Hungary for more

First, let me assure you that I am safe and sound and nowhere near Paris. (Well, I'm closer than most of you are, but you know what I mean.) Luckily I have CNN in English at my hotel, so I've been able to follow the story - because since I normally only have wi-fi in the hotel room, I go all day not knowing what's going on. (Or being able to check Facebook - the horror!)

Yesterday was the day trip to Budapest. It was about three hours each way, and after all the news about Syrian refugees trying to get into Austria, I was pleasantly surprised to find not a soul at the border. In fact, we never even had to show passports to anyone, although I'm not sure that's a good thing. Budapest is actually two cities - Buda (the hillier side), and Pest, split by the Danube River. Another little-known fact: Budapest has the third oldest subway system, after New York and London! Who knew?? We had lunch (I was able to get a chicken ceasar salad- again, who knew??) then took a bus tour of Pest followed by a walking tour of Buda. We had free time, and I was finally able to walk through a Christmas market. It was really quite magical - smells of cinnamon bread and mulled wine (which I tried, and although good, I couldn't finish an entire cup). I spent all my forints and then it was time to go back to Vienna. Quite a beautiful city.

Today: taking the train to Graz, where my grandfather's plane was shot down in WWII. Kind of want to grab some soil and bring it back home with me...