Spanish Riding Schools stables (nothing else of much interest in Vienna in the rain)
Not much impressed me here. Left Austria early in the morning rain and drove into Hungary aiming for Budapest. We camped rough (for the uninitiated this is not in a campsite, no waterr, no loos and in the middle of nowhere. Getting to Budapest would have been quite nice as Hungary is very wooded but as it was raining constantly not sure that we got to see it in all its glory.
I quite liked my day wandering around Budapest as it has bags of character. Interesting fact (maybe not) but 80% of Budapest was destroyed in the war so when it was rebuilt it was done in keeping with the pre-war city. You wouldn't know!
Budapest in the rain!
From Budapest we left in the rain (see a theme emerging here!) and entered Romania. I'd lost count of the days by this time so can't recall if we had one or two days rough camping before the rain finally stopped and the sun broke through!. Anyway I can tell you I'm pretty wet and the tent is all but shagged. Should be OK as long as it doesn't really rain again (oncoming monsoons!)
The day the sun finally broke through saw us arrive in Bran which is where Vlad the Impaler lived. It was also the setting for Bram Stoker's Dracula and over time Vlad has been closely linked with the Count. He was out during the day so we couldn't ask him whether this was true or not.
We got to Bucharest (the capital of Romania for the ignorant among you) late afternoonj after driving through some stunning scenery across a mountain road. Slow going but worth it! This night I slept in a bed!!! I considered sleeping under canvas (dripping) and in a sleeping bag (soaking wet!) and opted for the soft option and paid the extra for a bed (luxury!).
Comfort stop on the way to Bucharest
The campsite has free Internet hence the extra post. Also so used to getting up early and as there was nothing much to do decided to update you all on how we are getting on. From here its Turkey and on into Asia.
I also haven't said much as yet about my travelling companions. There are two reasons for that, the first is that I am still trying to work out who they are and the second is that at the moment there isn't much to tell. The youngest is an American called Fran who is about 20 (going on 12) and seems to sleep most of the day. The eldest is Norrie a New Zealander travelling with his missus Edna. At 65 he beats Old John by a year, Neil by 4 years and me by a full 10! We also have a couple of single unattached ladies in the higher bracket age range. Pauline, an actress, is in here 60s and Grace isn't.
With the next age group down from the wrinklies in the 30s the average age of the rest of the crew is probably around 30is with a couple of young girls draging the ages down. We have Chris who looks like Ewan McGreggor (sort of if you squint your eyes) but since there are too many Chris' and Christines to remember he is now Ewan. We have young John who for some reason I keep calling Chris. There's James who is saddled with his dad Old John (9 months travelling with your old man - please!). Floyd (actually Christine but likes to be called Floyd), Christine (who likes to be called Chris), Rose, Lisa and Kat are the single girls (don't forget Fran) on the trip.
There are a number of couples on the trip too. Owen and Sarah, Jenny and ??, Nicky and ??, ?? and ?? I'll need to fill the gaps in as I work them out. Our Driver is Adam and Lucinda ((Lu) organises us and makes sure we get where we are goiung. No one has done anything of note as yet so nothing to really tell.
So, signing off for now, will blog again soon. Hope you are all well.
Matt in Romania
Thinking of you (NOT!)
Phone turned off
