A forced early start this morning, at the dentist by 8:00 am. She conscientiously worked on fine-tuning my bite; I expect once my teeth settle down I’ll have to do that again at home. Of course, I have to do that when my teeth are worked on at home as well. Expectations adjusted I’m calling this a success.
From the nearby train station I hopped on a train to Eger, 140 km away. Besides the usual fretting about changing trains
Are we there yet?
I arrived in Eger and headed to the castle. Eger serves as a tourist town for Hungarians, very picturesque with a number of local attractions (tower, castle, basilica, churches, park, etc.). While the town cleaned up nicely, in the outskirts are large numbers of the old Communist-era housing buildings. I estimate 10% of the town population lives within them.
I enjoyed the castle, which includes a number of sub-attractions within. When they finish the reconstruction of the church the castle will be even better. Afterwards I pondered whether I could go from there to another town 60 km farther down the rail line. Given that night now falls by 5:00 pm, I instead decided to savor visiting the town, and wandered my way through the available sights.
Returning to Budapest, I ran into some confusion over which train went to Budapest, but ended up on a direct line this time, so no need to fret on the way back (even thought I, of course, did). Again at Keleti Station, I wandered an irregular route back to the hostel.
Taxi to the airport tomorrow at 5:00 am. As a backup plan, the train station nearby also has taxis, and I know what the maximum amount should be for the fare.
Homeward bound.