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Published: July 18th 2013
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Tuesday July 16 – Today was a daytrip to Sopron. I started with breakfast in my hotel again, and this time it was a woman who spoke to me in German. It’s much more common for Hungarian’s to speak German than English, it seems. But they are so close to Austria that it makes sense. And actually, Sopron, my destination for the day, has a huge number of Austrians who cross the border each day for cheap hair cuts and dental work, kind of like me grocery shopping in Germany and France from my home in Basel. But getting back to breakfast, today I tried something new. I got the muesli, a healthy cereal type option, with hot chocolate instead of tea. I’m such a daredevil.
At the train station there was some confusion about the train going to Sopron. The track said it was for the train to Budapest, and that train was late, and so was mine. But in the end I asked and it was the same train but it would become two trains and I had to be in the front of the train or I would end of going in the wrong direction to Budapest.
This is what I understood from the train guy who didn’t speak English. Luckily a girl made sure I understood, which was really nice.
The ride took about an hour and a half and then I walked to the old town of Sopron, which is quite old, medieval in fact. Another nice one to see. I walked around and visited a few churches and then spent some time walking around the old walls that are still there. They even have a place where the old Roman road is visible. The history is just amazing. After this I sat down and had lunch at THE place to eat, at least it was four years ago when my lonely planet was published. It still seems to be the only place in the old town, so there you are. I had some sort of pork stew which was tasty. After lunch, I settled on two museums to see. I visited an exhibit on the archaeology and history of the town. It took me an hour to read everything and I was the only one there, and they actually had to turn on the lights for me and then the museum girl just
walked with me from room to room. Pretty hilarious. Then I went to the mining museum, because why not? It was pretty good. Lots of sparkling things that came from the ground a history of the mining in Hungary, and even a lifesize mine shaft. The guy pointed me to the next place when I finished with one. He said they had a nice garden so I went out there. Then he asked me if I wanted to watch a video, and I did. There were not many words, it mostly showed what it is like to mine today. Still not terribly easy work but not as deadly I think.
I left and then had to head back to the train station for the train I wanted to catch. The ride back was uneventful and I just listened to some music on the way. I got back around 6pm and decided to just walk through the town a little before getting my third (!) gyro in a row for dinner. I’m so glad I did. The Carmelite church that I’d been wanting to get in had always been closed when I’d gone by, but now it was
open. Not only was it open, but it was heaving with believers who were pouring out and singing on their way. Kind of fun. So I stood by and watched and then high-tailed it in to get some pictures before they closed it. It really was beautiful. Many churches are, but this was just really nice. It does always get me though, that so much money is spent on the church itself rather than feeding the poor, but that is another story. I left and realized I could hear the singing again. They had just circled the block and were now proceeding back to the church. I got some pictures of them and then found myself proceeding directly towards an ice cream stand that had a large line the day before. After my disappointing ice cream the other day, it was definitely time to try again. Amazingly, I am always lost. Yet, my feet brought me directly to the ice cream, no map required. Look at that. I just need a food motivator. But the ice cream was delicious, so that was a score. I actually ate the ice cream on my way to get dinner. I like this approach.
I decided not to get the gyro but the gyro box. Look at me changing it up! And you know what? It was good.
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