Day 8 - Wednesday 31st October 2012 - Balatonfüred, Hungary

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Slept really well last night. The room was dark at night with little outside light because of the thick curtains. We woke up early this morning so we could go for a swim. First we went down to the hotels restaurant for breakfast. There was a very strange selection of food – in same buffet style as dinner last night and much the same food too! Vegetables and potatoes from evening meal (probably leftovers!) and meat goulash thing.

So we went for a swim, the changing rooms were really nice but open plan. Luckily we were the only ones in there so it was ok. First we went into the big long pool but it was freezing so couldn't stay in long! I loved it, once you got used to the temperature it was ok. There were more people and kids in other "fun" pools however they were much warmer. There was a bubbly shelf bit to lay on – it was really weird being all jiggled about! There was a circular area at end of pool also bubbly with shelf around edge to sit on + had water sprays and random chess set on table set into pool. Jacuzzi lovely! So warm and bubbly – could have stayed for hours! There was also a sauna and ice dip bath but decided against using them. We tried the infra-red sauna but it didn't really feel very warm so turned it up with keypad on wall then got too hot and couldn't work out how to turn back down so quickly got out and ran away.

There were nice waterfall showers around edges of pool and in changing rooms. Still no one else in changing rooms – people seemed to be just going back up to their room in dressing gowns to change instead.

Today we decided to go for a walk around the town and along the lake edge. Nice garden bit to walk through then headed along cobbled road to tourist information centre we'd seen on map from hotel reception. Very big inside but didn't seem to have much. Fiona bought a postcard and stamp and picked up some more maps.

Lake Balatonfüred was very pretty and had lots of boats around. We walked up the jetty and found pressed penny machine at end but we didn't have the right coins for it. There were beautiful views across the lake and people fishing etc. We passed a man sat at the start of the jetty on steps eating lunch with cat sat at his feet. The cate was soooo cute and strange in its own little way. Found a little corner shop to get some snacky lunch things but they didn't have much. I bought a Ribena and carried onto main parade of shops – better selection here and bought big bag of crisps to share and "Balaton Bars" which were very yummy. We also got some change for pressed penny machine.

On the way back to the jetty the man with the cat had gone but the cat was still there – so not his cat as we thought! We sat down in his place and the cat came to us – the cat was so tiny, pretty and very friendly even though probably a stray. He sat with us while we ate lunch then big dog suddenly appeared next to Fiona and made her jump. He didn't seem to see cat at first but then went for him, chasing him around and under jetty where he escaped.

We went back up the jetty to get a pressed penny – the machine was so old and full of water but worked – kind of ok. Very crude pressing and sharp edges of coin but good to find a machine here at all! Saw sign for boat trip meant to be leaving soon but no one else around and no one on the boat moored, I don't think the boat trip were running due to the time of year we went and the face there were no tourists – except us haha

The sun started to set so we went hunting for a good spot to see it over the lake. Little rose garden area was very pretty with odd-looking statues - some sort of famous landmark as on a lot of postcards etc but not sure what it was. Walked further around past shops and restaurants but didn't seem to come to an end where we could get close to the edge of the lake again. Found photo machine outside shop to make your own postcard with photo of you – lots of kids around it messing about so we waited around for them to go. Finally left and we had a few go's on it – lots of funny pictures! We took photos of the preview screen and got one printed too.

We turned back and went up jetty again, people still fishing and a couple of boats going past making for good pictures with sunset in background. Very pretty! Stayed until quite dark then went searching for somewhere to eat. Lots of restaurants but not much we liked on the menus. Finally found somewhere – "Gordon Blue"? On path leading up to hotel. Only one other family in there eating – realised only 5pm so quite early for eating but we were hungry. I ordered a hot chocolate but the waitress only brought Fiona’s. I thought she was still making my drink but then she brought out our food – seemed it got forgotten about! Finally she bought out my drink. It was so tasty. I ended up having the cordon bleu, it was sooooo tasty and the portion was huge!!! Fiona had the honey mustard chicken and chips – It looked good and had a massive salad which took up half the plate! Very funny.

We decided to go back to the hotel and have desert at the Anna Café – I had chocolate bomb cake, it was AMAZING and some really nice fruit juice which we got in wine glasses. We looked so posh. Fiona had the cherry pie! It was quite expensive but worth it.

There was a bowling alley in our hotel so we decided to go downstairs to see if we could book anything for later that evening. The man on desk said there was a lane free now for half hour. There were no side bumpers on our lane – we were rubbish! Took picture to post on facebook for tour people to see there was actually bowling at the hotel as they didn't believe us. Some children arrived to use lane next to ours, which did have bumpers – they beat our scores on their first few turns!! Very embarrassing but hilarious at the same time! Strange playing bowling in a hotel but was fun. After that we decided to go back to the hotel and rest. We ended up falling asleep.

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