Given that I want to update on my trip to Budapest as well, I will do a short summary of my trip to Ingleby Barwick and then do Sziget and Budapest on a (nearly) day to day basis.
Visiting the Hunton/Wilkins clan was a week and a half of bliss. Like they live around the corner and we hang out all the time, only they live across the channel and we visit on a quarter year basis (if not, more often). We spent and amazing week in London and went to see Stomp! with a few other ladies from the 30 Seconds to Mars forum. The show was outstanding and the hotel we stayed in was really too nice for scruff-pots like us. But we lived the high life for a weekend and I have loads of pictures on Facebook to peruse, should you wish to see them.
Another highlight in England was dressing up to go to the park and watch Kev and Co. do a rendition of The Hunting of the Snark. I think those pictures are my favourite of the whole weekend.
*** This picture is not one of the dress up ones - I just really like it ***
Visiting Suze and her family is one of my favourite destinations these days. Even with all of my "world travelling", her cozy place with assorted pets, husband and child are a real treat to be at and enjoy. Can't wait for my next jaunt over.
In the meantime I will have to content myself with lesser holidays like the one I just got back from:
Sziget Festival Week
(with a day of Budapest stuck on at the end)
This is Part One of ... many, I think.
I will start with the train ride to Budapest. When we were planning this trip the issue of how we would get to Hungary came up quite quickly. This would be Jenn and my third trip over to go to the festival and we had already gone by bus (22 hours and not an experience I would recommend to anyone) and by plane (one way, one and a half hours - ideal). This time, though, there were no direct flights from Amsterdam to Budapest and the ones that had a change-over were kind of expensive (plus, your luggage might not make it in the short connections times). So, after some hemming and hawing from me, we looked at train prices and possibilities. Turns out the Dutch organizers/Sziget ticket sellers also have a very good deal on a train connection to Budapest. We booked five beds in the City Night Line train and left our journey plans to the lovely people at Magyaren Travel. And they did a fabulous job.
On Monday, 11 August we took a train from Arnhem (10 mins down the road from where we are) to Vienna and changed trains there to get to Budapest Keleti (East) Station. It was a smooth ride and sleeping in the train was an interesting experience. The whole carriage was full of Sziget punters so it was a lovely atmosphere. Probably a bit of a weird one for the few lost souls simply taking the train to Vienna or Frankfurt that got random seats in and amongst us, though. We arrived at Keleti Station at approximately 1pm on Tuesday, August 12th.
From there we went straight to Óbudai-sziget (Óbudai island) where the Sziget festival is held every year. We set up tents and got changed because the difference in temperature was quite noticeable. Budapest is hot. Literally.
Me, doing a puzzle.
Niels and Jenn
I got the vodka!! And I am *so* happy about it!
Werner gets tucked into bed. And gets confused about where the ear plug goes.
Arriving in Budapest. We got the carriage with the defective door. It took five guys (including ours) to keep it open so people could get out. Tuesday night was called Day Zero at the festival. It wasn't the official start but they already had a band lined up. Well, they had two but Laura Whatsherface wasn't very good so I won't count her. The main show Tuesday night was Iron Maiden. They were fantastic. They put on a two hour, high energy show that just pulled us all in and got us all revved up for the rest of the week. The atmosphere was phenomenal and they had a different backdrop for every song! What a way to start a festival! With old skool rockers and a bunch of nutty Hungarians who couldn't be happier to welcome them! There was a sea of Iron Maiden T-shirts and happy faces! Bring on Day One!
In Part Two ... Wednesday, August 13th and Thursday August 14th.
Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment