Caliban - Opinion and Righteous Anger

The lyric that forms the title of this entry is borrowed from Killing Joke and very appropriate.

We're spending our third night in the Hungarian capital of Budapest tonight. We had planned four nights in total, but have already decided to extend our stay to five. We're staying in the luxurious Kempinski on the Pest side of town, where we have a lovely room and just about all the amenities you could wish for. In the course of this trip, we've stayed at just about every kind of pension and hotel you can imagine, but this place is definitely the most upmarket. We're feeling very pampered.

Budapest is a fairly large city, much larger than Amsterdam or Prague, for example. Consequently, it's taking us a lot of time to get things done. We were also quite poorly prepared for this city, having done most of our reading on Czechia and Slovakia. It really does take quite a lot of advance research to get the most out of a place and, one way or another, we hadn't found the time to do it on Budapest. Consequently, we've done few touristy things thus far and have scarcely ventured over to the Buda side of town.

We sauntered along the very elongated and wide Andrássy utca this morning to the famous Gundel restaurant, apparently a Budapest institution, for its reputedly top-notch brunch. And a top-notch nosebag it was, too, I must say.

There was a minor hiccough getting in, as we were dressed in shorts, but we came prepared! After zipping on some trouser legs, we were into the dining-room and sidling along into a nice window seat, scarely noticed by the overdressed rich people all around us.

After that, it all becomes rather a blur, as we were waited on hand-and-foot, and made innumerable visits to the starter tables, the main dish tables and, ultimately -- you know it -- the dessert section.

The concept of time having become meaningless somewhere around the 27th dessert, we waddled out of the Gundel some unspecified amount of time later, our brains sated, our waistlines inflated. It was warm outside, so off came the unzippable trouser legs once again, their purpose amply served.

We headed directly for St Stephen's Basilica (Szent István-bazilika) and spent quite some time looking around the cathedral, including a visit to the Chapel of the Holy Right Hand (Szent Jobb-kápolna), where the thousand year old mummified hand of Hungary's first Christian ruler lies at the back of the chapel in a case, for all to marvel and cringe at.

After a visit to the hotel's spa this afternoon, we were feeling lazy, so we opted for dinner at the hotel restaurant, which turned out to be nothing short of excellent. Rarely have I eaten so well during the course of a single day.

As I type this, I'm sitting in the hotel's lounge downstairs, having just enjoyed an excellent after-dinner cappucino. Sarah's upstairs, putting Wiesje to bed and watching today's stage of the Tour de France.

Incidentally, you can follow the Tour using Google Earth, together with the appropriate KML file. Very cool, indeed. And what an interesting Tour it promises to be, too; with Basso and Ullrich dropped at the last minute on suspicion of doping, and Vinokourov also out, due to a decimated team (five of his team-mates having appeared on the list of suspected doping users), it has to be anyone's race this year: a bizarre turn of events to be sure. I wish we could be in Valkenburg for the finish of the third stage, but we're having such a good time here. Oh, well.

Yesterday, we went to the famous Gellért Baths, just over the bridge in Buda. Eloïse loved the various pools and had a big smile on her face the whole time we were there.

The guidebook warns that the pools are confusing, and they certainly are. There is very little information in English, and the information that they do have is at odds with reality. Inside, there's an endless series of pathways and passages, and renting a towel requires having money on you after you have changed and headed out to the pools in your swimming trunks (your wallet now safely tucked away in a locker back on the other side of the building). It's also a complete mystery to me where one books and pays for a massage (not that we had time for one on this occasion).

In the end, we gave up trying to rent towels and opted to drip-dry. It was so warm that it was scarely an inconvenience, anyway.

The weather has cooled off in the last few days, rendering life much more pleasant for us. May the stint long continue.

The Netherlands are out of the World Cup and the Dutch cabinet fell a couple of days ago. With that and the Tour de France doping scandal, I'm wondering what else will happen before it's time to head home.

We picked up a copy of the Lonely Planet guide to Austria yesterday, so we're now ready to take on Vienna about a week from now. Before then, we'll be travelling to a couple more Hungarian towns and back to Slovakia to visit the capital, Bratislava.

I have to get a haircut in the morning; then it's on to more sight-seeing. So much to do and only a couple more days in the city in which to do it.

The title of this entry is a phrase probably not commonly heard in Hungary twenty years ago, but today, that's the one we used to purchase what we wanted from the sales kiosk at Szoborpark, Budapest's Statue Park on the outskirts of the city.

After the fall of communism, the communist statues erected by the old order were removed and transported to this park, where they now form a strange iconic graveyard, a reminder of times (not so long) gone by. It's a strange place to visit, and the statues are even uglier than I had expected, but it was a worthwhile trip and something unlikely to be found anywhere else. A bus goes there directly from Deák tér and returns you to the same spot, giving you about an hour in the park.

Sarah's lunch idea brought us to the restaurant of the New York Palace Hotel, whose opulent interior looked like Donald Trump had teamed up with Liberace to design it. Actually, that suggests ghastly taste, but the interior was actually very beautiful; it's just that it was unbelievably exquisite in style and execution. Most of the guidebooks are missing this place, by the way, as it reopened its doors only one month ago after several years of refurbishment.

After lunch, we heeded Bas's advice and headed back over to the city park for a dip in the Széchenyi Baths. We weren't disappointed. The experience was much less confusing than at the Gellért and the baths themselves were superb, especially the outdoor ones.

The main non-swimming pool has a circular area, where the current drives you around and around. It's a lot of fun. In the very centre of the circle, there's a rink, where jets bubble air upwards, giving one the feel of a therapeutic massage. Wonderful!

Eloïse had the time of her life in the water, splashing around and trying to float. She's a little overconfident at present and kept trying to wrest herself free of our grip, as if she were simply descending from a bed (another trick she both started and mastered during this trip). We had to keep a tight hold on her to avoid letting her dunk herself.

The thermal pools would have been a little too warm for her, starting at 36°C and rising from there, so we pretty much stuck to the basic pool, which was a lovely temperature. Sarah and I each spent a few minutes in the thermal pools, with the other one of us looking after Eloïse. Juggling a baby definitely makes it harder to enjoy certain pastimes.

And so our five day stay in the Hungarian capital draws to a close.

What Budapest concedes to Prague in small-town friendly atmosphere and instant appeal, it makes up for with its fantastic thermal pools and divine cuisine. Nevertheless, for me, Prague still has the edge as the city I would choose to live in, if I were looking for a new home.

And what is home, anyway? It's become rather an abstract concept to us. Whilst Amsterdam is our administrative base, we have as much reason to be wherever we happen to be on any given day of this trip as back in the Dutch capital.

The feeling is a liberating one. There are no material possessions that we miss and no obligations to tether us. Speaking personally, I have my computer, my personal jukebox, my girlfriend, my daughter and our car here. What else might I need? With each passing day that we are still away from home and travelling, the desire to just keep on travelling grows stronger.

Eloïse, too, is a natural traveller. She is stimulated and invigorated by each day's new sights, sounds, smells and tastes. For example, she has shown herself to have quite an eclectic palate, enjoying slices of lemon (including the rind), green olive spread and cold strawberry soup. She's had so many new things to try during this trip; it's a joy to see her face light up when she discovers a new taste that she likes.

She's also been a fantastic icebreaker for us, a real social lubricant. Everywhere we go, people of varying backgrounds, languages and cultures want to touch her and enjoy her company. We're so privileged that Mother Nature brought her our way. I look at her sometimes and wonder how I could possibly have had a hand in something so beautiful.

Anyway, tomorrow we check out of the wonderful Kempinski and head north a very short distance to the Baroque town of Szentendre.

I'll be very sorry to leave Budapest. There's enough to do here that you could easily fill a couple of weeks without really thinking about it. Just taking the waters in the city's many baths is something to be enjoyed time and time again.

If we didn't leave now, however, we'd take root here; we like it a lot. Buda, with its many historic buildings and old town, is at the touristic heart of the city. No visit would be complete without visits to the Mátyás Church, Halászbástya (Fishermen's Bastion) and Budavári palota (Buda Palace). We saw those yesterday, when we took a #16 bus from Erzsebét tér to Várhegy (a.k.a. The Vár or Castle Hill). For breathtaking panoramas of the city, also, one has to ascend Gellért-hegy to the Citadella and Liberation Monument.

Then there's Pest, with its cafés, coffee houses, restaurants and shopping; but not to forget St. Stephen's Basilica, the city park, Parliament, the zoo and innumerable other sights and attractions, not to mention the amazing architecture that abounds all over the city.

Anyway, as stated, tomorrow night we'll be in Szentendre, as we slowly start to head north-east, back towards the Slovakian border.

A long drive, some 250 km, lies behind us today, as we enjoy our last night in Hungary. Nine nights in four towns have given us a good impression of the place, and we look forward to returning another time, to take in Lake Balaton and the south of the country.

We drove from Szentendre to Sopron today, placing us a stone's throw from the Austrian border. Sopron's a lovely town with an unspoilt mediaeval layout. The huge number of dentists and opticians, beckoning to Austrians to cross the border for cheaper healthcare, do not detract from the town's charm.

Tomorrow, we drive to Bratislava, the Slovak capital.

After Czech, Slovak and Hungarian keyboards, this entry is coming via my phone's tiny keyboard.

We're now in Bratislava, having arrived here yesterday from the Hungarian town of Sopron via a very attractive part of eastern Austria.

Bratislava turns out to be a really nice town with a beautiful, charming and vivacious historic city centre. We have a further three nights here to enjoy ourselves.

Tomorrow morning, we bid a fond farewell to Slovakia, as we leave the capital, Bratislava, and head for Vienna, the Austrian capital, for five days.

We've had a great time here in Bratislava, but as always, all good things must come to an end. The food has been excellent, with restaurants like Le Monde, Mezzo Mezzo and Tempus Fugit (the latter two of which coincidentally have the same owner) giving anything in Budapest a run for its money.

Yesterday, we took a river-boat up the Danube to Devín Castle. Once we'd climbed to the top of the castle grounds, we were rewarded with beautiful views of the lower ramparts, plus distant views up the Danube into Austria.

Today, the largest part of the day was taken up with a day-trip to Slovakia's oldest town, Trnava.

Vienna promises to be a veritable feast for all five senses, not least amongst which that of taste. We'll be staying within the historic Innere Stadt, at the Sacher Hotel, founded by the son of the inventor of the famous Sacher-Torte.

After breakfast this morning, Sarah bought some amber at a local jewellery shop. That's been pretty much our only lasting purchase in Slovakia.

A quick ascent of the Michalská veža (Michael Tower) for rooftop views of the city and an equally quick, cold soft drink to use up the remainder of our Slovak currency (Koruny) followed. After that, we loaded the car and headed out of Bratislava across the Nový Most and headed for Vienna, just 70 km away.

In no time at all, we were at the Austrian border. Although this particular crossing had only one open lane, we were quickly across and on our way.

I was sad to say goodbye to Slovakia, for which I will always have a special fondness: stunning scenery with excellent hiking, breathtaking mountains, warm people, cheap prices and great food (in Bratislava, at least; more hit and miss elsewhere). And who could forget the zmrzlina?

And then, before we knew it, it was 14:00 and we were rolling into Vienna. Computerised Audi-woman escorted us straight to the Sacher, where a pitiful doorman dressed in abysmally inappropriate garb for the merciless weather helped pile our bags onto a luggage trolley. Sarah and Eloïse went inside to check in, whilst I drove around the block to park the car underground.

Parking in the centre of Vienna is, as you might expect, not what you might call cheap. We really might have been better off leaving the car in Bratislava, catching the hydrofoil to Vienna, and getting a taxi from the quay to the hotel. In fact, it definitely would have been vastly cheaper than using petrol and paying to park the car. The only reason we didn't do this is because of the perceived hassle of lugging our bags around in the searing heat and not being able to bring all of our items (there's only so much you can carry, and we have a pram to consider, too).

I was quickly back at the Sacher, however, where I met up with Sarah. A porter was assigned to lead us to our room... and what a room!

This place is beyond luxurious. I thought the Kempinski in Budapest was nice (and it was), but this place is in a different league. We are -- without a shadow of a doubt -- the two scruffiest fuckers staying here (Eloïse's quite presentable, in case you were wondering). In fact, we're too shabby-looking to even get into our hotel's own restaurant (no shorts, please); we peered through the cut-glass windows into a time gone by, where well-groomed gentlefolk were exchanging plesantries as an appropriately dressed pianist set the mood.

Our room is sumptuous, to say the least. We have a pillow menu, for crying out loud. Just dial 1, and a down pillow, one filled with horse hair, or even a wedge-shaped one will wing its way to the room.

When we came back from our first explorations of the Innere Stadt this afternoon, our beds had been turned down (why do hotels perform this most useless of services?), mats had been placed on the floor on each side of the bed (well, you wouldn't want to touch the carpet with your bare feet, would you?), and a plate containing chocolate bon-bons and two individual Sacher-Torte cakes was on the table, together with a letter welcoming us to the room.

The real Sacher-Torte is delicious, too, I can now vouch, as is their rum-truffle-like punch cake dessert.

Anyway, that's all garnishing. The real reason we are here is the city itself, Vienna. Tomorrow will be our first full day of exploration.

Today was our fourth day in Vienna. We're really enjoying our time here.

After breakfast at Demel, we went to the Stadtpark again to let Eloïse crawl around on the ground.

The Stadtpark is lovely, lovelier in some ways than our own Vondelpark back home. I really wish people wouldn't leave fag-ends in the grass, however. Why do filthy smokers not treat their fag-ends as litter? No-one makes them smoke in the park, so it's their responsibility to take their foul litter home with them.

After the park, we spent most of the day walking around Vienna's main shopping streets. The heat, again, was formidable, although things started to cool off somewhat in the early afternoon. The wind also gained significantly in strength.

Later in the day, after recuperating on Sacher-Torte and good coffee, we went to the Freudpark for Eloïse's next exercise break.

She's close to walking now, we think. She regularly clambers to her feet, then lets go of the thing that is supporting her. After some wobbling, her bum flops down onto the ground, but each time she looks more confident and has a facial expression that seems to say, "I'm getting there. Just you watch."

Vienna has an amazing number of parks; about 50% of the city is green, which makes it a very pleasant place to walk around. I wish all cities had been built with regard for this practice.

After dinner, some light rain came in. We hope that signals lower temperatures in the coming days. It's been hotter here than in the Middle East and India over the last few days.

Tomorrow's our last day here, so we have to be sure to pack in the last few things we want to see.

On Sunday, we get back into the car and head north to Brno in the South Moravian part of Czechia.

A lazy day today. The weather has relaxed its grip considerably, with today somewhere around the 26°C, a world of difference from the 32 - 35°C we'd been enduring for what seems like weeks now.

We ascended the Südturm of the Stephansdom this morning; all 343 steps of it. The view from the top of the tower was partially obscured by renovation work, so the climb was of dubious value.

In the afternoon, we walked around Rathausplatz, admiring the very impressive Rathaus, from which the sqaure obviously takes its name. There's a film festival going on here during the months of July and August, with a film in the open air every evening. It's one of those moments when you realise the sacrifice you've made by deciding to have a baby.

Dinner this evening was courtesy of the Sacher's room service. We'd had lunch very late and neither of us felt like going out again, so we did the lazy thing and had dinner brought to the room in time for the day's Tour de France stage on Eurosport. This is the life, all right.

And so our time in Vienna comes to an end, more or less. I'm stuffed from all of those dinosaur-sized schnitzels and energised from a steady stream of excellent Großer Brauners. What a great city!

For the first couple of days here, I wasn't sure I was going to like Vienna nearly as much as the other capitals we've visited on this trip, but now I'd have to say that it comes close.

Vienna has an undeniable style, with its grandiose and bombastic architecture, its fountains and statues, and its wide boulevards. Its cafés offer the perfect seat for people-watching, their coffee and cakes a delicious feast for the eyes, nostrils and taste-buds.

It's an expensive city, there's no denying that, but it's a rewarding place to spend time. Its many parks are a free and easy way to relax in the shade, enjoying some respite from the baking heat. They're also a good way to meet the Viennese, themselves. Before you know it, you may find yourself playing football with a couple of local children; we did.

Tomorrow, we head back to Czechia, to the country's second largest city of Brno for two nights.

And so begins our gradual return to Amsterdam. From this point forward, we'll generally get closer to Amsterdam with each day's final destination. Actually, that's probably been the case since we entered Hungary, but because we still had another country to visit, it felt like we were getting yet further away.

The diminishing geographical distance notwithstanding, Amsterdam feels further away than ever. The nomadic lifestyle suits us well and I, for one, will be sorry when this trip comes to an end. What will we do? The answer is obvious: start planning our next trip!

After two nights in Brno, followed by one in Telč, we now find ourselves in the south Bohemian town of Český Krumlov; and what a town it is. We arrived here this afternoon, via the pretty town of Slavonice, which is situated very close to the border with Austria.

Quite simply put, Český Krumlov is the nicest town I have ever been to; full-stop. In terms of sheer picturesque beauty, it blows all other challengers off the map. Prague, aesthetically speaking, at least, is a mere pale reflection of all that this town has to offer.

Every last detail for which tourists typically clamour is here: the imposing chateau, the winding river, the pretty town square., the narrow alleys, the buildings with lovely gables, the rolling hills, the good food and drink... and so on and so on.

After just a couple of hours of looking around, Sarah and I were in agreement: it was the nicest town either of us had ever been to. Touristic in its beauty and charm, the place is swarming with people who come here to enjoy it, but strangely, that has not spoilt it by attracting corny, exploitative commerce.

For me, this is Middle Europe's best kept secret. I knew I was in for a treat and I had been looking forward to this particular stop on our itinerary since we set out, almost two months ago now, but nothing could have prepared me for how beautiful and charming this old town is.

It's not just a pretty face, either. You can take to the river here, go riding on horseback, while away endless hours on the terraces of the many cafés, etc., etc. We'll be taking to a raft on the river Vltava tomorrow afternoon.

We've extended our stay from two nights to three, as we already know we won't want to leave here. If you're planning to come to Prague this summer (or any summer), you owe it to yourself to spend a couple of nights here.

Today was really shitty; not only did we have to say goodbye to our room at the very atmospheric Hotel Růže in our beloved Český Krumlov, but Eloïse didn't sleep well on the way, waking up after just half an hour's kip. Add to that the fact that today's drive was significantly longer than usual and you've got a recipe for motoring misery.

We had decided to drive south-west to reach the Národního parku Šumava (Šumava National Park) and then head north-west along its edge for a while. The diversion was beautiful, but it added quite a few kilometres to the clock.

I had no idea that the Šumava was so popular with the Dutch. Once we were in the vicinity of Lake Lipno, every fourth car or so was Dutch. I couldn't believe how many of them there were. As we drove past a supermarket, virtually every car parked outside was Dutch; presumably the occupants were inside, stocking up on groceries to take back with them to the camping. Odd that I've never heard of the Šumava's popularity with the Dutch.

Later in the day, with about 90 km still to do, Eloïse became inconsolable, so we had to stop in the next town and find a patch of grass on which to let her play. Between her crying, her CD playing and the air-conditioning blasting away, I failed to hear the rear parking sensor beeping away at me and managed to reverse into a tree, putting a nasty dent in the bumper of the car. I'll have to see about getting that fixed when we get back. I didn't even see the tree looming up in the rear-view mirror. What a twat.

We eventually drove into Plzeň at about 17:30, allowing just enough time for a quick walk around the town's main square, before heading off to dinner.

Plzeň is the birth-place of pilsner, the original pale lager. Beer is cheaper here than a soft-drink or even a glass of water of the same capacity. That fact's not peculiar to Plzeň, though; the same is true all over the country.

There's no driving on the menu tomorrow, a fact that pleases me no end right now. We'll be exploring Plzeň on foot.

As Israel continues with its latest criminal rampage, I've been noting how Israeli government officials interviewed on television love to cite UN resolution 1559 and allege that the Lebanese government has failed to comply with it. This, then, supposedly forms some kind of implicit justification for the ongoing collective punishment of the Lebanese people.

Why do the reporters doing the interviewing not bring up the fact that Israel, too, has had a washing list of UN resolutions issued against it, each of which it has arrogantly flouted? Indeed, most recently, Kofi Annan himself condemned Israel for its disproportionate response to the Hezbollah kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers.

Why do the Israelis believe that all countries except Israel must comply with UN resolutions? Why does the spineless international community allow Israel to get away with incident after incident of collective punishment of other peoples, including Palestinian and Lebanese civilians? Why aren't all countries subject to and held accountable under international law?

The picture wouldn't be complete, of course, without a dishonourable mention of the US. Whilst channelling billions of dollars in military aid to Israel with the left hand, the right hand now adopts the pretence of intending to broker peace in the Middle East. And yet, Condoleezza Rice rejects the idea of an immediate ceasefire. What kind of diplomat doesn't want the fighting to stop, so that the parties in question can sit around the negotiating table and hammer out some kind of enduring agreement? As if a short-term ceasefire precludes some more sustainable agreement for the long term.

And so it's really just business as usual, isn't it? The US protectorate of Israel does whatever it pleases, US hegemony intimidates other nations into shrugging their shoulders and looking the other way, the UN issues perfunctory condemnations that no-one heeds, and another Lebanese child loses her parents and her eyesight.

I started this entry by talking of UN resolutions directed at Israel. You may be interested to know that there are no fewer than 65 such resolutions in existence.

It's another sunny day in west Bohemia and another sunny day in the whole of Europe, I think; even friends and family on both the east and west coast of the USA are complaining about the heat. Summer never used to be this hot. What a bloody mess we've made of the climate.

This morning, we went underground to explore the passageways running under Plzeň. It was about 10°C down there, providing welcome temporary relief from the glowing orb in the sky above ground. The guided tour, which was in English, was very interesting, too.

Afterwards, Sarah went back to the hotel and I ascended the 303 steps of Chrám sv. Bartolomĕje (St. Bartholomew's Church) tower for views over the city. One has to work off all of that zmrzlina somehow.

In the afternoon, we went to the Pilsner Urquell brewery for a tour of the brewing process and the brewery's premises.

Incidentally, have you ever wondered why this famous beer is better known by its German name than by the Czech name of Plzeňský Prazdroj? Well, as the company history shows, the name of the beer was registered before the Czech Republic had come into existence, so the official language of the Austro-Hungarian empire was used, that being German.

Before the tour, we had dinner at the brewery's excellent Na Splice restaurant, which is very large and has a great playing area for children. We liked this place so much that we went back there this evening for dinner, too. Eloïse mercifully left us alone to eat, happily engrossed with building blocks and other toys.

The guided tour was in English and was great, especially the 6.5°C beer-fermenting cellar. We could have happily spent the rest of the day down there. I'm quite proud that we found two good ways to keep cool today, whilst not sacrificing any of the touristic experience. On the contrary, both activities were firmly rooted in tourism.

The tour culminated in -- what else? -- a beer-tasting session. Straight from the cooper's barrel was poured for us a generous beaker of the golden pivo. You can't get this variety anywhere else; it hasn't been filtered or pasteurised. It tasted as vile to me as any other beer, but Sarah liked it. Even Eloïse sampled a few drops, much to the amusement of the people around us.

Speaking of beer consumption, Sarah has downed no less than 1.5 litres of the amber nectar today. "I don't like beer," she says, but the fact speaks for itself. She likes lager, all right.

And so our time in Plzeň comes to an end. Tomorrow, we drive the 83 km to Karlovy Vary, where we'll spend several nights relaxing in this famous spa town (a.k.a. Carlsbad in English and Karlsbad in German).

Karlovy Vary will almost certainly be our final stop in Czechia, bringing to an end our exploration of the Czech and Slovak republics. Of course, we'll still be in excess of 800 km removed from Amsterdam at that point, so we'll break up the journey by spending a night in Germany somewhere (Kassel, perhaps) on the way home.

Here we are in lovely Karlovy Vary. It's not love at first sight the way it was with Český Krumlov, but together with that town and Prague, I'd say it's one of the three must-visit towns in Czechia if you're coming to this country and are short on time.

We spent the afternoon walking along the colonnades, sampling the spa water that spews from no fewer than fifteen fountains along a 3 km stretch of the town. Most were vile, tasting somewhere between rust and fart. Those that were better were merely unpleasant.

They say this stuff is good for you, but you have to wonder if it's not just a case of the emperor's new clothes, with all the town's inhabitants laughing at the daft tourists, drinking this putrid tonic. Actually, I do believe the hype; I just don't like the taste.

We have two or three more nights here planned.

Two months after we left Amsterdam, we have returned home, leaving some 5627 kilometres behind us. The corpse of a partially mummified mouse greeted us upon entering the house.

The journey from Karlovy Vary to Kassel in Germany yesterday was really quite bad. There were roadworks at frequent intervals and torrential rain worked to further slow our journey. We did not arrive in Kassel until the early evening.

Today, in contrast, we drove the 400 or so kilometres from Kassel to Amsterdam in under 3.5 hours, including a stop to fill the tank, leaving us enough time to do some groceries before the local shops closed.

I could scarcely heave open the front door, because of the mountain of post behind it. I hard to force my way through to turn off the alarm.

The garden is totally out of control. We need to get a gardener in to take care of the jungle that has flourished in our absence.

Apart from that, everything is as we left it. The coming days will be taken up with receiving furniture deliveries and getting our administration back up to date.

The final tally is in: we spent 3 nights in Germany, 25 in Czechia, 18 in Slovakia, 9 in Hungary and 5 in Austria. That's a total of 60 days on the road; 61 really, because we spent a 61st day driving back to Amsterdam. Two whole months on the road: our longest trip so far. How I wish we'd had that kind of time available to us when we went on our honeymoon to Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. That's the curse of work for you.

Of course, we'd only banked on being away for one month. That's how long we thought it would take us to cover the ground we wanted to see. So, we were 100% off in our estimates. I'm just glad we had the freedom and flexibility to absorb the extra month.

Does that mean we've now been everywhere in the Czech and Slovak republics that we want to go? Certainly not.

There's the Terezín concentration camp, which we should have visited on the way to Prague from Dĕčín, but somehow overlooked.

Then there's the south Moravian town of Tábor, which we had booked a stop in, but then cancelled in order to spend an extra night in Český Krumlov.

A couple of nights in the Šumava would be nice. Driving along its edge made clear that it's a beautiful, unspoilt area of forest. Lake Lipno looked pretty inviting.

As for Slovakia, we managed to see most of what we wanted to. Only Levoča was skipped, more an oversight than anything else, and by the time we realised, it would have been too much of a detour to go back.

Of the towns we did get to see, both Prague and Český Krumlov are prime destinations for recurring visits in the coming years.

Hungary and Austria will obviously require repeat visits, as we saw only northern Hungary and the Austrian capital.

In the coming days, we'll work on putting our photos on-line. There are currently 2952 of them, but we'll work on trimming that number.

Thanks to Bas and Onno for their suggestions of what to do and where to eat in Budapest. Your advice was heeded and appreciated.