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The past few days have been a feast for the senses! I have so many stories to tell and I'm sure that I'll leave a few out but I'll try my best to give you a good run down of what life's been like as a backpacker.
Budapest was fun but so hot I spent a fair amount of time figuring out how to get some shade. My hostel didn't have air conditioning, well actually none of my hostels have air conditioning... One day decided to head to the city park to do a bit of reading and sleeping under a shade tree. I saw a rather rough looking fellow sitting in the best looking chunk of grass in the whole park. I couldn't pass up the plush area just because this character was nearby. I'm sure glad I had a seat... I was thinking he looked rather tan and comfortable in his spot so I figured he had been there for awhile. About 30 minutes after sitting down I watched him dig something out of his bag and start walking towards me. He stopped about 10 feet short and knelt down in the grass. By this time I was quite intrigued. He started screwing a little water faucet into the ground and proceeded to have a little bath. This happened 3 times more during my time in the park. He was one serious park napper!
Wednesday morning I decided I wanted to come to Bratislava. I thought that traveling by bus might be a bit cheaper. I asked the dude working at my hostel where the international bus station was so he pointed it out to me on the map. Of course, in normal Danica fashion, I headed off without really being sure of where I was going. After a 45 minute walk to the general location pointed out to me on a map I couldn't located any sort of bus terminal. I decided that my best bet would be to go into the subway station and ask the lady at the ticket counter. Well I asked and all I got was a non-english speaking lady trying to sell me a subway ticket. ARG! I decided it wasn't worth the trouble so I would just go to the train station, at least I somewhat knew where that was. After walking back across the city and 30 minutes on the other side I made it to the international ticket office. I went to the information desk first to find out what times the train left and all that sort of stuff. I got in a HUGE line and waited and waited and waited... Well I finally managed to make it to the counter. I proceeded with a hello and "I would like to go to Bratislava at 16:45". She just stared at me, so I just stared back. After a few seconds, but what seemed like several minutes, she asks "what, you want to buy a ticket?". AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. No lady, I just felt like standing in the TICKET line for half an hour to inform you of my travel plans.
After what seemed like a horribly long and tiring day I made it to the station. I was trying to find my train and had to argue with a conductor using hand language for a few minutes before I finally got on and found a seat. I ended up sitting by a Britt who was also heading to Bratislava and also had nowhere to stay. We ended up finding a hostel and utterly confusing the staff when we came in together and weren't looking for a private room. We got it sorted out but I don't think they ever really understood.
Tonight I had a great experience. There was a Slovakian & American orchestra playing in the town square. They played some great tunes and I was utterly impressed.
Tomorrow morning I am heading for Vienna, Austria.
Ciao...
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