We woke in Vienna, in our new room. We packed up our belongings and after a brief interaction with the maid (who spoke no English) that exhausted James’s German knowledge, we headed out the door and back to Vienna’s “Wein Meidling” rail station. We quickly dropped off our bags at the station, using the station’s lockers and paying our 2.5 Euro fee.
After leaving the station, we headed back to KarlsPlatz station, where we had successfully navigated the shopping previously. Or so we thought. Instead of heading out one exit, we opted for a different route – and got what we bargained for. After a quick grocery-store stop for some beverages, James navigated onto a street he promised would take us to our desired destination. For whatever reason, this street then became locked onto a wall along its side that simply had no turning options. We gave up after a half-hour and back-tracked, eventually finding exactly where we were. It turned out that we had been walking in the right direction (or near enough) but never knew it, given our inability to turn.
This gave us some time to do some sightseeing of areas of Vienna we had missed earlier, and to take some pictures demonstrating the beauty of this large city.
 |
| One of the many monuments found up and down the streets of Vienna. |
 |
| A lovely church outside an open-air square. |
 |
| A monument predominately in Cyrillic, celebrating a Vianesse military hero. |
After "righting" ourselves (or “lefting” ourselves), and finishing our tourist excursion, we found a quaint café where we could sit down and use the internet to finish some of our work: McDonald’s.
Once our McDonald’s stop and internet work were completed, we strode with purpose to the train station, ready for our quicker trip to Budapest (only about 3.5 hours). Once on the train, we were shocked to find that we were seated in first-class. We even got some juice and a snack for the ride! James settled in to read, and Erin took this opportunity to do some more work.
 |
| First Class on the Train? We guess there's a "first" for everything! |
 |
| Both Erin and Tabitha enjoy the new accomodations. |
By the time we rolled into Budapest, it was already dark. Undeterred, we headed down the main street away from the train station towards where (we thought) our hostel, the Maverick Hostel, was. We walked. And walked. We eventually asked a security guard where, based on our directions, the Hostel was. After getting over his surprise at reading directions and an address on a Kindle, he asked us if we were walking. After then getting over his surprise at that news, he pointed us in our same direction and said that if we hit the bridge, we’d gone too far.
We found the bridge, but still had to ask (again) where the Hostel was. It turned out to be very close to where we ended, but it was hidden within a very old, large, unique building behind a bus stop:
 |
| The somewhat forbidding entrance to the Maverick Hostel. |
We checked in, but because it was still a lovely night, we headed back out for some late-night sightseeing, courtesy of the bridge immediately outside the hostel. We took several photos of a haunting statue high above Budapests's "Citadel," as well a castle across the water:
 |
| Not as impressive in pictures, this glowing statue above the Citidel seemed to loom above the entire city. |
 |
| One of Budapest's castles at night. |
 |
| The beautiful Erzsébet Bridge at night. |
We walked back to our hostel, stopping at a local grocery store for a bite to eat, and then did a bit of laundry in our room.
 |
| Erin demonstrating proper "technique" for clothes-washing on the road. |
Post-laundry, we wandered down to the Hostel’s weekly Wednesday socializing hour. Erin took this opportunity to GoogleChat with her family, while James explained our trip to the people in the lobby. We shared some local Hungarian food and drink, heard some poorly-played guitar, and Tabitha came down to join in the conversation:
 |
| Sitting in the hostel lobby with our new friends. |
After the party wrapped up (the Hungarians were heading out to an all-hours club; we politely declined the invitation) we headed up to wash some clothes and get some good shut-eye in one of the few actual, non-moving beds we will see for a while.
