Day 8 - Budapest to Vienna

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Sadly my time in Budapest has almost come to an end. I decided to get up early and enjoy my last few hours before catching the 5pm train to Vienna. I ended up doing another free walking tour, my third in as many days. This one was focused on the effects that Communism had in Budapest.

- People had to apply for a blue passport for travel to non-communist countries. This application could take up to 3 years.

- People travelled to communist countries using a red passport.

- Everyone received 3 weeks paid holiday a year. Many of the companies had resorts in beachside areas that the workers could travel to for their holidays. This was all subsidised by the state.

- People were often enlisted to the Secret Police after getting caught commuting offenses and being blackmailed into reporting on their family and friends.

- The Secret Police monitored who attended church, baptised their children and then priest was required to report things told to him during confessions.

- Hungary had many liberties afforded to them that many other communist countries did not, including getting to watch Western movies such as James Bond, cartoons.

- She recounted a story of her friend who lived during communist rule as a child. Her family had a week holiday in Austria. At the time in Budapest bananas were seen as a luxury, they were only available at Christmas time and even then you generally had to have connections to get them. So you can imagine their joy upon arriving in Vienna and seeing bananas freely available everywhere. They decided to take some back as gifts for their relatives so bought 10kgs. They were stopped by the guards at the border control and told that they could not take to bananas into Hungary as they might sell them on the black-market. They were given the option to eat the bananas there or leave them for the guards. The family of 5 then sat down and ate all 10kgs. I can only imagine the effect this would have had on their digestive system.





After finishing the tour I picked up a couple of souvenirs and then headed back to the hostel to pick up my suitcase, then it was off to the train station. I managed to find my train without any problems and the made my way to the 1^st class carriages. I had made the right choice, 1^st class was brilliant. I had a window seat all by myself and room to store my luggage. It was a really pleasant trip to Vienna. The country-side is so beautiful. I really enjoyed seeing the wind farms along the way, why Australia does not follow this example baffles me. If there is something that Australia has in abundance it is open space and wind.

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