Budapest by www.born2travel.it

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06. 08. 2000 Budapest (HUNGARY)

How beautiful it is to travel; every day you feed on ever more diverse experiences since "mere food" runs short... We arrived very early in this new city. In the street they were setting up the stalls for the various markets. We decide to hop down to the riverbank, the famous and much-praised Danube. The centre is very elegant: squares, churches, ancient palaces formed the backdrop of our "sightseeing tour". As I expected, here we found another culture and civilisation, very different from those we've seen so far; we knew that arriving in Hungary we'd be back in Europe! The only problem: after saying goodbye to Haasso and Anneke, who'll stay here a few more days, and while the others were out doing some shopping, a small group of Albanians started buzzing around me; I was looking after three backpacks, including documents and money...

Besides, Takx has vanished and we've just learned that we'll arrive at midnight in Zagreb, in Croatia, and we still don't know where to sleep...

07. 08. 2000 Zagreb (CROATIA)

At the Zagreb station we meet a small group of nine people from Milan who had a train to Budapest at 5:30 and so would sleep there. We join them... Takx collapses dead asleep... Rossho holds out a bit but when they start talking about music he doesn't like, he prefers to dive into Morpheus's arms... I hold out until one, then I fall asleep (gladly!) Early in the morning, sitting on an English-style little lawn eating our breakfast, we already feel strong! We enjoy a stroll in the main square, the flower and fruit market - what peace! In a few hours Rossho will leave us... [Rossho]: Dear readers, the story is about to undergo a big change. I, Rossho, am about to leave the interrail "in the middle of the journey of our life"... Destiny calls me (my gut too); after Ljubljana I'm ditching these two.

I'm sorry to abandon them because they're inexperienced and young, easy morsels for all the petty thieves of the world, but it will do them good! Damn, it was really great. And who would have imagined interrail like this? Tiring but healthy. Ten days of fire, so many precious things to remember. The places were truly different, particular, not the usual happy and smiling ones... I saw poverty as a way of life entirely accepted and lived calmly, perhaps because it's so widespread. Sleeping in stations was something really powerful! "We'll see" and "we'll manage" are two watchwords of this journey!

08. 08. 2000 Ljubljana (SLOVENIA)

And so Rossho has abandoned us... From Ljubljana he took a train that will take him directly to Italy. What can I say about Ljubljana, perhaps a little too quiet for a capital. It's an alpine city: calm, no traffic, full of elderly people, surrounded by high mountains where you breathe the purest air, and with lots of bicycles around instead of cars. Still, I was upset seeing four gypsies who, in the big fountain of the main square, were splashing about in the water "stealing" all the coins tourists had thrown in as a custom, and nobody did anything to stop them. Meanwhile we leave; in about an hour we'll set off and travel for about nine hours across Austria without a ticket (at least we'll try!). Without a ticket because in that country we're not covered by our interrail. What will happen? You'll find out in the next episode.

Tomorrow evening Rossho will sleep peacefully in a comfortable bed, with a full stomach - and us?

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