Tuesday October 9

We are meeting Kay and Mike at 1:30ish after the three of us visit the museum to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit. The ticket line at the museum is relatively short but does not move very fast as there all these damn tour groups of about 30 or so eighty year old ladies cutting in front of us. We finally pay our money and see the exhibit.

What a tormented, talented and bereft person Kahlo was. All that talent and all that tragedy wrapped up in one person. Accidents, polio, abortions, failed love affairs such tumult, but still she managed to rise above it all and create her art. Nice exhibit just too many god damn people in too small a space.

After the tour we head down to the bus and then the tram to meet Kay and Mike at the Hells Kitchen restaurant by their church. We walk across the Danube and arrive at the restaurant at nearly the correct time. Kay and Mike show up and we have a nice lunch. I have a bean goulash, Carroll has a cold cut plate, Mike has some kind of pork, Shirley has chicken paprikas and Kay has a fried camembert.

After lunch we walk down to the huge market we visited earlier in the week. They have sausage made from donkey and I want to see if I can manage to bring some home. After looking on line it is hard to determine if it is legal to bring it into the US. However, it seems to indicate it is up the discretion of the customs officer. So, I am going to give it a try and see what happens. The worse would be they confiscate about $20 worth of product.

We take the tram back to the hotel and are going to meet Kay and Mike at 5:30, have a toddy and then go to the New York cafe for dinner. We are going to buy the Funks their dinner as they have been most gracious and accommodating hosts. They stop at the hotel and we have an abbreviate Happy Hour and then head for the New York cafe. We allow ourselves about 20 minutes and, of course, we wait for 15 minutes for the tram. Then the subway. The restaurant is as ornate as a cathedral with high painted ceilings and chandeliers, lots of gold leaf and little cherubs prancing all over the place.

We arrive aout 20 minutes late for our reservation and wait in line for an additional 10 minutes but are seated. Carroll, Shirley and I have schnitzel, Kay has a salmon pasta and Mike has duck. It is OK but

really not great and the service is not up to par. They serve five of us our entrees and nothing for Carroll. After waiting for several minutes I go and complain and it shows up immediately . This was one place Carroll really wanted to visit so it is nice she has been there and I hope it ticked one of her boxes. It really is not all the expensive and the interior is beautiful.

We ride back to the hotel and prepare for our last day in Budapest and the end of this epic.

Today was a big day and we all are tired, 4.4 miles, 7 floors and 10,984 steps. Tomorrow we are planning on the synagogue, lunch with Mike and Kay and then packing. Since our flight leaves at 6:30am we have get out of the sack up at 3am...YIKES.