Set out on 30 September 2015 to go
to Serbia, for the Mensa International AG. And because I hate airports, and
hate having to leave in the small hours of the morning, I decided to go by
rail. It started off fine, got the Pendolino to Euston, quick sprint to St
Pancras for the Eurostar, arrived in Paris in time for a light lunch. Got the
TGV to Munich, which is where it all started to go Horribly Wrong. It was about
9.00pm and the station was full of drunks in lederhosen (Oktoberfest), I was
supposed to be travelling on the Overnight Sleeper to Budapest, which I was
looking forward to; it seemed really exotic, I expected the train to be full of
glamorous adventuresses and secret agents. Well it wasn't, it was cancelled.
:-(. It was replaced by:
1. An ordinary train which
went almost to the German border.
2. A bus which went over
the German border and on to Salzburg, by which time it was about midnight.
3. A 3-hour wait in
Salzburg Station, which is very clean and modern, but everything was closed and
it was Very Cold.
4. An ordinary train
which went almost to the Austrian border.
5. A bus which went to
the border, where we had to write our names on a list, then get out and be
glared at by armed Austrian border guards who took our passports which was
worrying. The young man who had sat next to me was not let back on the bus. His
name was Hassan, which may have had something to do with it. The passports were
returned, so that we could be glared at again as we crossed the border into
Hungary.
6. Some time later a
rather scruffy train took us to Budapest. Instead of the Sleeper Compartment I
had a bunk in a couchette, but I did have the compartment to myself. It was at
this point that, in attempt to lock the door, I inadvertently pulled on the
emergency brake. I noticed that the train was making funny noises, shrugged,
found the bolt and setlled down. Just dropping off when the attendant come
banging on the door, told me off, and fixed the brake. So I only got a couple
of hours' sleep before we arrived in Budapest at 9.00am the next morning. This
was the scheduled time, but it should have been one seamless train ride in
comfort if not luxury.
I pottered round
Budapest for a bit, the surroundings of the station are not the most appealing
area. Then it occurred to me that the train taking me to my destination in
Serbia, Novi Sad, was not actually going direct from Buda, but from a little
town a couple of hours away. If I'd realised this when I arrived, I could have
got an early train and made the connection. But I didn't, so I just got the
next train that was going there, and arrived at teatime with 7 hours to wait
for the next train to Novi Sad. I strolled up and down the main street, had
coffee and a luscious cream cake at a cafe. That took up the first half hour.
The station was deader than Salzburg had been. Fortunately there was an
Australian woman, similarly stranded. She was going to Serbia to look up family
members, and talking about her exploits passed quite a lot of time.
The train arrived at
about midnight, and meandered gently across part of Hungary and then Serbia,
arriving at Novi Sad at 6.00 am next morning. I was only 12 hours late and had
missed the first evening's party and an excursion I had booked on. :-(. So I
slept until lunch time and then started catching up on the programme.
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