I forgot when I woke up, but at that point my room mate was on the move: we agreed temperatures had been too hot last night, and then she went down to breakfast. I jumped in the shower (and didn’t think I smelt very nice), and once dressed, left the room, couldn’t get the lift to work, went down the stairs, had forgotten what everyone in the group looked like and the room was busy, so I sat in the corner with a small croissant and a couple of pieces of orange. Then a Scottish woman came over and said ‘morning Becky’ – so I assumed she was one of the group; we had a chat, she reminded me of her name (and mentioned she was a nurse), a friend of hers came over, and more of a chat was had before having to get moving; and I had no idea what would be happening today, so I stayed quiet and decided to wait and see…

At 8.30am – the hotel was left, and a bus was boarded; 10 minutes later the bus was on a bridge over the River Danube, it was 8.45am when we got off, a bit further along the road was walked, and at the top of a flight of stone stairs was a Bhuda Castle district, a place serving food was called Jamie Oliver, and at the end of a street called Szentharomsac Utca we were halted and our tour leader said a lot of stuff I forgot.

The Fishermans Bastion seemed to be the name of a place up there, and most of the city appeared to be visible…

…my legs were sweating profusely, a woman who appeared to be a bride was having photos taken of her, there was a hot air balloon floating over the city, I tried to photograph as much as possible before 9.30am, people (including someone with a 4 wheeled walker) were being led around by someone with a lollipop stick, and a little place was selling flat white speciality coffee and chimney cake. I didn’t pay that much attention to what our guide was saying, saw a little Pekinese dog, and then we were led back what I was reasonably sure was the way we came (and I saw a big bin truck). Back by the bus stop (where we waited for bus number 5) a man (who may’ve been drunk) was getting extremely agitated about something and yelling into his phone, it was 10.10am when our bus was boarded, and I spotted the Uránia Nemzeti Filmszínház (which is the Urania National Film Theater).

10.20am was when we got off, a leaking water fountain was nearby, a man was horizontal on a bus stop seat, a lot of 2 wheeled scooters were on the roads; and back at the hotel, we went and got luggage. Down in the lobby at 10.40am, I spotted a woman in a side room having her eyebrows plucked; and outside in bright sunshine I had a chat to a couple of people who I was reasonably sure were called P and A. Then a minibus appeared, we all got on it, I noticed a place called Fitness Candy, and at 11.04am – a female robot voice told us the use of seat belts is compulsory for everyone. Dohany utca (a street) had a place called New York Cafe on it; Friss Pekseg seemed to be a bakery type place; that Sunday lunches are very popular here, Hungarians are very punctual and it was communist until 1989 was mentioned by someone I forgot; and at 11.15am, the minibus stopped.

Vasas Koz was where it was stopped, we all got off, passed a kids playground, and then went down some stairs into an underground cafe and bar called Nemadomfel. In there, a woman (1 of the group) started fanning herself with a fan, slightly odd looking tiny scone sort of things appeared on a plate at each of the three tables occupied by the group, there was a large bit which appeared to be a childrens area, ‘Foglalt’ was on the little plastic signs (that looked like the 1s that tend to say ‘reserved’ on them in the UK) [Google Translate says that’s Hungarian for ‘busy’], B said something I forgot, and then a bloke in uniform began speaking (looking and sounding robotic) about the ‘cufey’ (his pronunciation of café) and the philosophy of Never Give Up, that bags cost 6000 Hungarian forint (about £12.70), and one of the womens bathrooms has a broken toilet seat.

I consumed my drink, photographed stuff on sale, a bit more chatting to P about something I forgot was done, and I decided to take the one remaining miniscule scone with me. Back outside, I found a bit of shade to stand in, spotted a Chihuahua in a car passenger seat, and a door that said ‘Fogyizo’ over it [Google Translate thinks that’s Hungarian for ‘eat it’], the minibus reappeared, and once on it, the tour leader woman started saying stuff via a little microphone – which included that Budapest has the second oldest metro system in the world and has underground thermal caves containing spas, 5 or 6 different wines would be available to be sampled tonight, and mentioned a sculpture of something I forgot. [Wikipedia says: the history of Budapest began when an early Celtic settlement transformed into the Roman town of Aquincum, the capital of Lower Pannonia. The Hungarians arrived in the territory in the late 9th century, but the area was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–42. After the reconquest of Buda in 1686, the region entered a new age of prosperity, with Pest-Buda becoming a global city after the unification of Buda, Óbuda and Pest on 17 November 1873, with the name ‘Budapest’ given to the new capital. Budapest also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a great power that dissolved in 1918, following World War I. The city was the focal point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and the Battle of Budapest in 1945, as well as the Hungarian Revolution of 1956].

The roads were horrendously bumpy, I reviewed my notes and photos, and a couple of people on the bus lost consciousness; by 1pm we were going rather fast on a road that Google Maps said was the E75, the driver had turned on a radio station (quietly) and ‘The Eye of The Tiger’ was playing. I saw a Serbian van (it had SRB on the number plate), a Romanian ‘Kogel’ lorry, a Lithuanian cargo lorry (and at that point I discovered an extremely squashed sandwich in my bag), a van with ‘canulendula’ on it, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open at that point (and had noticed 1 of the boys playing chess on his phone).

It was just before 2pm that the bus stopped, I spotted tiny little bits of baklava in this service station, and as I couldn’t spot anything that wasn’t meaty or sugary and I was a bit dubious about using my bank card and couldn’t remember where I’d put my cash, I just photographed a few things, and back on the bus – rediscovered the squashed sandwich from the plane in my bag. 2.27pm was when a tractor showroom was passed; ‘kijirat’ was on a road sign, there were massive wheat fields, fields of solar panels, some sort of industrial goings on, and massive greenhouse type structures, Google Maps thought we were on the M43, I was wondering what the speed limits are on these roads [and I’ve looked it up: in towns and cities: 50 km/h, on open roads: 90 km/h, and on motorways: 120 km/h], noticed an odd metal structure in a field (that looked a bit like a crop sprayer), a Polish Smitz Cargobull lorry, signs saying ‘ANIMAL TRANSPORT PLANT TRANSPORT CONTROL’, and at 3.18pm, the boarder with Romania was reached…