Windy city

Lauren gave me a city pass as a gift so it has been well used but first Justin and I, Lauren wasn’t feeling well, went to the John Hancock building and enjoyed views and drinks on the 96th floor! We then became cultural and visited the Art museum.

The weather has been a lot milder with bright sunshine so I have walked the streets of Chicago going from place to place and it’s a really nice city. I tried to get to the skydeck-basically a box stuck on the outside of a building a million miles in the air. Yes I’m exaggerating but I’m not that good with heights! It was such a shame that the queues were 2 hours long so I decided against the visit! I then met Justin and Lauren at the Field museum (History) and it proved to be another brilliant museum.

It is so much colder today , minus 2 with freezing drizzle but not to worry I head to Buenos Aires and some heat later today!

Chicago

With warnings that a very bad storm was approaching I was hoping that I’d take off before it arrived but as you can guess that wasn’t quite what happened. We were boarded okay and then started the pullout. It certainly felt as if we were moving but each time I looked out we were in the same spot! The strong winds had started and we rocking the plane so hard that we’d become jammed against the tug pulling us out! Finally the tug gave us up and we headed down the runway. It was certainly a very testing take off as we were just being blown all over the place but eventually we made it into more settled air and we were on our way.

The flight was just under 9 hours and was fine unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about passport control! We queued for two hours to get passports stamped and entry into the USA! Amazingly no one ‘jacked up’! Justin was there to meet me which was great. The cold hit you as we left the airport, in fact it was hard to breathe, the pilot told us it was minus 12!!

I woke early on Christmas Eve and ventured out for breakfast. The cold was overwhelming - I later found out that it was minus 19!! As I was having breakfast the snow started to fall. Talking of breakfast I’d forgotten how large the meals are! I’d ordered Eggs Benedict but I received enough food to keep me going until the evening!

View from room

I walked around until the cold drove me back to the hotel but in the early afternoon I headed out to the railway station to catch up with Justin, Lauren and her family. It was a 45minute train ride and as we moved away from the city the snow became deeper. After a short drive we arrived at Lauren’s family home where I was greeted by her mum, dad, sister and three dogs. We had a lovely evening with delicious food and lots of talking. The interesting part was that coyotes and wolves pass through their garden at night!

It had snowed a little during the night so I got my white Christmas! Lauren’s family don’t celebrate Christmas as we do, I think that thanksgiving is more important, so we followed their tradition and went to the movies. We saw the Hobbit which was really good.

Lauren drove us back into the city and we met for dinner. We went to a really good steak house and had some great steak. Snow was pelting down as we left the restaurant.

Boxing day morning Justin, Lauren and I visited the Science museum - it was one of the best museums I’ve visited. In the afternoon I walked down to the Navy Pier. It wasn’t that exciting but the walk did me good.

Last few days

In the last few days we have caught up with family and friends. We had a lovely few hours with Allan’s family on Friday. It was great to see Gladys, she will be 90 next year, and some of my sister and brother-in - laws plus nieces and nephews plus new babies. The Worrall clan is definitely growing!

The area is just the same but one difference was that one of the pubs we’d managed for a short time was now a temple! You used to pop in for a pint now you pop in for a prayer!

Yesterday I met up with a couple of good friends that I used to teach with. Both were really well but the talk about the expectations of teachers here made me doubly glad that I’d emigrated!

Kerry and I finally completed our ‘duties’ and completed the cake decorating and therefore earned our board and lodging!!

The weather has been quite reasonable, not too chilly and the sun has peeked through which enabled us to get out and about and head off across muddy fields for a walk! There has been heavy rain at night but it appears that a big storm is on it’s way! We think that Kerry might have a lot of snow when she travels to Newcastle on Tuesday.

I fly to Chicago tomorrow and have been told that there is lots of snow on it’s way there too! Oh well I did say that I’d like a white Christmas!

I do love England but each time I come back I know that I couldn’t live here.

On to the UK

Last day in Tallinn & on to the UK

During our last day in Tallinn we walked up the hills to get a spectacular view over the old town, the more modern part of the town, to the port where you could get a ferry to Helsinki (wish we had more time to do that) and beyond. We did need to stop for ‘Glogg’ a few times as it was very cold - well that’s our story. Back in the Square we found three reindeer.

Flight back to London was good and Kerry coped well even with the landing which was very bumpy as there were incredibly strong winds, (a few glasses of wine helped) On arrival we picked up a car & headed out. We made a slight detour early in the journey to see my nephew & family including a new arrival. It was lovely to see them and after a quick cuppa we were off again.

The journey to my sister’s was a nightmare! The rain was belting down and with the very strong winds it was coming horizontally which meant visibility was almost nil at time but still drivers flew past! There were times when you couldn’t see the lane markings and trying to control the car in the wind was tough going but we finally made it.
It was brilliant to catch up with my sister & brother-in-law. Not having caught up for two years just vanishes & feels like you were there yesterday. The house is full of Christmas decorations but the tree was bare - yes it was our job to decorate it. There was another job for Kerry & I - decorating the Christmas cakes! We are having to think up ‘amazing’ things to put on the cakes because they are for Jake’s grandchildren. Kerry & I did cheat a little as we bought a marzipan penguin in Estonia!

We caught the train to Birmingham to see the German Markets. Each year for a month the markets come to town including wooden buildings to house all the goodies. The smells are overwhelming from the German sausages to the gingerbread and don’t forget the beer and mulled wine! We also managed to catch up with my niece which was lovely.

Back at the house we carried out the nightly tradition - running out in the freezing cold (about 1C) to plunge (not quite) into the spa. The glass of mulled wine helps as does sitting in the warm water looking at the night sky - so different from ‘Down Under’ - but then there is the run back in the cold to the house to get dry!

White, white and more white

After a three hour flight, with Kerry only trying to dislocate one of my finger as her fear of flying kicked in, we were told by the captain that there had been heavy snow falls and the snow ploughs were clearing the runway.

So it was a very snowy Tallinn that greeted us. A taxi ride and we were at what I thought was the apartment I’d rented. As we couldn’t check in until 4pm we walked to the Old Square, which was about 200m from here. It’s a beautiful Square with a large Christmas tree in the centre and little cabins selling all sorts. It was snowing and we really felt the cold so went straight to the cabin which had a sign ‘Glog’, which we felt sure meant grog, and there they were serving hot wine! After trying to say cheers in Estonian, don’t ask, we slid our way around the square, it was really icy with the snow packed down, hoping not to make fools of ourselves by slipping and throwing hot wine over the locals! The local choir was belting out carols which all added to the Christmas spirit. The cold became too much and we sat in a restaurant, with yet more hot wine, watching the world go by.

We managed to find a supermarket to stock up on essentials and then went back to the apartment. It was then that I realised that this wasn’t the one I’d booked! After a phone call, visit to the place I had booked ( someone else was there!) and a quick come back of “I will give you a 50% refund” the issue was resolved!

The days are short with sunrise at 9:15 and sunset at 3:15. It seems so much later than it is.

Morning of culture

Friday 13/12

Managed to sleep through breakfast so when I finally got myself into gear breakfast was my first stop.

I headed out to the Victoria & Albert Museum to see the ‘Club to Catwalk -  fashions from the 80's’ exhibition. It was really interesting and songs from that era were booming out - it was hard to stand still & not start moving & grooving!
( For those of you who are my work colleagues it was like a Friday morning!)

I look at the other exhibits which included fashions from the ages and I had to wonder if we’d ever worn some of them. There were a number of interesting exhibitions to visit. After I’d had my fill of this museum I crossed the road to the Natural History museum. In the grounds of that museum was an ice rink and carousel where people were enjoying their time. I didn’t spend too long there and soon headed back to the hotel for a rest.

In the evening Kerry, Justin and I went to see War Horse at Drury Lane in theatre land. The play was amazing and we were four rows from the stage.

Things I’ve noticed:

The stink of exhaust fumes hanging in the cold morning air

Seeing your breath

Being caught up in a sea of people on station escalators 

Being jammed into the Tube like Sardines

The frequency and speed ( how do they stay on the rails?) of the tube

The different accents

Red double decker buses and black London cabs

Choirs singing carols at railway stations

How often you are underground

Christmas decorations

How brilliant the supermarkets are

Saturday 14/12

Early breakfast and then off to fight my way onto the tube as I made my way to Covent Garden. It was fairly cold today as I braved the tourist areas. It must have been mad Saturday as there were hundreds of people dressed as Santa.

Caught up with Kerry and Justin for lunch at a pub near London Bridge. There were lots of people around - I suppose it was the main Christmas shopping day but I wished they’d stayed home!

Now I’m at a hotel at Gatwick Airport as Kerry & I jet off to Tallin tomorrow.

Back to the old country

OMG! I need to find a millionaire, win the lottery or marry a pilot! Unfortunately none of these will happen so I will have to continue to use my frequent flyer points for an upgrade - yes I flew Business class all the way to London!! 

A quick visit to the Qantas lounge for some bubbles before the priority boarding for a glass of,  you’ve guessed it, bubbles. It was a great flight. I stamped my feet a couple of times to keep those in cattle class quiet - they were below me as I was on the upper deck! There were so many buttons on the seat that I was like a kid in a sweet shop trying all of them. Feet were going up and down, one minute sitting then lying down and don’t get me started on the massage button!

As you can tell I had fun and slept about 6 hours on the first leg and 3 on the second. Food was great, alcohol as you wished and the room - WOW! Even the pJ’s were good.

Arrived in a cold (-1C) and slightly foggy London but i was soon in the heart of the city and wandering. had dropped my bags but couldn’t check in so headed to Oxford Street for some shopping! Streets weren’t crowded and the sun finally came out.

In the evening I caught up with Kerry and Justin - it was so good to see them both. We went up the Shard, the new tall building in the centre of London. The lift takes seconds to get you to the 67th floor which is the viewing gallery. The view is spectacular but your photos don’t look as good as expected because you’re viewing through glass. A walk up steps takes you to the 72nd floor and it’s rather windy because parts are open to the sky. I did have to hold on to the side a couple of times - my excuse was jetlag not fear!


We then went to Jamies 15 restaurant and the three of us had some great laughs.

Last days!

8th July
Three hour bus trip through the mountains to our next destination. We travelled through narrow roads and on one bend came across a head on collision (the drivers here seem to feel that a blind bend is a good place to overtake!). Luckily one the cars seem to have suffered. We also passed many fields of sunflowers.

The city we are in is Plovdiv - one of the oldest cities in the world. There are numerous Roman ruins here. It’s so much hotter, in the 30‘s, and walking on really rough cobblestones is tiring. They are renovating many of the old houses and there is a law which states that they have look the same as the originally would have looked. You can really see the Ottoman influence here.

Did a lot of people watching. A large group protesting about the government went by but it was all very peaceful apart from the noise they were making with drums and whistles.

Am now trying to pass the day until we catch the night bus into Istanbul. I should have enough time to rush around the grand bazaar before catching the plane home. I arrived very late Thursday night! 

In Bulgaria

4th July
Walked through the cobbled streets - hard with a suitcase - to the bus station where we caught a bus to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It took three hours and went through some lovely mountainous countryside.

We have a good hotel but not in the best part of the city. It is definitely more run down here. Pavements are treacherous with holes and missing stones so you walk with your eyes down. Motorists are fast & crazy. They don’t slow down even when you are on a crossing.
Walked around the city venturing into a couple of churches. One of them had a museum of icon and it was quite amazing to see icon which were produce in the 12th - 18th  Century. Later we went on a proper guided tour and had to detour in a couple of places because the people of Sofia were demonstrating - peacefully - against their government. They were not happy with recent elections and have demonstrated every evening for the past three weeks. There were lots of police, whistles, flags and banners but absolutely no trouble.

Dinner in a quaint restaurant but once again massive meals - each one could serve 2/3 people.

5th July
Left Sofia by mini bus for the three hour journey to our next destination. Around lunchtime we stopped at the oldest Monastery in Bulgaria. Amazing place! There was a museum which was interesting. We were up in the mountains and suddenly the heavens opened as we were having lunch but there was no problem as we quickly moved inside.

We drove for another couple of hours and the driver was certainly a bit manic belting down the mountain roads passing other cars on bends. Didn’t even slow down when we had another very heavy downpour but luckily we arrived safely in our mountain destination. It’s a quaint village, much like an alpine village, with gardens full of vegies & fruit trees growing along the paths. There were numerous horses and carts passing with people and hay - they are harvesting already.

After a walk in the hills we went for dinner - it was put on by the homestay people. We had soup followed by potatoes, other veg & meat and then fresh yogurt & honey. Two elderly members of the family came in dressed in national costume and started singing. I’d left my camera upstairs but as I went to get it they grabbed me & I had to join in with their singing! They then bundled me into the next room and made me put on national costume, luckily they decided all the group should be dressed up! We all had to try the dances but everyone got involved so it was fun.

6th July
Big surprise this morning! After breakfast we jumped onto an empty hay wagon & were taken around two villages. It was a lovely morning but the aromas the horse gave off were certainly not the best. We eventually came across the local washing machine which was used to wash the rugs. It was a huge wooden ‘tub’ with holes in which was fed by fast flowing water which actually swirled the rugs around therefore giving a washing machine action.

A short drive led us further into the mountains to our next stop, Banksa. This is a skiing village & the skiing World Cup 2012 was held here. Lots of mountains with remnants of snow at the top which is very picturesque. Had a walk around the village before a group of us took a trip to see the Bear Sanctuary. This is where some of the ‘Dancing Bears of Bulgaria’ & also some from zoos are being rehabilitated and looked after.  Obviously everywhere is fenced off but there was plenty of room for the bears and lots of natural forest for them to wander in. They were divided into different zones and groups of bears were placed together. It was a long & often step walk around the areas but we saw lots of bears. It is terrible to think of how the gypsies made them dance but you could see the effects in some of them as they moved around - it was almost as if they were following a routine, lifting their feet as if dancing. Most of their noses had been torn from the time that the ring had been put through them. They are unable to go back into the wild because they have spent all their lives with humans so don’t know how a bear should behave. A few of them had actually built dens before hibernating, which was a good sign. It’s hard to see animals enclosed but I can honestly say they seemed happy in their environment.

7th July
Today we ventured into the mountains. We went up a couple of chairlifts - so much harder to get off without skis even with beefy guys literally lifting/flinging you off. It took 30 minutes to get from bottom to top & we travel up to 2900m. We travelled over pine forests and saw horses pulling felled trees down the mountainside. The top revealed a lake & higher up snow. There were lots of alpine wild flowers. Some venture to the higher slopes but I walked around the lake.
Coming down the chairlift our leader was knocked over as we alighted from one chair to get onto the other. Luckily she was alright apart from being shocked and she is now covered in bruises! It was great being up in a beautiful spot with plenty of fresh air.

Survived Dracula!

30th June
Up early for a tour to a castle. Caught a couple of local buses to get to Bran Castle which is commonly known as Dracula's castle - this was more like a castle! It was quite interesting and related to the Romanian Royal Family. Vlad the Impailer - who many people connected to Dracular - had stayed there on a number of occasions and there was quite a lot of information about him and about the author who wrote the ‘Dracula” novel. It was quite eerie with low cloud moving like whisps of smoke through the trees.

Caught the local bus to a fortified town at Rasnov. It was Saxon and inside the walls really reminded me of old English cottages.

1st July
6:30am start to the railway station to get the train to Bucharest. We arrived three hours later and then caught the Metro to the area we are staying in. The trains here put ours to shame - they are prompt, clean and with plenty of room.

We are staying near a park and ventured into to it’s open air restaurant. It was very pleasant and cool - such a change in the weather as yesterday we were really cold. After lunch took a ‘Hop on, hop off bus which at $8 we thought was good value. It was interesting to see the city - it is so run down but the parks are very nice! 

Palace of Parliament is second to the Pentagon in size and 90 000 homes were destroyed to build it. It now only uses a few of the 6000 rooms and Parliament sit there. It was one of Ceausescu's 'little' projects!

In the evening we went to a Beer restaurant which was in a very interesting building and had actually been a restaurant since 1889 - it looked as if it had been a church but it never had. It was a very popular place and there were queues of people. Food and beer was good. Wandered through the old town and saw an outdoor acting performance before going to buy gelato and people watching.

2nd July
Early start with a walking tour of the old part of Bucharest. We had a really good guide who gave us lots of interesting information about Romania’s past. We then got on the train for a 6 hour trip to Bulgaria. Had the usual two stops for passport control on the way

It is hot and sunny and the fields are full of sunflowers and wheat and we’re back in the mountains. A 20 minute taxi ride bought us to the fortified town of Veliko Tarnova - often referred to as the ‘City of the Tsars’. This is one of the oldest settlements in Bulgaria.

All went to a local restaurant where the meals were huge and very reasonably priced.

3rd July
Had a look around the town which reminds me of alpine Switzerland but also the Italy with its houses set into the mountain side. The wall of the fort are clearly seen and like ‘mad dogs and Englishmen’ we were out in the midday sun visiting the fort. Then spent time walking back uphill via souvenir shops to the hotel.

Interesting bathrooms here with showers but no curtain so everything gets wet. I put a towel down as a mat but only succeeded in building myself a dam! 

In Transilvania

27th June
Early start with a 5 hour drive into Transylvania and the origins of Dracula. We stayed in the town where ‘he’ was born. We were inside the citadel & the buildings were interesting. After a very quick orientation - there’s not much to see - I climbed the steps in the clock tower to get a view of the city. Looked around at the ‘tacky’ souvenir shops - everything seems to be from Italy! The cobble streets play havoc when you are walking but that didn’t stop us from heading down the streets for a typical Romanian dinner!

28th June
Late start today so I walked up the 100+ steps to the church - I stopped myself from going inside as I’m churched out! Walked around the German graveyard - the dates on some of the stones showed generations of families. Decided to buy the worst looking cup relating to Dracula to take back to work in the hope that no one will use it!

At 1pm we were picked up by mini bus and driven for an hour through lovely countryside to a UNESCO Saxon village. There are 18 Germans (the Saxons) a number of Romanian families & 300 Gypsies.
Visited the Saxon church (14th century)and learnt about the history of the area. German & Romanian were taught in schools and then the Germans fled during the communist reign because they were unsure if they’d be able to leave & consequently they didn’t return. It seems that everyone lives in harmony.

It is unbelievably rural with chickens, ducks and turkeys running around the village. There are a large number of horse and carts used here. The women sit outside the houses knitting socks - the sale of these helps the community to get the children to school & feed the poor in the winter. We visited the Blacksmith who is a Gypsy & watched him make horseshoes. The bellow he was using was 300 years old.

The houses are interesting and one is owned by Prince Charles - in fact I’m staring at it as I type! As we were separated into different houses we all met for dinner at one of the houses. It was an outside affair with long trestle tables. Home made wine and schnapps was flowing - we had vegetable soup, a lamb dish with polenta & cake. As we finished we were made to jump up to see the cows and goats returning home - each one knew which gate/house to go into. We then moved sheep from one house to another.

Each house is different inside and some people slept in the drawers!

29th June
Two hour mini bus ride to Brasov. When we arrived there was some type of military  parade happening in the square with tanks & many guns in evidence. It appears that this platoon(?) is just back from Afghanistan so people were happy.

Took a guided tour around the town. It was once a fortified town so there are turrets & walls to see. This is a Saxon town so many building date back to the 12th century.

Now in Romania

24th June
Left Budapest by train to Eger where ‘Bulls Blood’ - the Hungarian wine my dad would try to get hold of when we were young - is made. After exploring the city we walked down to the Valley of the Beautiful Women where we visited one of the wine cellars.

We tried a number of different wines and had each one explained to us in part English, part Hungarian plus a ‘splattering’(literally) of German. There was a group of Germans who’d obviously visited a number of cellars before ours as they had to be dragged out they were so drunk they couldn’t even stand up. There was a huge storm including large hail so had to get back to hotel by taxi rather than walking.

25th June
Early start with a walk to the bus station for the local bus to Debrecen just over 2 hours away - it was surprisingly comfortable. We had a 3 hour wait so walked around and had lunch before boarding a train to take us into Romania.  This was a 3 hour journey but part of the way through we had a boarder crossing. The Hungarian border Police take your passport vanish for about 20 minutes & then come back. I checked my passport for a stamp but they said (indicated) that I didn’t get a stamp because I was using my British passport. I pulled a face, they conferred & then stamped my  passport. Train moves off for 10 minutes, stops and the Romanian Border Police get on, take passports, disappear and quite a while later return. Once again no stamp and there was not going to be a stamp from Romania in my passport!!

Continued on the train for another hour and then we were taken by mini bus for a further two hours. The weather had changed and it was raining and as we travelled deep into the forest and gained height it became
very foggy. Finally we descended and the weather cleared. We arrived at our home stay at 9:30 pm and were sat down to a four course home style meal - very nice especially the schnapps which we had simply for our digestion!

27th June
Today was sightseeing and our first visit was to the ‘Merry Cemetery’. this was an amazing place. Each grave had a painting of the occupation of the dead person complete with a poem, written by the artist, about that person - there was a very funny one about a mother-in- law!

We then went to a large supermarket to buy items for our picnic lunch. Drove into the countryside and just sat staring at beautiful green countryside as we ate. As we drive along we see lots of horses and carts used by the local people. There also seems to be storks nest, complete with adults and young, on many light poles.

We visited a village where a local man showed us how he put wooden ladders etc into bottles - which are then usually filled with home made Schnapps. We were offered Schnapps but when everyone backed off as if we were going to be poisoned it gamely stepped forward and saved face for the Aussies!

Went on to the wood carvers house - they certainly like extra large carved gates. Next stop, a wooden church. It’s not in use any more but it was certainly different. Last stop a Monastery which run by 12 nuns - rather over the top!

Made it to Budapest

20th June
Woke early to walk down to the Embroidery market which started at 3am -we were there just after 6am!It was manic with stall holders and women standing in lines with embroidered blouses etc over their arms. The traditional colours are white with red embroidery but it appears that each village has it’s own designs and colours.

We had a quick breakfast of cheese (?) filled pancakes - we have had a lot of pancakes and sour cream but I’m happy to report that my clothes still fit, even a bit loose, must be all the walking!Had a four hour journey north to Lviv. As the driver put it ‘the houses are well looked after and represent the people whereas the roads represent the government’. The roads are terrible and you spend the whole journey swerving around massive potholes and driving on the wrong side of the road. There seems to be no road rage & no accidents!

Went out to dinner at the most amazing place. Firstly you had to know where it was otherwise you would never have found it. We went through an alley and at the end was a plain wooden door but when you knocked a man in military uniform with fake machine gun asked for a password. We didn’t go there but upstairs & knocked on the door of what looked like a unit, the door opened and it was a man’s kitchen - even had some chops frying on the stove. You really felt that you were in someone’s house but then you entered the restaurant. The whole place was related to the Masons hence the secrecy. One of the group went to the loo & came back saying that it was decked out as a throne. We were then taken to other hidden places where another loo was was clear plastic with bundles of American dollars plastering the walls & in another room was a 1930's car in amongst the tables. Food was great.

Walking back to the hotel we watched as an illegally parked car was lifted onto a truck and taken away. the locals were delighting in the fact that the numberplate showed that it was from Russia & we could hear “Ha ha Ruskie!”

This city reminds me of Lisbon (with its trams) & Prague.

21st June
The day started with a 3 hour walking tour of the city. The city was crazy because there was a vintage car rally going on & many streets were closed. traffic was at a standstill & even the trams had problems getting  around. It was very hot and humid & we tried to get into the shade as much as possible. We did visit a couple of churches. The churches had all been closed during the Soviet rule & WW11 & were only recently opened up again.

Had a nice lunch in an interesting restaurant but it soon became extremely busy with people from the car rally & we were glad to leave. A few of us then caught the tram to visit a cemetery ( I know but it’s actually a museum of statues!). It was actually very pleasant to be in a cool, green area.

Boarded the overnight train at 9pm. I was on the top bunk, luckily there was a ladder so no crazy antics! It was pretty compact & I had to put my bags on my bunk. There was a Russian lady on the lower bunk who didn’t speak English so there was no conversation! It was extremely hot & the airconditioning didn’t work. I just couldn’t get to sleep & at 3am the Ukrainian border guards came on for our passports. Other border inspectors go on wanting to know where we were from & how many bags we had - later heard that anyone who was American had their bags opened and thoroughly checked! We then spent a good two hours shunting backwards & forwards as the wheels on each carriage were changed - they are a different gauge. Finally our passports were returned. I finally dropped off to sleep when the shout of “Passports” rang out, this time from the Hungarians. They spent so long studying my British passport even using a magnifying glass - I picked up the word hologram - that I whipped out my Aussie passport. That got them going & soon both were returned! I think I slept for a few hours but the delight at leaving the train at 11:20am was overwhelming.

When we were finally clean & our stomachs full we were given the option of a 3 hour cycling tour of Budapest. We are staying on the Pest side which is flat so the ride was easy & we covered a lot of ground taking in the important sights. Most of the group dropped out for the Buda side but I gamely carried on - i wished I hadn’t when we started to climb up the hill but the view from the top was worth it!

23rd June
Did a tour of Budapest on the ‘hop on hop off’ bus which included a trip down the Danube - wanted to get some pictures as I hadn’t taken my camera on the bike ride.

Have changed groups as only four of us were going through to Istanbul. Most of this group are from Perth. It is strange to see the other group go as we had some laughs together.

In the Ukrainian countryside

17th June
We went to the Museum dedicated to the Chenobyl disaster of 1986. It’s amazing what the Ukrainian and Russian people were not told. People weren’t even evacuated for 36 hours & there have been many radiation associated deaths.

We are mastering the Metro quite well especially as station names are in English and also they are given a number. Trains are very frequent and it only costs 25c to where you want to go.

I went up to one of the cathedrals in the afternoon & it was an amazing example of mosaic art. It contained numerous museums which were interesting.

At about 7pm we headed to the Metro once again but with our luggage. It was a nightmare with the crowds and heat & by the time we reached the main railway station we were lathered in sweat!. We boarded the night train to travel further west into the Ukraine and it left exactly on time. We had to make up our own bunks and joy of joy I was on the bottom bunk. There were two Russian in the compartment & the guide translated the conversation of the older gentleman - the story of his youth was pretty terrible but he wanted us to know about it.

18th June
Slept quite well considering the amount of rocking and according to others the amount of stations the train stopped at!

Were picked up from our arrival station by mini bus for a drive of about an hour into the countryside. The roads were something to behold - just pothole after pothole and consequently the driver was all over the place trying to miss them. We arrived unscathed at a B& B where a shower and breakfast were the order of the day.

Did a tour of the town and visited a folk museum. It’s amazing how many crafts are continued generation after generation. Saw how they made the fancy Easter eggs from real eggs - it was an interesting process although some of it was like batik.

 Went to a delicious patisserie where a big pot of tea and a fancy slice of cake set me me back just over $3!!

Some of us opted to be shown how to make Ukrainian dumplings by the owner’s mother and we then  helped her to make them. 

Dinner was homemade Borsch soup - very Ukrainian/Russian - followed by the homemade dumplings. Yum!

19th June
Off at 8:30 in a minibus to the nearby mountains. Arrived in a little village and started to walk uphill through fields of wild flowers and into beech woods - it reminded me so much of England, especially when I heard the cuckoo. At one stage we saw a snake and unlike my usual leaping about in fright I was very calm & watched it slither away - I know it wasn’t very big but I did find out later that it was one of the poisonous varieties!

Shepherd's hut

We could hear the cow bells from cattle grazing in the hills and later came across a shepherds house ( they call anyone who looks after the cattle shepherds). In the wooden house the open fire was smoking and we crammed inside to see where they made the cheese. Some of it rests on the rafters just above the smoke & that flavours the cheese. Cheese is made fresh each day and the fire never goes out. We tasted three types of cheese and they were all very good. A shepherd stays there all the time but there are three of them and they rotate at the end of each week.
The descent was pretty steep but there was a river waiting to restore us. When I plunged in it took my breath away as it was so cold but after a short while it became enjoyable & so refreshing after the walk.

We drove to the next village where we had lunch (3pm) at a local house. Started with Borsch & then had a variety of Ukrainian foods - very enjoyable. Out came the homemade vodka which we were all encouraged to sample and the glasses were refilled a couple of times. The lady then showed us some embroidery she had done - quite exquisite - and showed us the outfit she’s embroidering for her son’s wedding in a couple of months.