At the end of the last chapter, our heroes seemed to be a bit under the weather. Things really came to a head overnight, as I came down with what almost certainly is an upper respiratory infection & Charlie got what seems to be a nasty sinus infection. I didn’t sleep well & what little sleep I got was interrupted by Charlie’s snoring. The snoring is somewhat of an issue most days, but between all our various ills this night, it really was problematic.
So I woke up grumpy. It’s about that time that the inanimate objects of the world decide to conspire against me (just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean it’s not true!) I tried to take a hot, steamy shower, only to have the shower handle-thingy (a technical term, for that which holds a held-hand shower head) not actually hold the shower head, the soap dispenser go flying & the shower doors not work as I anticipated (causing a minor bathroom flood). I was not amused.
Add the illness & shower conspiracy to the fact that it was raining outside, and it was clear that today would be challenging.
We ventured out in the rain to visit the Eger Castle. This is their equivalent of “The Alamo” (except they actually won, beating back the Turks). It offered a nice view of the somewhat soggy town. We returned back to our hotel for lunch. I thought this, a cold day where I was sporting a cold, would be an ideal day to try goulash. Mmmmmmm! Hungarian Penicillin! It didn’t eliminate my symptoms, but I felt a fair amount better thereafter.
Later in the afternoon, we ventured out to the baths. Eger, like Budapest, has a wealth of natural spring activity. These baths were really something…starting with the indoor/outdoor pool (water was about 85-88 degrees) , where you could literally catch a wave through a half-moon shape lane as you might find in a water park & they had a whole bunch of Jacuzzi jets. And that was only the inside…the outside pool had some of the oddest massage jets imaginable (a couple were shot from a height of about 7’, another came from perhaps 15-18’, while yet another came from the base of the pool, with a force that made it difficult to stand on top of). Outdoors, they also had a “hot pool” (about 100 degrees), that had little shower heads you could stand next to (that shot water at maybe 120 degrees). All in all, it was very fun & relaxing. I could definitely see why the Hungarians really love these baths.
We finished the day with a walk through the town. Eger really is a charming place, with some nice sights to see & a fairly laid-back demeanor. It’s not a big spot for Americans, but it is very popular with the Germans (in fact, not many locals speak English, but they do just fine with German). The final activity of the day was dinner at the downstairs restaurant. Can’t get enough of that goulash! I think dinner with soup, a main course & a bottle of mineral water comes to about $10. Such a deal!
The final word: The hotel had space available for tonight, so I got a separate room (that way, Charlie & I won’t be battling with our coughs & sniffles).
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