After five relaxing days in Bratislava I headed on to my next stop, Budapest. In one of the Vienna hostels a UT Austin student (she was impressed when I told here I had worked at Eeyore's Birthday Party) told me she considered Budapest the most entertaining city in Europe. She struck me as the kind of woman who took entertainment seriously. She had a rich daddy and was majoring in European history on the extended plan, spending her summers in Europe doing research at a leisurely pace. It's a tough life. After talking to her I went to Budapest with high hopes. Since my room in Bratislava was one block from the hydrofoil port and three miles from the train station, I got lazy and decided to continue traveling by hydrofoil. It was a pleasant way to travel, and it was much easier to enjoy the scenery.

I've never been through the Panama Canal, so I was impressed by this comparatively small lock. After that are some castles and villages we passed by while traveling on the Danube.

I also got pictures of the Hungarian Parliament from the river, along with another impressive building. I don't know what is is; it looked good from the river.

I took more pictures of course, after I got off the boat.

Before leaving Hungary I also wanted to visit a small place I read about in my guidebook, the town of Eger. What most attracted me was the description of nearby wine cellars, where many fine hours and brain cells could be wasted. Since I was now in wine country, it was time to drink wine.

The day after my wine adventure I returned to Budapest by bus, spent one more night in Diaksport Hostel, gave my young wine to the young lady at the desk, and caught a train to Romania.