Austria - Hungry - Poland - Czech republic - Germany

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Hi guys!

I have half hour before I head on a pub crawl so I will see how much I can update you!!

Can't believe how much I have seen and done since my last entry.

Ok I believe I left off in Salzburg in Austria. It is such a lovely place. Reminded me a lot of Switzerland, quiet, safe and just really nice. On my list of favorite places. From Salzburg we travelled to Vienna. We had our only one night stop here so it wa really rushed. We didn't arrive in Vienna until mid afternoon, even though it's only about 2 half hours from Salzburg. We had a sleep in which was lovely. Went on a driving tour when we first got to vienna. Saw the summer and winter Palaces of the Hapsburg family. Those people seriously had too much money. The summer palace has a zoo in it's grounds! The Hapsburg's for those who don't know them were a really powerful family who pretty much ruled over Austria until WWI. They also controlled a lot of surrounding countries as well.

From the driving tour we made our way to our hostel in the centre of Vienna. There was a group of us who went for tea on our own before making our way to a classical concert. Now
I'm not much of a fan of classical music and probably wouldn't have enjoyed te concert as much as I did if it wasn't for the ballet dancers and opera singers that also performed. It was actually a really nice evening where we were all able to dress up and preten that we weren't
on a backpacking tour for one night.

We were all pretty tired after the concert so we made our way back to the hostel and straight to bed.

Next morning up nice and early so we could go and see as much of Vienna as possible, cause we had to be back on the bus at 12.30 for our drive to Budapest. Walked around the major tourist attractions but didnt go inside any. By this time a church is a church and a castle is a castle!! We did have a really nice picnic in the gardens on of the winter palace which was nice.

It was a 5 hour drive fron Vienna to Budapest. Went straight into a night time driving tour of the city. It is absolutely beautiful. Didnt really know what to expect but immediately fell in love. Budapest use to be two cities buda and pest. Can't remember when the joined together, but you can tell the difference. Buda has a lot more older buildings oh and is on one side of the river and pest has all the major shops! There is a massive castle there which I did walk up to and views were fantastic.

Now hungry in general was really effected during WWII. In budapest it self before the war over 700,000 Jews used to live there. After the war only 125,000 returned. The rest were killed in the concentration camps.

After lunch on the 24th a group of us headed to the Turkish Baths. This was amazing. There are 3 outdoor and 9 indoor thermal baths constructed decades before when the Turkish invaded hungry. The coldest pools were 20 degrees (needless to say I didn't try these) however I did try the baths that ranged from 30 to 40 degrees. It was lovely to have a relaxing afternoon.

The tour has been great but it's really full on. Starting to get a little tired now. Only 3 days to go and then it is all over.

Well there is my half hour up. I wil have to fill you in on Poland, Prague and Berlin another time. Tomorrow we are off to Amsterdam. I don't reckon I will get another chance to write until im back in London on saturday.

Off to have free shots and drinks all night long!!

Night xoxox

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Comments

[Bruce Gregory]

It's thursday, this must be...
Pretty hectic but sounds as though you're making the most out of it. I did not know that about Buda and Pesht. Thanks.