On first inspection the pre-take off plan seemed to be oppurtunity for disaster, we were all meeting at the airport in three groups and a little sleep was lost envisiging plan B when only two thirds made it to the airport on time. A little surprisingly everything went well and no drama unfolded. Checked in and up in the air we were treated to a little food which was to become familiar breakfast fair over the next few days - salami, cheese and bread. Some of us took the chance to snooze a little on the plane while others plotted the plan of attack when we hit the ground. This included how to get to the hotel from the airport and we made a slight mistake of beliving the guide when it stated that a cheap bus took people to the center, close inspection of the airport revealed no such bus and the tourist information informed us that had we turned up three years ago we could have had the pleasure of taking the last bus of that service. The Rough guide was docked one point for accuracy - a common theme to develop over the holiday. While heading for the 'official' minibus service into town we were invited to follow a bloke to his mini-bus. He did a good impression of belonging to the more offical set up, even waving and apparently saying 'see ya later' to the desk as we left although since we don't speak any Hungarian he may well have said 'plenty of meat on these tourists, I'll get a good few meals out of them. Up the revolution.' although this would have required remarable efficiency of language for one word.

Paranoia that the mini-bus driver was going to turn out to be a monster turned out to be just that and we arrived safe and sound at the Golden Buda hotel. The two apartments we had were just the job (if I do say so myself!) and we were soon able to make a cuppa before planning the rest of the day. A stroll over the bridge into the center of town took us inevitably to a drinking establishment. Here we had a mix of dark Amstel and hot chocolate in the evening while watchihg the world go by. Turns out that prices of soft drinks are often charged 'per 100ml' and no price was given for cream which turned out to be a couple of pounds worth of mistake. That said it was all cheap enough considering we were in the very center. Having established where the center was and having cheaked out the local beer prices we wondered home to gear ourselves up for the next days walking marathon.