Geo: 47.3555, 18.9577Bought some cheese, meat, bread, juice, yogurt, etc. yesterday for breakfast for my time in Budapest. The plain Activia brand yogurt was 4 for 265 Forints (sale) - no wonder, because it tastes like crap! Went to the Museum of Fine Arts - free entrance and tour (The Spanish Gallery). Overall, it was OK. It was very unique because many European museums are former palaces and residences, but this is a purpose built museum. Different wings have different architectural styles to match the type of art they house (i.e. - renaissance style for renaissance art, etc.). Sadly, the renaissance wing was closed. But there were many different types of art to see, still - sculptures, Egyptian antiquities, etc. A decent little museum. Saw some "El Greco" paintings in the Spanish gallery. He has a ... read more

Geo: 47.855, 20.0221Met a senior couple getting off the train in Fusezabony (Chuck and Eileen, from Cali). Could instantly tell they were fans of "Rick Steves". We missed our connection to Eger, but luckily for us there were many other connections. Found a hostel in Eger (university dorm rented out for the summer). Luxurious! 2 beds in the huge room, private bath, fridge, microwave ... ended up being only me in there. Had a shower and munched on some dried fruit for breakfast. Off to the cathedral - very unique exterior, almost wouldn't know that it was a cathedral. Listened to an organ concert - 2 euros well spent. The opening song was so cliched - it's that organ song you always hear in cheesy haunted-house type movies. Very powerful sound - you could feel the ... read more

Geo: 49.9762, 19.9433My ankle felt great this morning. I had somehow injured my achilles the day before and was hobbling all over the Auschwitz sites. I skipped the crappy hostel breakfast and bought a cheese bun and yogurt drink instead. Jagiellonian - the 3rd oldest university in Europe. Copernicus once studied here. Nothing terribly interesting. A big market was on at the Rynek. Mostly for tourists but still fun to browse. Krakow history museum - free on Saturdays but a special exhibit required payment. No thanks! A concert stage was set up on the Rynek - not sure what it was as I don't speak Polish! National museum - free! Basically a re-creation of traditional Polish homes. Yawn ..... too bad I couldn't nap on the beds that were on display.Had a steak at an outdoor ... read more

Geo: 50.0272, 20.0221Shared a sleeper compartment with Haydn (Vancouver) and Steve (Aussie). Both living in Belfast. Not much sleep on the train - I was very tired as I arrived at 5:44. It took forever to get out of the train station. There was loads of construction going on and we couldn't figure out where to go. Of course, having only a few hours sleep probably contributed to our confusion and stupidity. I couldn't figure out which tram to take to the hostel so I walked instead. The hostel is interesting, to say the least. Breakfast is only bread and jam. Crappy. I had read in the guidebook that Nathan's Villa Hostel employs "amateur models", jokingly. But holy crap - the girl at the reception (I think her name was Magda) was one of the most ... read more

Geo: 49.3941, 14.3061Could've caught an early train to Cesky Krumlov but I wanted to chat with Naoual a little bit more (pathetic, I know!). Ended up getting to Cesky very late (11:00 bus did not exist as it turns out ... I suspect the ticket guy was just being an ass though). Got to Cesky Budejovice 16:30 ... thought I was going to miss the connection to Cesky Krumlov (more than 20 minutes late). Luckily, the train was still sitting there. Met Jay from California - we were both dazed and confused at the train station. We scrambled to make the connection. We met a guy named Kabeer on the train .. what a story this guy has got! Apparently he has been traveling a lot for the past 10 years. Not because he likes it ... read more