Favorite

​My favorite person from Great Britain 😆🤗. He’s just so lovely. A kind soul. Always pointing out something he thinks I’d want to see.  🤗

A Funny 😆

​We arrived at our last hotel on the tour, the Intercity Hotel in Budapest. When we get to a new location, there is consistently a mad dash to get the key cards so as to get into the rooms, and then unpack again.  Me, not looking forward to unpacking yet again, (although quite happy it is going to be for four days/nights instead of just two 😊), lingered and enjoyed watching the people around me. Finally, I see Vince, our tour director, glance around. When his eyes settled on me, he commented, “Oh! There you are!” And he promptly handed me my key card.  

I then took the lift to the second floor, walk to room 214, opened my door, and started to settle in.  Precisely halfway through a change of clothing, I heard my door opening!😱  I dashed behind this perfectly placed curtain separating the bedroom from the bathroom, and wrapped myself up in it!😂😂😂

“HELLO?” I called out. To which I hear a muffled “Yes?”

I giggled, but it had to have been a nervous giggle, because that’s how I was feeling (Jamaica PTSD kicking in! 😂) and said, “There is somebody already in this room… and it’s ME.”

The voice, male, replied, “ You are in this room? How can you be in this room?” 

I recognized the voice as that of tour director! Vince 😂😂. He has a very thick and heavy Slovakian accent.  

He was talking behind just the partially opened door I might add. So I slipped out of the curtain, grabbed a pair of pants off the bed, and pulled them on.😂😂 I then walked to the door and opened it, laughing all the way. He seemed shocked when he saw me and said, “I don’t understand. How can you be in this room?”

I grabbed the paper/cardboard key holder that had my room number written on it. It said 216… I looked at the placard on the outside of my door, and it said 214. I looked back at him and burst out laughing again 😂!

“ I don’t know how I can be in this room,” I exclaimed. “I am obviously in your room!” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I then handed him my key card and asked if that key worked on my ASSIGNED door… room 216, handily just one door down. 😂😂😂😂

It did.😂 

“Want to trade rooms? 🤓I asked. “I’m already unpacked.” 😂

Mind you, we continued to laugh through this entirely hilarious exchange. He handed me his key card, I gave him my key card, and he reassigned himself to room 216, while I was allowed to remain into 214 😆.  

“I hope you hadn’t requested a special room,” I giggled, “ because mine is quite lovely!” 😂😂😂😂😂

Later that evening, on the dinner, cruise, every time we happen to glance at one another, we burst out laughing all over again. 😂😂😂😂 

I’ve got a plethora of images stored on my iPhone of every enchanting, ancient and memorable thing I’ve been seeing over the past 10 days, but these are the beloved memories that will forever linger close to my heart!😂😂💕💕💕🤗🤗🤗

And needless to say, I needed this after that brief, albeit touching exchange 😂. 

The ‘Hood

​Or rather, the NEW HOOD!  Just beautiful!  On the train/tram line, minutes from ‘the Square’ 😃. 

The train station. I’ll explore that later! 

Sigh

​Some things are universal.  Road construction…

Traffic jams…

And McDonald’s 😂😂😂

And for your viewing pleasure, the Hungarian countryside 😃!

AND IKEA😆😆😆😆!!

So lush and green! In Austria too 😃. 

Bratislava

​Yet another European city previously under communist rule 😔, as evidenced by the unsightly ‘free-for-all-comrades’ apartment complexes. 

But the Old Town was beautiful!

And a stop into an exquisitely lovely church…

Up the steep, curved stairway to the ‘treasury’. (Several old vestments used during a service).  

I’m thinking this was Joseph of Arimathea taking Jesus’ body off the cross. 😔

An old, boarded up building in ‘The Square’  

We snuck off on our own 😂😂👏👏. (Alan stayed on the bus 😊).  

The mighty and lengthy Danube River, which was also flowing through Vienna. 

Tasty, these! 😃 We had a sampling along with red currant wine. 

The U.S. Embassy 💕

Wifi

​One of the nice things is that the bus has a wifi signal, so I can blog during our transit times. 😊 Especially nice is that I am alert and awake by then, so eager to share 🤗. 

Yesterday was an optional castle tour, which I opted out of as we only had one, full day in Wien (Vienna). HOWEVER…😂😂😂😂😂…the THIRD guy in our group wanted to hang together, as he was fearful of getting lost (no eSIM, no Google Maps 😂). Now, had Michelle been with us, she would’ve controlled the situation much better than I (people pleaser 🙄), but she had opted IN with the castle tour.  So it was Alan, Steve and myself. Alan, at 83, keeps up exceptionally well at a normal pace. Steve walks in OVERDRIVE because he likes to cover as much of a city as possible.  And that means, stopping ANYwhere is NOT an option. Totally not my style/preference  as a solo traveler!  To remind you who is who…

Me, Alan, Michelle…

And Steve 😂. 

When I first met him at our introductory meeting, he seemed to be a very soft spoken and timid gentleman.  He remained as such, however, he has a very overbearing (passive-aggressive) personality, which lies just beneath the surface!  For example… I commented on Sunday, “It will be nice to be in the Old Town on a Monday to avoid some of these crowds.”  

He scoffed at that, and said ,”There won’t be any fewer people tomorrow just because it’s a Monday.”

Well, there WERE much fewer, but anytime a tour group passed  by (sometimes upwards of 25 to 35 people) he made sure to  point out the fact that there were “just as many people as there were yesterday, Erin.” 🙄🙄🙄

And then, anytime Alan or I wanted to stop…for a coffee, a quick visit in a church, or simply to take a picture, he shooed us on our way so we ‘don’t miss anything.’   

I can’t begin to count how many times I told him… “Let’s just pick a meeting spot and be back here in an hour.” 

That was never an option. At one point, Alan insisted we stop for a coffee, because I had secretly texted him and told him that I would’ve liked to have stopped back when he (Alan) first suggested it, about two hours prior. 

👉🏿  🙄. 

I am sad to say that we really didn’t see much of anything meaningful because we were walking by so quickly that we couldn’t stop to appreciate what there was to see really, much less experience the moment. The last straw, not that I ever had one  that ‘broke the camels back’, so to speak, was when we finally arrived at the summer palace (Hapsburgs 🤓), our last stop for the day. There were several stalls and booths with street food, local vendors, and local artists selling things  on the outer edges of the palace. The gardens were located just a few steps beyond.  

“I’m just going to wander around out here,” I commented. “I’ll see you after you tour the gardens.”

“There’s nothing to see out here,” Steve commented. “It’s nothing you would be interested in.”

😱😡😱😡😱😡😱😡😱😡😱😡😱😡😱

Now, it’s a good thing I had my sunglasses on. My eyes were about to roll out of my head! Alan, bless his heart, didn’t hear a word of the exchange because he is somewhat hard of hearing unless he is seeing you talking directly at him.😂😂 

Not wanting to argue, because I knew I would lose (Seriously. I would have. I had learned this by now😂), I just nodded and followed along behind to the gardens. 🙄

For some reason, Steve thinks I am  joining a tour group (with him) to Spain. (I may have mentioned that it sounded awfully fun. On our first night at the introductory gathering 😂😂😂). I’m not sure if I should be honest and tell him I’d not EVER travel with him because of A, B, and C (and D, E, F…Z), but me, not wanting to hurt any feelings, will probably blame it on Plus One, and him not being comfortable with me traveling with another male .😂😂😂😂😂  

Aye aye aye. 

I was still able to snap some beautiful photos from yesterday. So I will take a break in writing because I feel my blood began to boil all over again.😂😂😂

This was a monument in the center of town, commemorating all those who perished in the ‘Black Death’ (Bubonic Plague). I believe the first was in the 1700s…🤔

The gardens 🙄😂😂😂. 

And below, the neat assortment of vendors (much like what was found at the Christmas Market😁).

And I did insist on stoping to enjoy one of the ‘things to try’ on my itinerary for Austria…

‘Langos’ .  I ordered just the sour cream version, but the guy made a mistake. But it was all right 😊.  Alan, fortunately had a sliver with me, but Steve didn’t care for any, and promptly chastised me for wasting half of it. 😂😂😂

Did I mention the guy has never been married? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

OK. I am going to be nice now. And I’m going to let this go. But it did give me pause to consider, last night while lying in bed, wide awake because by the time we stopped for our very strong-but-tasty Vienna coffee, it was well past 2 PM 🙄.  Anyway, I got to thinking…I’m so grateful that I enjoy stopping to smell the flowers that the Lord so graciously blesses us with.  And to be aware of and appreciative for the beauty that is all around us. Each new sunrise is brand new and different from the day before!  Even our relaxing evenings together are anything but if it’s the four of us instead of just the three, because Steve can’t stand to sit and waste time, even though we may be having an enjoyable time visiting with one another. He left us early last night, but still, we stayed and visited for at least another two hours, fully enjoying one other‘s company.  I am grateful that I am able to take life at a slower pace, and not miss out on anything for fear of missing out on everything! 

Crossing over into Slovakia 😊. It’s interesting to see all of the unmanned border crossings now that the EU has opened up some of these borders. 😊