* Wish you were here

Yes, folks, I'm still alive....and still walking my shoes down to the sole, off. Time seems to have escaped me since I left Poland on the 3rd of Sept. Its been a constant change of scenery, cold/rainy weather, laughs and fabulous dinning since then. (Unfortunately, I don't have access to my photos at this stage, so I'll add those when I arrive home at the end of Sept.)
Both mum and I happen to leave the same day, she for home and I, for Budapest Hungary. As I parted ways with my brother, knowing that I probably wouldn't see him for another year, I was saddened. Strange to think that we can't just visit each other at a whim - but instead have to travel hundreds of air miles for a dinner or face to face chat. I'm very glad I took the opportunity to live close by, spending quality time Geo and getting to meet Eddy, his girlfriend. Even though Warsaw wasn't the most exciting city to reside in - it was a worthwhile trip just the same!
As I boarded my Wizz Air flight to Budapest I wondered how my 3rd visit would be different. Rick greeted me at the apt in Budapest - it was truly wonderful to see a familiar, smiling face from home. We walked over to where Paul and Holly were - and after months of planning and pent up excitement - the group of 4 was complete. The next day we got the biggest shock in the form of cold & rain - a weather pattern that would follow us for an ENTIRE 9 DAYS! I've been to Europe heaps of times and I must add that this trip offered me the lousiest weather of all of them. Fortunately, the fact that we were on vacation didn't escape us and that alone gave us a sense of elevated enthusiasm - not having to go to work, for most, was reason enough to be happy. The company of good friends was also a bonus.
Budapest is a terrific city for indoor sightseeing - its riddled with museums, gallaries, grand buildings (none of which I visited, of course) and heaps of shopping. Although it's the least attractive of all the cities because of its massive nature, it had everything one could want for a fulfilling city stay including plenty of turkish/thermal baths. We visited one of the oldest and grandest of them all - Gilbert Baths. It disappointed some of those expecting a familiar USA Spa experience, as its very old world - everything is impossible to understand as its in Hungarian, and the facilities were old, but charming (I thought) I didn't' spend but a few min. in the actual mineral bath (at 38 C it just wasn't hot enough for me) . Before leaving, I was strongly encourage by staff to par-take in a message, I happily agreed and received one of the best & cheapest, full back body massage (butt included :-) . One could tell immediately that this older lady had been doing massages for decades - and at only $20 USD for 40 min - I was in heaven!
On Wed, we headed to Bratislava, Slovakia but not until paying a fine for being caught by the transportation cops for not having bought the right subway ticket. Apparently pleading 'being an ignorant American' didn't get us off, so 60 euros later we were headed off to Bts. It was a shocking arrival - loaded up with luggage, after dark, with furious cold and rains engulfing us - we broke with the trip rules and decided to pay extra to have a taxi take us to our apt. (traveling cheap but classy was the theme of this trip). We arrived to wait some more as unlike hotels, apt accommodations aren't staffed full time - so we need to call/sms the managers beforehand to meet us at the apt and pay upfront. This apt was the bomb - covered in all red Ikea furniture, huge TV, jacuzzi bathtub and with 3 big bedrooms! Bratislava is a very small city, usually a 1/2 day stopover for most on their way to Vienna or Budapest, so we spent only one day here before heading over to spend the rest of our trip in the Czech Republic....where a change of cast would take place and the real craziness would begin. Coming up...our adventures in the loveliest of all Central European countries - Czech Republic.