Monday, 25 July

I jumped down from my top bunk and headed to the Konzum in the town center. It didn’t take long, and I sucked as much fresh air in as I could. For 7 euros I bought breakfast, lunch and dinner (which would later turn out to give me enough left overs for the following nights dinner!).

I cooked scrambled eggs, with tomatoes and paprika and toast. I also found a berry tea bag, and enjoyed some strawberry jam (nothing like Emmy’s jams) on toast. It was a great fight in the kitchen for space and cooking tops.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKC9rAf5GyA

At 10.15am a group of 4 English boys, who just finished school, and I were picked up and taken to a rafting center. They were a great group, and again got on easily with them. We geared up; wetsuit, booties, helmet (plus goPro) and all, before launching into (what I thought) was extremely chilly water.

400 meters down stream we were asked if we wanted to go body surfing – swimming. Peer pressure forced me into the water as I lay feet first in the current. It was a good way to get the adrenalin pumping as the water was so cold!

While the rapids weren’t anything spectacular, it was a fun time, and being with the English boys made me feel as if I was with a group of my mates. We laughed and joked along the way.

There was a change to jump from a bridge, apparently 7 m high. It wasn’t much of a rush after those cliffs in Croatia.

All up it took just over 3 hours for a good mornings adventure and we were dropped back at the hostel just after lunch. I said goodbye to both the rafting mates, and Elliot and Michael who were leaving at different times throughout the afternoon.

Later on I slipped on my walking shoes (I’d previously been wearing my brooks for walking in) and ventured around the whole lake and up to the castle. It took around 4 hours as I stopped and took some pictures of the lake with my goPro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RVS8hekc_4

I didn’t go inside the castle as it was 8 euros to enter… as much as my breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I enjoyed the view from an adjacent wall.

Later that evening I cooked a great dinner. On the way home I picked a bag of apples form the many apple trees that lined the gardens in the neighborhood. I simply shook a branch and if something fell, I was in luck. I planned to make stewed apples.

First up I peeled and sliced about 6 apples, ranging in size from a boys first to a baby’s. I found that the smaller ones were a better quality. I added 2 generous tablespoons of my strawberry jam and a spoon full of sugar. I added a cup of peach Lipton ice tea to the mix as well. After all, it was dessert.

While that was simmering, I combined a tomato, half a white paprika and half a cup of red wine that was close by. I added a large can of mixed beans (thanks mum for introducing me to these) and the jar of tomatoes paste sauce. I brought it to the boil and let it simmer for 10 mins. The pasta I cooked was a whole meal type (was slightly more expensive (1.80 euro total) than the white pasta (1 euro)) 500grams in total. I cooked all of it, thinking I’d have some leftovers… and oh how I did… next time I would only cook around 350grams as I had a whole bowl to give to the Spanish family as there was simply too much for me.

The pasta was filling, and the stewed apples were sweet. I had a massive amount of leftovers as well.

I stayed up and talked with the Spanish people, met a chap from ice-land who was also heading to Budapest the following day, so we discussed travel plans and chose to go together. And spoke with Randy, who is one of the most respects Theremin musicians in the world. He showed me some clips on YouTube (over 4 million hits) and explained some new approaches that take the Theremin music to a whole, new level. It was very fascinating.

I climbed up into the top bunk around 11 as we planned to leave early the following morning.