Munich

Köln Cathedral [Enlarge]

Brussels was a pleasant surprise, as we had expected it to be a bit bland. However it is an expensive place and so we needed to move on quickly.

As expected from the capital of Europe, we had plenty of choice when it came to choosing our next destination. Neither of us has been to southern Germany so we decided to pay Munich a visit. This is a convenient day's train travel away and well into central Europe.

We boarded the 08:28 Thalys service to Cologne at the Gare du Midi, which proved to be fast, comfortable and on time, as expected. We had an hour to wait in Cologne, which was ideal as we had a photo to take. On 18th May 1945, ten days after the end of the war in Europe, Glenn's grandfather was a passenger in a very low-flying photographic reconnaissance aircraft, and we have a slide taken by him that day of Cologne Cathedral. We have always been awe-struck by the extent of the damage to the city in the war and we wanted to see the area for ourselves.

The cathedral turned out to be as impressive as we had imagined. Unfortunately time only permitted a few snaps and a quick bratwurst from one of the stalls in the square nearby.

While finishing our delicious snack, standing next to the cathedral for shelter against the November wind, a German pigeon decided to take a crap from a great height on Glenn's shoulder. Maybe it felt like exacting some sort of revenge for the bombing suffered by its ancestors sixty years ago or something. Luckily the sausage remained unspattered or the day would really have been ruined.

Day 004
Brussels to Munich

This map shows the route we took in this post. Click it to see larger maps of our whole route at flickr.

Maps are taken from the CIA World Factbook.