Some of you may be wondering when I was ever going to get around to some work related activities on my sabbatical.
Today is the day. We are doing a week long cruise on the Danube, and on board the “University At Sea” are running a conference on obesity. Scoff if you like, but I’ve found these conferences some of the best I’ve ever done. I’ve done one before on an Alaskan cruise, on geriatrics, and another on a South American cruise on emergency medicine. Both were practical and valuable.
This morning we used the last hours of our 72 hour transport pass to travel on the famous number 2 tram line that passes 100 metres from our hotel. It’s a highly rated tram trip because it runs along the shores of the Danube, right through the middle of town. We got off at the terminus to walk to where our cruise ship was berthed, and then walked back to take the tram to the terminus at the other end, a journey of only around 30 minutes.
It was late morning by the time we returned to our hotel, where we checked out but left our luggage behind so that we could continue our sightseeing. We took the same tram out to the market hall, a highly recommended local attraction. We’ve really enjoyed the markets we’ve seen so far in Europe, although the one in Madrid was definitely the highlight so far. Well, this one was very disappointing. It’s huge, but the majority of shops just sell tourist tat. The number of “genuine” shops selling foodstuffs is the minority, and I don’t think there were any locals there, just tourists. Maybe it was authentic in the past but now I wouldn’t recommend it.
By now our public transport passes had expired by a few minutes but we decided to take the risk and take the tram back to our hotel to pick up our luggage, as we were running out of time.
We took a Bolt taxi to the ship and checked in. This is a quick and painless procedure compared to getting on a big ocean cruise ship, which usually takes many hours. We had time for a quick lunch before my lectures started at 2.
The course is being taken by an obesity surgeon and his wife, a dietitian. The surgeon spoke for three hours but it was engrossing stuff. The science and management of obesity has changed enormously in recent years. New medications available have been the biggest game changer. The takeaway message for me was that treatment needs to be multimodal, including diet and exercise, but these last two are almost never effective on their own.
After the afternoon lectures finished we had welcome drinks and then a lovely dinner.
There are no lectures planned for tomorrow, it’s our last day in Budapest so will plan to do something different.