day 14

where to begin........

breakfast wasn't to good again. they did have a hot chocolate button on the cappuccino machine though so i was thrilled, but the warm milk in cereal is just not okay. maybe it was a bad idea for sick kirt to drink chocolate cereal in warm milk. thats where things first went wrong, but it only got worse but also a lot funnier. 

since dad wasn't feeling well we had many options to bail on the bike ride but he wanted to starts on the bikes and see how he feels. today was the last day of the bikes so he really wanted to finish it out. we rode about 6 k to the ferry to cross the danube to the other side. we rode about 10 k then we stopped for a bathroom break. dad was feeling worse and there was a train station nearby. us being confident and all told the germans to move on their way and we will jump on a train and meet you at the hotel in budapest.

everything was going great. we were on the train headed in the right direction then we realized budapest is a big city and their might be more than one train station. on top of all this we can't read the language or communicated with anyone, no one knows english outside the big cities.

we got off at the at the stop we were suppose to, id tell you the name of it but i can not spell it or pronounce it. we talked to a guy at the ticket office and showed him the map of where our hotel is. he said "oh that far, take bus" well the buses don't allow bikes, and even if we wanted a bus you have to buy tickets through a machine and it was in a different language. at this point we were S.O.L. so we turned on the data and typed the hotel in our GPS. we were six miles away, biking was our only option. how bad could it be?

dad still isn't feeling good at all. he has literally checked out, a constant confused glazed look on his face. the first part of the bike ride went smoothly, it was just kinda iffy. we were making a lot of turns on streets that did not look like streets. finally we got into the busy part of town and it was a nightmare. people everywhere, the bikes were a problem. as we were riding along i was leading the pack, abby was behind me, dad, then kristen. we were riding on the sidewalk of a main street and a car was turning onto the main street, as abby and i approached the car then signaled for us to pass. dad and kristen just assumed they were good to. i look back and dad had got hit by the car. no one was hurt. they just clipped the tail end of his bike. luckily dad caught himself and didn't even fall down, the guy got out and started talking in hungarian, dad said it's fine and we moved on. at this point things couldn't get worse for kirt. i felt so bad for him but then again it was so funny.

we got about half way to the hotel and stopped for a rest and ice cream. of course dad got a coke light, this is not a good thing when you are sick. it was immediately a mistake. as we were leaving there were some steps and a ramp type thing. dad slipped down the ramp, thankfully he caught himself and didn't fall down but i think this really did him in. it was so sad but once again so funny.

we were so excited when we saw the bridge over the danube that meant we were close to the hotel. the closer we got to the hotel the more crowded it got. there were people everywhere and we were just ringing our bells and making people move out of our way. at one point we were all beside each other on the rode, taking up a whole lane because it was the only possible way. seeing the hotel was the best feeling ever and we couldn't get off the bikes soon enough. I'm sure dad felt so much relief when we showed up.

the rest of the day we spent recovering. dad is doing a little better so hopefully a lot of rest and water will get him ready to tour budapest. we left dad home and headed to dinner with the germans. other than breakfasts our lunch and dinners have been excellent. kristen swears she eats way better here than in america. we couldn't be happier with the food. as we were leaving we asked the waiter if we could get some soup to go. he was so nice and got us some soup and bread ready to take home. as we looked in the bag we realize that they put the soup in a jar, like a used pickle jar. i guess they don't believe in to go food. gosh it was so funny, but dad didn't care he ate the whole thing.

we turned the bikes in and now we will get around by subway or on foot and we couldn't be happier. tomorrow we will be changing hotels so everyone pray for kristen and her luggage to get there without any trouble. on a positive note budapest is beautiful.