No problems with the 11-hour overnight train from Vienna, except the mother and two children I shared a compartment with. The kids were fine. It was the woman who didn’t seem to know the concept of whispering.

Am now in Nancy, France. Got here about 30 minutes ago (it’s 0830) and I can’t get a train to my next place, Xertigny, until 1730. Am revving myself up with coffee now for a day of wandering around doing nothing more energetic that putting one foot in front of other, on flat, smooth surfaces.

After my 19-hour trek up and down Mount Hochschwab (2247 m) a couple of days ago, my knees, feet and ankles have told me that if I dare to wear them out like that again, at least for a few days, they’ll give up the ghost and never function again. By the time I got to the bottom of the mountain, I was walking like a little old lady and needed not just the help of Bernd but also the assistance of the walking stick he made for me.

Was only planning on staying in Warsaw for one night to fulfill another letter but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by this place. My expectations weren’t high. I’ve heard from most people is that the capital of Poland as not a place to stay, that it’s ugly, depressing, and the people are awful.

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I didn’t say goodbye to Berlin before getting Penny and Anne to dip into the hat and selected my next destination: Utena, Lithuania.

Utena lies 98 km north east of the capital Vilnius and is part of the Baltic Country of Lakes.

I know I said I was planning on staying in Copenhagen for a couple of days but let’s just say I had a rather uncomfortable “episode” that prompted me to take flight. Nothing serious and I’m all good but not something I wanted to stick around for. I packed my bags lickety-split and am now back at the train station about to head to my “T” place, which I picked out. No hat involved.

Tisvildeleje, pronounced something like “Tis-vil-e-leye,” is just over an hour north of Copenhagen. The place I’ve found to stay at is 2km from the train station (“I don’t think you’ll be able to get a taxi,” the proprietor of the B&B said) and 3 km from the main town (“we’re in the countryside”), so who knows when I’ll get internet access next? 

Although I couldn’t get anyone to understand me in Rajka, I did manage to find someone to select my “S” place in Slovakia.

Senec is situated in the South-West of Slovakia - in Podunajská nížina, on the boundary line of Podunajská rovina and Podunajská pahorkatina, and it’s only 27 km from the Austrian border (so no points for guessing where I’m taking my couple of days break…).

It took just over an hour to get to Rajka from Vienna by train, and it only took me 30 minutes to walk the entire length of the village–twice–to snap some photographs. According to Multimap, Rajka is in Slovakia, but it’s not. Okay, it’s only 2 km from the Slovakian border, but it’s definitely in Hungary.

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Sisters Angeline and Josette picked my next desination out of the hat. On Tuesday, after a couple of days R and R back in Vienna, I’ll head to Rajka in Hungary, which lies right near the Austria/Slovakia borders.

I’m soooo nervous about tomorrow.  Wondering what on earth I’m going to talk about to 60 children. Worked on the presentation all day and I HATE it!

Barefoot Bernd has helped me a lot with graphics and even in the short time he’s known me, he says I make everything so complicated for myself. Was kind of hoping that side of me would ease up a little during my travels but obviously not.

Will actually be stopping back in Vienna to see Bernd before heading to Hungary. We’re going rock climbing and camping. Will catch the over night train from Unterterzen (1km walk down the hill from Quarten) tomorrow evening.

Got all of my days mixed up. Had planned to go straight to Zurich to meet Jemma yesterday, then realized at the last minute it was only Saturday and she wouldn’t be there until Monday. I’d squeeze in “Q” in the meantime.

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I’ve really enjoyed my couple of days in Perg, doing pretty much nothing, except sit in cafes, use free internet and watch the world go by.

This morning, Franz and his wife (owners of Gasthof zum Einhorn) picked my next place in Switzerland: Quarten.

Before then, though, I’m going to visit Zurich. A friend from San Francisco is passing through and it will be really good to catch up and just chatter, and not have to think about how to string a sentence together using basic English in order to be understood. 

This afternoon I’m having lunch with some people I’ve met while in Perg, and then I’ll catch the night train from Linz (2300 hours) which will reach Zurich around 0630 tomorrow morning.