Leaving Budapest we caught a very busy train to Vienna, no seat reservation meant a couple of hours on the floor in the doorways. After a quick visit to a playground in Vienna we caught our train to Villach. A town on the border of Austria and Italy. As we travelled in we got our first glimpse of dramatic Apline scenery. We had planned our visit to Villach to coincide with Kirchtag, an annual traditional folk festival. Think lots of lederhosen and sausages. We w...

Budapest is great. Amazing architecture, good food, interesting attractions, plenty to do for kids and, although we didn’t explore, looks like a good nightlife. We couldn't do it justice in the two full days we had here. After visiting Lučenec, amazing that Alison spent a year here at 18, we headed back down over the border and back to Budapest. We found a beautiful apartment on Air BnB, cheap and right in the centre. 1st night we stayed in and Steve did a to...

Day 3: Farewell Denise, I’m so sorry Connie sat on your book with her naked butt. I hope you look back in your time with us with some humour and sympathy. You were an excellent roommate. After rescuing a few other passengers from the train toilet we arrived relatively bright eyed and raring to go. There’s something special (I recognise this is sad to many) about getting on a new metro system and Budapest’s is great. Easy to navigate, air-con, and lots of...

Up, packed, supermarket shop, breakfast, metro and away from Cologne on the 9:25. Don't remember us being this sprightly last time round. More nimble movement meant we sat all the way to Berlin, 4.5 hrs. Kids very well behaved. Backpacks in a locker and a walking tour of the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and the park. 1st sulker storming off. Found a playground with a zip wire so peace broke out, temporarily. Great dinner of meat and beer. Then to the night train...

Day 1 of the trip and we got back into the swing of it. 4 of us made it peacefully, strolling to the tube station just before 7am. The other one arrived sweating in an Uber due to a not lost purse. Arrived at St Pancras International with plenty of time to spare, which was lucky due to queues at passport control. We departed on the Eurostar at 09:01 and our adventure began. 1st stop was Brussels arriving at 12:05. We found a bag drop place (back of a restaurant)...