Sunday 10/7

After breakfast we walk down to the grocery store called SPAR to buy some food for the dinner tonight at Kay and Mike's. We get some wine, couple of bags of salad and then look for something for dessert. Can't come up with anything for dessert so Shirley decides on some chocolates. We meander back to the hotel.

Carroll has been lusting for a port knuckle since we have been in Budapest. The restaurant right next to the hotel has them on the menu and we decide to give it a try right after they open at noon. She has her knuckle, Shirley has a chicken salad with a side of some fried cheese thingys and I have a cheeseburger. Not too bad. We ate here previously with Kay and Mike and the food is good, not fancy but just good food.

The ladies are going to do some shopping and see a couple of sights

and I am going to hang in the room for a few hours. Gives us all a break. I lie down and had just fallen asleep when the maid shows up..such is life. The ladies return shortly thereafter with a funny story. Shirley got off the tram and Carroll did not..she had to get off at the next stop and come back around. They eventually found each other!

We are suppose to meet the Kay and Mike at their Catholic church in time for the 6pm mass. Kay sent directions to Shirley stating we should take the ferry across the river and downstream. We leave the hotel at 5 pm, which should allow us plenty of time, but can't find the ferry stop. We walk a half mile in the wrong direction before we figure it out. Arriving at the correct dock we wait and wait and wait...finally at 6:00pm the ferry shows up. The ride across the river only takes about ten minutes but then there is another ferry at our arrival dock and we have to wait for him to move so we can dock and disembark. We walk up to the church and arrive at 6:20, just in time for the

homily. It is an old church, recently renovated also showing signs of the Moors. The priest is from India and the two assistants are both seminary students from Africa. The service is in English and is over in a little less than an hour. It dawned on us we would be in church in Portland on Sunday morning at the same time we were in church in Budapest on a Sunday evening.

After the service we walk the six or seven blocks back to Kay and Mike's apartment. It is nice with a spacious well appointed kitchen and bathroom, in a very quiet neighborhood with no street noise. Kay and Mike have fixed a great meal of goulash and a big pan of beans. The beans are to die for. There are several different types, most of which I have never seen before. Some are big and dark red (color of kidney beans, but shaped more like great northern) with a really smooth flavor. Mike fixed them by cooking them and a piece of pork along with some onions and a bit of cabbage and spices, very tasty. Maybe I should try and smuggle some beans back along with the donkey sausage we saw the day we went to the large market. I will have to ponder for a while on that issue to see if jail time for bean and donkey sausage smuggling is worth the risk versus the taste.

At 9:00pm the three of us say our thanks, and Kay walks us in the direction of the subway and we traverse back to the hotel. Tomorrow we are going to take the subway to the rail station and then go about 20 kilometers outside of Budapest to a small town called Szentendre. It is suppose to be very picturesque and quaint.

Not too bad of a day...3.3 miles and 8,571 steps.