Waking up we knew that if we were going to do anything we needed to do it early because of the heat and humidity. After looking at some of our options we decided to go to the Zoo. We often do this and enjoy seeing the different zoos around the world. Our favorite to date is the zoo in Singapore where they do not use any fences. I knew nothing could surpass Singapore so I was anxious to see what the zoo in Budapest would be like.
Again we headed to the subway, was able to get sign language directions as to what line, where to switch and where to get off. We arrive at the zoo just before a large camp/school group did. We were able to pay our admission, grab a map and off we went. There were a number of “special” houses that didn’t open till 10:00 so we needed to wait about 15 minutes before they did. What a disappointment. Many times there were no animals in the cages or special exhibits in buildings. We kept looking for the animals but didn’t see many. We did make it over to the seal show and that wasn’t too bad. The interesting part for me was the music they played during the show – Cotton Eyed Joe, a traditional American country song. Here we are at a zoo in Hungary and this is what they were playing! Disappointment with the zoo kept adding up and we decided just to leave.
We went back to the hotel and just hung out in the lobby reading and staying nice and cool. Our train to Vienna was at 4:05 and since we were just a couple of blocks from the train station and we had our “real” tickets, we left the hotel at 3:10. We got to the train station and didn’t see our destination on the boards. While I watched the luggage, Blogger Hubby went to find out what track we would be departing from. He came back rather quickly and said we were at the wrong train station. The option he was given was to take another train to the correct station. As we started to go down to the lower level, I told him that I thought it would be better if we took a cab to the other station. That was what we decided to do. We quickly got a cab, showed him our ticket and motioned to him to take us to the station. We were leaving the city, or at least it appeared to us we were. Initially we thought it would be about a ten minute ride but instead it was more like 25 minutes. We began to get a little panicky – would we make out train? Rain starts pouring down, lightning is in the sky and now people are beginning to head home, leave work – just more people out than there was a little earlier. Finally at 3:55 we pull up to the train station. We needed to find our way, go up elevators, go up some stairs – I motioned Blogger Hubby to go ahead while I went a little slower lugging my heavy suitcase. I needed to keep my eyes on him so I wouldn’t get lost. The minutes are ticking away. I finally find him at the top of a staircase that I have to go down and the escalator is not working.He motions me to go down while he carries my suitcase down the stairs. We hurriedly get on the train and exhale a sigh of relief. A minute later the train departs the station and we are on our way to Vienna. Lesson learned is to always check to make sure you are at the correct station. We actually though that the train clerk that we went to the day before would have told us but then, we didn’t ask, we just assumed.
The train we are on is an Inter-City which means it is a slower, more local train and not as new as the other train. With the rain, the windows could not be open as the rain was coming in the train car. Hot, humid and exhausted from our rush, we just leaned back and thanked our lucky stars that we made it.
We arrived at our train station in Vienna and we had several hours to wait till our connecting train to Venice. Lots of food choices at the train station. The ATM wasn’t working and although we had a few Euros, we wanted more to bring with us into Italy. I left the station and walked around outside till I found an ATM machine where I used my Charles Schwab debit card that has no foreign transaction fees or ATM fees (they reimburse your account). I returned to the station and found that our train was already on the track. We decided to go up and get settled, make sure we were in the right car and correct room – sometimes for us we flounder trying to determine the car number and we wanted to give ourselves a little more breathing room since we had just had a big rush in Budapest. We had booked a double sleeper and we wanted to get settled and explore a little. I had traveled by train quite a bit when I was a child and I was looking forward to reliving my memories of traveling in a Pullman car.
Imagine my surprise when we entered our room to find out that it as super tiny. It was bunk beds, which I had expected but I didn’t expect the room to be so narrow. With both suitcases in the room there was hardly any room for a person. There was no room to store our suitcases.Panic settling in again. Blogger Hubby was able to climb up on the his top bunk and put his suitcase on a shelf over the door but what to do with mine? The stewart came by and lifted up the bottom bunk and showed us a small space for my suitcase and we were able to squeeze in it. With Blogger Hubby and I both standing in the room, there was no space. I have never been in such a tight quarters……ever!
There was no place to sit other than in our respective beds. The room was very hot and humid and we reported it to the stewart. What did he do – he opened the window but it was so loud when we were traveling that I knew I would never be able to sleep. It seemed like heat was coming out of our vent but in reality, nothing was coming out, no circulation of the hot and humid air. He agreed to put us in the next room and so it began all over again…..bringing down the suitcase, lifting it back up in the new room, putting the lower bed back up, taking the suitcase out and then going into the new room, lifting up the bed, putting suitcase in and then putting bed back down…..and so on and so forth. We were so hot and exhausted, not what I would call a good start to our train adventure .
We did receive a “goodie” bag in our room with slippers, a bottle of water, a snack and since breakfast came with our room we were given a menu where we could check off six items to be delivered to our room. The room did not have a toilet so we had to use the one down the hall. I began thinking that I had made a mistake in booking this sleeper car – it was not what I expected. Hopefully you can see how narrow the room was. Nevertheless, we were able to get some sleep, breakfast was delivered close to the appointed time and we made it to Venice on time. Would I travel by train again – maybe but I would be a more intelligent train traveler. I had noticed that one room at the end of the corridor was more in a L shape and it had a chair in the room even with both beds down and a small bathroom. I found our that theirs was a triple for two people. Lesson learned.
Next up – our arrival in Venice.
Air, Land & Sea 