A long day of travel is almost coming to a close! Door to door, it was very close to 24 hours on the go. Our flight from Toronto to Frankfurt was pretty uneventful except for the odd screeching child. Since the plane was quite cool overnight, blanket-over- the- head was the preferred sleeping method. We managed about an hour or so. Making our way through the Frankfurt airport was also quite a challenge – about a half hour walk including at least three sets of stairs with hand baggage in tow.

Our wait times at the various transfer points turned out to be not too bad. We passed the time reading, eating and walking the terminal building. Getting a taxi at the Budapest airport was an exciting adventure. I had read on the internet about the taxi system in Hungary. There are three ‘official’ taxi companies but signs at the airport warn you about the cowboy taxi drivers who accost you before you can get out of the terminal building. We divided and conquered and in the end paid what is a reasonable fair.

Taking the train from Budapest to Vienna was a nice relaxing way to travel. We went first class, which was fortunate because second class included a large tour group of high schoolers who were very noisy. Dinner was served at our seat – George had Moroccan and I had Indian.

Our hotel is a small family-run enterprise in the downtown walking zone. We had to roll our luggage along the cobblestones about half a block. After settling in, we went for a brief walk along the main shopping street, which reminded me of Sparks Street in Ottawa – only much classier. Along the small street where our hotel is located are four or five outdoor cafés which look like possibilities for dinner. The Musik Haus – an interactive music museum – is right across the road and I’m looking forward to directing the orchestra there.

So we’ve arrived safe and sound. Now to bed and then to decide what tomorrow will bring.