Frank and Robyn Walk the Rhine in 2017

We wake at 3am so we can be ready for our 3:50 limo pick-up. We race around like mad things and are ready on time outside our billet, which is more than can be said about our driver. The streets are full of locals in various states of inebriation and after a couple of frantic phone calls our "luxury limousine" arrives which looks suspiciously like a yellow taxi. The driver who seems to be practicing for the next grand prix whisks us away to the airport and then it is back to Munich where one gets the impression one is walking rather than flying to one's destination. The BA lounge is extremely grottsville but we survive. We are now sitting in Doha airport waiting for our flight to Melbourne so this is my final missive. Thank you everybody for all your comments and suggestions; this is Frank and Robyn signing off and look forward to creating the next blog.

This morning we take to the Szechnyi Spa to invigorate our bodies and souls. Getting into the spa requires considerable skills as the process is somewhat arcane not to mention Byzantine. Eventually we manage to enter the public bathing arena which is quite stunning and extremely pleasant.The attendants here must have the best jobs in the world-sitting and  perving at  observing the nubile young ladies in their skimpy swimwear. The jobs go out to tender and whoever pays the company the most gets the gig. We then immerse ourselves in a number of different pools each with their own healing properties. One disease I believe we wont get cured from though is tinea. We have a light lunch at a nearby restaurant. This evening we have our farewell dinner in Budapest at the Onyx restaurant-a very fine dining experience.

Fact; there was a public poll to name Hungary's longest bridge; the winner was "Chuck Norris Bridge"-this turned out to be ineligible as the person had to speak Hungarian and had to be dead! Today we visit the Buda castle up on the hill-very quiet apart from the screaming 200,000 tourists. Sitting on this horse all day is a pain in the arse! Naked soldier has the horn We indulge in coffee and cakes at the Ruzwurm cafe,oldest cafe in Budapest and then tour the hospital in the rock used during WW2 and set up as a bunker during the cold war. What a bunch of dummies Typical arrogant surgeon Afterwards we wend our way back to Pest and have a tour of the Budapest opera house-ok but not a patch on Vienna. In the evening it is off to the Getto Gulas restaurant for a bizarre offal dinner. Goulash soup Rooster testicles and cockscombs Cheese dumplings

Today we cycle to Szentendre along the Danube-we know this will be a tough ride when we are shown the profile of the ride. Our cycling companions seem somewhat competitive. Anyway we decide to enjoy the day out. Szentendre is a quiet little town and apart from the 70,000 tourists is quite deserted. We lunch on Langos which is a sort of fucked up Hungarian version of pizza-pretty good actually. Then it is back by boat to Budapest and dinner with some of our new found companions.

This morning we travel into the wilds of Buda to visit the Memento park. This park contains a whole buncha statues from the glory days of the commies. I'm having this little beauty sent back to AUS We then return to Pest for lunch at Gerbedeau and then on to the highlight of the holiday: The Budapest Pinball Museum -after 6 hours we decide we have had enough and we head off to a ruin bar; this is a Budapest institution where a pub is set up on some unused courtyard of a block of flats. My good lady wife is accosted by a vile, drunk English person who felt it was hilarious to bare his bum. This was followed by the swift ejection by his party by a couple of scary bouncers and this was followed by a bit of serious argy bargy and larry dooly and the attendance of the local constabulary. We hightailed it outta there and ended up dining in a Vietnamese/Hungarian fusion restaurant, which was better than it sounds. Still trying to fi