Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Buda And Pest It is

BARCELONA

I have a spent quite a bit of time over the last week trying to organize a driving trip to Barcelona. I was thwarted at every step. Hotels are not cheap. Those that had parking wanted £25 a day! They were up to 8 miles away from where we wanted to be. In town apartments/hotels had no parking at all. I wrote to two apartment agencies explaining my needs and both wrote back with unsuitable apartments. They seemed to think that 200 metres away for the £25 a day car park would not be a problem to a person who uses a wheelchair and has difficulty walking. They also didn't think that having to climb just one flight of stairs would be a problem.


I came to the conclusion that Barcelona, like Paris, is not accessible.

BUDAPEST

SO...Budapest is where we will drive to. It is meant to be. It all just fell into place. I mentioned it to Jane in Eindhoven, Holland because I knew she and her hubby had been there. She told me that they had stayed in a Best western there. well, I went and the first BW hotel I clicked on was bang in the middle of everything we want to see and it was cheap and what is more parking is free and right outside hotel because of my Blue Badge!


I booked the hotel, paid for the Chunnel tickets and will travel on 21st March and back on 4th April.

On the way there we will possibly stop to visit with Lia and Lui in Germany. The trip to Budapest takes us thru Austria and Slovakia. On the way back we can go via Slovakia, Czech republic, Poland and what was East Germany and then on to Calais. Or we will come back via a stay in Bratislava(Slovakia) and Prague (Czech Rep. This is going to be a good trip and longest we have taken for years.

PUPS

The puppies are fat things and very quiet, which means all is well and they are happy-meaning well fed.


FATIGUE

Yesterday, I went for my swim which was easy and then the rest of the day was relatively pain free, movement was easier and I did not take effort to get out of a chair. I slept well and went to the pool today. As soon as I got in and swam, I knew today was going to be hard. I couldn't complete my laps as I was too weak. I lost my balance twice whilst preparing to come home. My hands as I type feel very heavy and my fingers don't care much for ding this typing. So I shall be off to bed soon. I am still not that sore, just feel very weak and lifting my arm or leg or walking just feels too much. Weird. To be frank, I find pain much easier to deal with than this fatigue. Pain doesn't usually stop me but fatigue dose. Other than that, I am in good spirits.



5 comments:

fairy godmother said...

What a nice holiday you are going to have! Sorry about the fatigue, I hope by the time you get this you are feeling a bit better.

Anonymous said...

Budapest sounds wonderful! It's great that you live in an area of the world where you can drive to so many countries. I suppose here in the U.S. you have to consider that driving to different states is like driving to different countries. Believe me, sometimes it FEELS like different countries. Well, actually, not states, but regions. It's amazing how different custom and idea can be just a hundred miles away within the same country. Odd.

I hope you have a fab trip in March.

Send me a puppy at your earliest convenience. I shall, now, duck for cover.

LizzieK8 said...

What a wonderful holiday. I know you'll take lots of pictures! I do envy you being able to travel like that.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure the thought of your hols will perk you up, sorry you're not feeling so good, give those pups a wee cuddle from me..........

Penelope Grey said...

We found the parking to be an issue when we drove into Barcelona. We did eventually find somewhere, but most car parks are underground and extremely tight. They seem to be secure, with someone on duty, but we only had a small hire car, if we had had our Landrover with us we would not have got it in the space, well and been able to open the doors to get out. So even if you had have found parking, you might have found it to be not that accessible once you had found the parking. Barcelona is a beautiful city and worth a visit, and the journey down to Barcelona is an interesting one. we crossed to France, drove down the west coast, down through Northern Spain, through Zaragossa and down to the coast. Our return trip we drove up through southern France, through Arles, Lyon and up to Paris. Zaragossa is a lovely place to visit in Spain, with big open streets, plenty of parking, and it is flat with smooth pavements in most of the city.