trace evidence

We arrived in Budapest yesterday. It reminds me of downtown Vancouver or Seattle...dirty, dingy, dusty. NOT my favourite city! Nice to hear from you, Theresa! And mom and dad of course.

I am in a McDonald's right now. they have the cheapest internet. Today we went on a city tour. A little more impressed with Budapest than my first impression, but still not my favourite city.

i've tried to typethis message three times, so hopefully this one will go through!

It's hot as Vegas in August here, but there's no aircon anywhere! Tomorrow's a holiday, so everything will be closed. There will also be a loud airshow along the Danube (we've seen and heard the previews) and fireworks that we will be able to see from our (tiny!) window...we think. We will be no where near the river. This is Hungay's biggest holiday.

I should go, though. To make sure this works!

Have fun, hope the rain stops for the PNE (although on the one English station we get - BBC World - they say it will rain forthe next few days), and see you in less than a week!

No more messages until London Tuesday or Wednesday.

Luv,
Trace

As the internet sucks here, this is it until at least Budapest.

Thanks for doing the keys...I'm psychic, that's all! (No...I checked my email & noticed one from Lynne.)

Prague is beautiful. We go on a 6 hour tour tomorrow.

Later,

Trace

Hello again!

As you can see from above, I didn't write yesterday...thought I'd save my franks for today.

Say hi to Norma for me & tell her I'm thinking of her. I'm glad you got the post cards...I was worried that birdie's post card would get there before yours, mom, and thought that would go over well!

Two days ago we went to the Trümmelbach Waterfalls. It was very pretty, but you had to go up an elevator in the mountain and then hike up a bunch of stairs inside the mountain to see them. I made it to waterfall number 8 (out of ten) before I turned around and headed down.

Then we travelled to Lucerne. Darrin & his mom (along with more members of our group) went up Mount Pilatus, but I just went to the teeny tiny hotel room instead. Then we had our folklore dinner...more alphorn blowing and a variety of other instruments and, of course, yodelling. I never saw any slap dancing, though. I don't know if I mentioned the giant cow bells, though. Imagine very large, very loud cow bells. Then imagine 50 people walking with them, clanging them with every step! That was in the parade. They only had two (thank goodness) in the restaurant.

Yesterday we did a morning tour of Lucerne (there really isn't that much here), and then wandered around town. What was good for the minimal franks I had left was that yesterday was a bank holiday in Switzerland, so most stores were closed. I opted to go on a one hour cruise on Lake Lucerne...that was worth it. We saw Sophia Loren's and Audrey Hepburn's summer home and (Brad will like this!) the summer mansion of the Heineken's (I took a picture for you!) And, Brad, of course I've had a beer here! It's as cheap as soft drinks in most places, and it's way better than the water!

Then we had our farewell dinner. It's sad to say goodbye to some of the group...the two sisters (84 and 82 years old) from Ottawa (the oldest reminded us of Aunt Clara from Bewitched), the retired principal and his wife from Pennsylvania, the 56 year old (very funny) guy from Australia, the social worker and his librarian wife from Boston, the retired optometrist and his wife from New Jersey, the two widows from Tennessee and Oklahoma, and even the back-injured construction worker and his wife from Boston. The others...it's a more fond farewell! Overall the group was nice, except for the three that I didn't mention, who were very loud, opinionated, and vied for attention all the time.

We're up early this morning as we have to take a limousine (!) to Zurich airport. It's cheaper than a cab, and we're splitting the cost with the woman from Oklahoma (who has bought out Austria and Switzerland, I'm sure!). Who knows what the internet is going to be like in the Czech Republic and in Hungary! So long for now...

Luv
Trace

We journeyed for a long time today. As I said, yesterday morning I shopped. Then we took the train back to Tasch and boarded our bus for yet another long journey. Everyone is getting very tired...I think most of us slept for at least an hour along the journey. The castle of Chillon (in French-speaking Switzerland) is beautiful...if I remember correctly, it was pictured on my lit text from high school, and it's still exactly the same! We took a tour of the inside, saw where the Prisoner of Chillon was held and where Lord Byron signed his name on a pillar inside the prison. Here the tour group cheered me for hopping into teacher mode and keeping naughty children (and parents) quiet while our local tour guide was giving us a tour.

Then we travelled to Bern (back in German-speaking Switzerland...zut, alors!) and went to our hotel fairly late and tried to figure out how to make the lights work. After several minutes of trying, we exited our room, only to find the other members of the group out in the hall as well, wondering the same thing. It turns out that the key card that opens the door (and also, we found out later, controls the elevator) fits in a little slot by the door. You need to leave it there in order for the lights to work. (Whatever.)

Today, we take a quick local trip of Bern, stop in Interlaken to go to some waterfalls somewhere, and then go to Lucerne. I can't believe that this part of our journey is almost over! We need to leave our hotel around 5:30 the day after tomorrow to take our flight to Prague.

Not much else to say today. I'm glad you guys like the pictures...that is only a VERY small percentage of the volumes of pictures I have taken. If I showed you a slide show of all my pictures, at 5 seconds each, you'd probably be sitting for half a day! (Perhaps I exaggerate...a bit!)

Later,

Trace

PS...I tried to call again this morning, but have no idea how telephones work here. I have a feeling you won't be hearing from me via telephone this trip.

Ah, an English keyboard!!!

Darrin and his mom have gone up the Klein Matterhorn today with the group but I stayed back in the city...too many high altitude trips for me in a row! Of course, now I've spent around 150 francs instead...bought a pair of eidelweiss earrings...that was the most expensive part!

The bonus was that another Globus traveller wanted me to look after his computer while they went, and he said I could use his internet if I wanted to!

This means I can upload a whole bunch of pictures.

So...here they are!

Salzburg:

Salzburg castle

Salzburg castle again, with statue

Salzburg sunset

Way from Salzburg towards Switzerland

Chur

Matterhorn sunset, first night

Matterhorn sunrise number 1 (I went with another avid photographer from our group!)

Matterhorn sunrise number 2

Matterhorn in daylight (from our trip up the cogwheel railway to Gornergrat...beautiful!)

Zermatt folklore parade...these alphorns sound neat, but I think they only know two songs, and after hearing them all day, they can get a little tiresome! (We even went to sleep hearing them!)

That's it!

I'll try to call soon. (And as you may have noticed, the weather has improved this afternoon!)

Trace