Budapest

We had a rest day on Wednesday so decided to go to Budapest on Tuesday after our training. We booked some last minute accommodation on whatif.com and stayed in the Carat motel Tuesday night. The traffic was pretty bad getting into Hungary but eventually we found our accommodation, checked in and walked down to the Danube waterfront as we were pretty Hungry. Budapest is an amazing city and looks spectacular at night time with all the buildings lit up. We decided to have dinner on one of the boats it was a bit flasher than expected and we got a few funny looks rocking up in our jandals. It was a delicious meal and a fantastic view.

The following day we had a sweet buffet breakfast and then went on a bike tour for 3.5hrs around Budapest. Our hungarian tour guide Kinga was very knowlegable and told us a lot of the history, there are two halves to the city Buda and Pest seperated by the river. We biked all over, we saw a massive lake that is an ice skating rink in the winter, lots of statues, old buildings and thermal baths then we biked accross the bridge and up castle hill. Bike tours are an awesome way to see a city faster than walking.

We are now down to one session a day as there are so many nations training and with only 4 days til i race. I am feeling pretty good and loving my new boat and paddle. The course is challenging but i am really enjoying it, the drop at the bottom is still a bit interesting but I'm loving it. I am now staying at an apartment closer to the Danube in Bratislava. This week hasn't been as hot only about 30 degrees so thats been better for training. Here are some pictures from our time in Budapest.

                                                        Photos taken by Aaron Osbourne

                                                              Photos by Ben Gibb