So my mobile internet access has been restored! The dutch provider had an issue with some sort of EU data restriction that capped usage out at 23MB.  They thought they had bypassed this when setting up their systems but apparently it managed to rear it's ugly head anyway.  Now with that resolved I'm back up and limited only by battery power. That and when my grandfather doesn't take 3 hours to go through his stupid email.

I left off with day 1 in Budapest. To catch things up quickly day 2 was uneventful; other than a trip to Starbucks at the West End mall to use their wifi we didn't do much else. Grampa's legs were bothering him too much and he was getting winded just strolling about 50 feet. We tried to go out after lunch but ended up turning around before ever getting to the metro station.

Monday had me back at Starbucks in the morning while he stayed at the apartment with Ilonka. She wanted to bake something for us to take and he didn't want her to both bake and cook so he offered to do the cooking for the day. He later grumbled that he would have liked to get a message in. Around 4pm my cousins Vanda and Kris picked us up and drove us to their home in Esztergom (roughly an hour and half drive). We had dinner and spent the night there. The next morning we packed up and headed towards Austria. The travel party includes myself, Grampa, my Aunt Gabby, and my cousin Kristopher.

We drove towards Austria, assisted by a Hungarian speaking GPS, and stopped at the Esterhazy palace known for its contributions to the arts and music of its time.  This palace was home to many concerts, plays, and operas and was home to the famous Austrian composer Joseph Hayden. The palace is full of opulence, hand painted ceilings, and gilded walls. It was both beautiful and a little over the top; however, this is common for many structures of the time period.

From here we dropped our stuff off at the hotel. It was a cute little place, more of an apartment. There were 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room.

Our last adventure for the day was a quarry that supplied the stone for buildings in the local area (Sopron) and also as far as Vienna. This mine was worked by prisoners sentenced to hard labor and no machinery was used at the time. For the most part it's a giant hole in the ground with a big cave off to the side. But when you think about it, that hole was excavated by hand. Surprisingly, because of it's awesome acoustics the cave is used during the summer as a theater for plays, opera, and even concerts.