Back in Buda

The long travel day went well yesterday. I slept most of the morning on the train from Split to Zagreb, then had about 2 1/2 hours to roam around the city center in Zagreb before boarding the train for Budapest. I grapped a quick lunch, mailed a letter and even had time to seek out an internet cafe in Zagreb and catch up on some emails. I used up as many remaining Croatian Kunas as I could, saving a few coins as souveniers.
The Split to Zagreb train was one of these newer high-tech tilting trains, I think it was the first of my entire European trip. I was nervous that this would make me sick but my stomach and I survived just fine. Maybe it was because I slept most of the way.
On the train to Budapest I chatted with a Croatian woman on her way to visit a friend. Maria was making her very first trip to Budapest and, I discovered, has never been to Italy either. She has lived in or near Zagreb most of her life, yet has never visited countires closest to her own. It remined me of things close to where I have grown up in NY that I have never been to — Cooperstown, Niagra Falls, the state of Maine! Funny how that happens.
I’ll spend a few days in Budapest with my friend Eszter, before heading to Germany for World Cup action! I’m really getting excited for football now!