Hello from North West Hungary. Nic speaking this time!

At Budapest we caught a train to Keszthely a small town on Lake Balaton, we then tried to sus out the local buses to get to the campsite, but after battling to make any sense from what the locals were trying to tell us we were approached by a nice old chap who could speak a little English who advised us to get a taxi as he had not heard of where we wanted to be.

We arrived at the Wellness campsite and apartments only to find that they did not have a booking for us even though we had booked by Hostel world. Luckily they had a room for one night but we had to move to another room which we were not bothered about too much just so long as we had a bed to sleep in. We stayed here for 4 nights in the end as it was nice and peaceful but with lots of things to do, plus my birthday was approacing so we did not want to end up travelling on that day.

On our first full day here we borrowed some bicycles and went exploring, we rode into Kesyzthely and Gyenasdias, lovely place but quite touristy, no English just Hungarians and Germans. The weather was hot and sunny, we found a big tesco and we got some snacks for the day. We sampled some local cuisine and had a few beers.

We cought the train to Tapolca to go to the underground lake but the queue was a mile long and it was raining so we decided to sack it and go for some food instead. We came back and went for some food at a restaurant near to where we were staying and to our surprise we met a family from Darlo, such a small world. The music in the background was a hungarian guy singing along to his demo keyboard music like in Pheonix nights, renditions included, the hungarian version of 'the one that I want' from grease and 'the birdy song'. It was very cringeworthy LOL, but very memorable.

The day of my birthday we got a local bus *after we finally figured it out* to a fantastic thermal lake called Heviz. It is a massive natural thermal lake where the temperature of the lake is constantly at around 30 degrees, so very warm. It was the perfect birthday as will never see anything like it again, I am sure. We went for a swim and played with the baby fish in the lake as well as soaking up some sun and relaxing. Though the lake did pong a bit, of sulphur, eggie to me and you! We then went for dinner at a Mexican as we were sick to death of Hungarian goulash lol. Great day.

We then travelled by two trains to where we are now, Gyor, pronounced, dior, sort of anyway, everyone seems to say it differently! Its a pretty small city and seems very affluent, we have seen a few sights and just eaten at a fantasic vegetarian cafe, it was just what the doctor ordered yum!

Looking forward to going to our final destinantion in Eastern Europe tomorrow, Vienna in Austria. Should be good according to the travel guides.

Hope all is well back at home.

Ps feeling a bit home sick today, but a call to the folks cheered me up. I am sure it will pass.

Miss you all, Nic and Graham xx