Santana - Live and Free Concert

Every summer, T-Mobile sponsored a live concert at Heroes Square. The best year was when Elton John performed. This year is Santana. We told our four guests and everyone was charged. At 7:30, Ron and I took the bus to the end spot of where they close off the street. However, they changed the whole thing this year. Normally, the concert stage is in front of the Fine Arts Museum and everything beyond is blocked to traffic. This year, the stage was at the far end of the park and fences surrounded the whole thing. The only people allowed in were ticket holders. There were not anywhere near as many screens to view the concert as in the past, so basically all you could do was find a place to sit and listen. We found a grassy knoll, relaxing there for a half hour, before we realized this was like listening to the radio or more currently techno, Media Player. Why were we there? We walked closer to the Exhibition Hall, where there was only one large screen showing the performers. Santana did not sing much at all, but his band did the lion's share of the work. With great disappointment, we left. You do get what you pay for.

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Lost Luggage - Reward for Return

The luggage courier was gracious enough not to wake us during the night, but Linda was still wearing the same clothes, too. I found on the Malev web site this morning that will the magical reference number, you can update your contact information. I did that and put in my mobile number. The land phone started to ring, without remorse or apology. We were as helpless as prisoners in Guantanamo. After listening to Linda's enthusiasm about the thermals, only to see the idea shattered by the fact that her bathing suit was in Luggage Lost, I attempted the calling process one more time. I struck gold. A woman named Eva answered and again tried giving me the number for the delivery people. When I explained my frustration from last night, she said she would call for me. I made her promise she would call me back with the results, though I was helpless to plot any revenge if she did not. I could not locate her on my GPS. Bless her Hungarian heart, she called back minutes later to announce delivery would be between 9 and 10 am. By 9:34, the doorbell rang and it was here. If you ever thought that owning a B and B is NOT all fun and games, you should try it? We play phone games all of the time.

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Can You Make a Bomb from Fluff?

We were expecting two guests to arrive, a mother and daughter. They are Americans, but were arriving by train from Prague. I did not know it ahead of time, but the mother and I have a mutual friend. This was another of the e-mail notifications that was lost when the computer died, so we did not know their exact arrival time. At 2:30, I received an e-mail from Kelly the daughter stating she missed the train, to please tell her mother she would be on the next one. I thought this was strange. They were traveling together. There was no additional information to sort the puzzle. Later, Linda shows up at the door. Someone let her into the building. After introductions, she shares that she is a friend of my friend Bev. Then with confusion in her voice goes on to say, "My days have been filled with losses. Bev told me you love peanut butter and marshmallow fluff.|I brought you a jar, but that is the first thing they took away from me. Apparently, you can make a bomb out of marshmallow fluff. Then my luggage never arrived. I have been stuck with these clothes for the last three days. They are supposed to forward my luggage here." As it turned out, due to the lost luggage, Kelly made one more valiant attempt to return to the airport to try to recover it, but on her return, missed the train. In the meanwhile, Linda traveling on public transport, validated her ticket more than once and was caught by an inspector who found her overly validated ticket unreadable. She was fined $45.00 being too intimidated to fight back. Linda went off to puruse the city while waiting for Kelly to arrive. While she was gone, the phone rang and it was Malev Airlines stating they had the luggage for delivery and as soon as it cleared Customs, they would deliver it; however, they would call first. Minutes after I hung up the phone, the new guest in the other room asked if she could use the phone to reserve restaurants. No problem. After ten minutes of getting her business done, she returned the phone to the cradle. I was busy working on the computer, writing the Hungary chapter for the Frommer's Eastern Europe guide book. The phone rang! Expecting Malev again, I answered it. Rather I attempted futily to answer it. Successive attempts at pressing the answer button were disregarded by the phone forcing the call to go to voice mail. There was no message, just a hang up. Within a minute, the same thing repeated. A call came in, I could not get the phone to respond, voice mail and an hang-up. I knew it was Linda's luggage using a life line and calling a friend, only to be presumably ignored. Looking at Malev's website, I could only find two phone numbers. One for the Duna Club, the frequent flyer program and one for reservations. Using my cell phone since the now defunct regular phone would not access a dial tone, I called reservations in the hopes of getting a forwarding number to call for lost luggage. Voice mail in Hungarian was followed by a repeat in English. "To speak to someone in English, please press 2". I pressed 2 on the mobile, but the voice mail did not recognize it. I pressed again, but the initial message continued to repeat itself like a bad stuttering problem. I pressed 2, pressed 2, pressed 2, like a man possessed. What I eventually got was 22, which disconnected me from the system. Calling back again and start over had the same result. Two was just not making the tone that tittilated the system into action, but 22 was definite overstimulation. By the fifth attempt, I was able to claim a modicum of success and move on to the next level. This is where the youth outshine we older folk. Their thumb control is far advanced developed from video games, giving them superior powers. My nephews were always king of the universe while I was still trying to escape the dungeon when playing with them. They sadly left me to be eaten as they flew off to a level I could not even dream of. When I did navigate to the next branch of this phone tree, the message clearly stated for lost luggage press 1. Now we are getting somewhere. Press 1. Nothing. Press 1. Nothing. Press 1 harder like it will make a difference and the system will hear my added efforts of strengh in crushing down the key. The system was unimpressed. It would not budge beyond repeating my options with malicious joy that I was impotent to achieve any of them. My one last attempt scored an 11 and I was disconnected for the last time. Linda, I like you, but you will never see your luggage again. Go shopping. When Ron came home, he suggested I try his phone, a different model. He did not say, he would try his phone, but that I should. Like a miracle, it worked. I reached a living human being and to add miracle to miracle, she spoken English and gave me another number to call for the delivery service. Just when I thought I had grabbed the golden ring, I found I was on the wrong merry-go-round. I called the delivery service and tried explaining that the luggage had arrived, I had been called, they did verify the address, someone has been calling, but the phone was not working and I could not answer the phone. They must have thought no one was here, so they did not bother attempting the delivery. The lady on the other end said "Sorry, I no speak English well." Okay, one more time in monosyllables and s-l-o-w-l-y. That worked! She asked for the reference number. I turned to Linda and asked for the reference number. After a moment of silence, she whispered "Kelly has it with her. She took it to return to the airport." Without that number, my monolingual helper was helpless. The reference number are the keys to the kingdom. End of call. Hours later, Kelly arrived on the next train from Prague. I played the above game again, this time learning from my previous mistakes and scoring faster and reaching the upper echelons of levels with greater speed, but to no avail. I was told the luggage could be delivered at any time, but they could not understand they should call on my mobile and not the home phone. Grrr.... Good night everyone. Maybe the sandman and the luggage delivery man will show up hand in hand.

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Accommodations Exchange?

If you know someone who knows someone who knows someone else... or to keep it the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid), if you live in Australia...

My partner and I have a small B and B in Budapest, Hungary www.budabab.com . We will be in Australia from December 16, 2008 to January 20, 2009. We were wondering if anyone would be interested in doing a hospitality exchange. You host us and we host you.

Let me say, though that we are in the heart of the city and would like similar places in the cities we will travel to. Neither of us has a drivers license any longer since we have been out of the States too long to continue renewing them without going into Motor Vehicles. Easy walking distances and access to good public transportation are important. We are not partying people and respectful of others.

We will be starting in Adelaide and returning there to fly home. The only specific dates we have at the moment are Sydney December 26th and leaving January 2nd. We will be going to Kanagroo Island, Melbourne, Alice Springs, and Cairns for sure.

If you are interested, we will give you a night for night accommodation in our B and B, giving you first priority on open dates. I have written the Frommer's guide "Budapest & the Best of Hungary", so I know the city.

If you are interested, please e-mail me at drryanjames@gmail.com and by then, I will have a better idea of dates.

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Metro 4

The fourth metro line currently under construction in Budapest has been continually delayed. First it was lack of funding, then the EU cut back on additional funding due to the inefficiency of the work being done. Although it was projected to be completed in 2010, they say it may take longer since the drills are not as efficient as they first thought. Perhaps it is the drillERS that are not as efficient. This video was taken at Keleti train station. I know each time I am in any area where Metro 4 construction is going on, I have yet to see actual work taking place.

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Airlines

I just read that some American airlines are now charging for water. Yes, you can still ask for 'tap' water, but the reports are that that water sits in tanks for hours on end. If you want a bottle of water, you will have to shell out some bucks. This video is humorous, but as Freud said, "There are many truths said in jest".

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How I Miss Comic Strip Humor

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The Heat is Back

We had some hot days last week, but then a weather front came through with torrential rain. It just stymies me how forceful the rain can be. Having been to Niagra Falls, Iguazu Falls, and Viktoria Falls, there are some close resemblances at times. Yesterday was 85 degrees and today will hit 92 degrees. Going to the mall is not an option for cooling off. Their air conditioning is not strong enough to keep the soap kiosks from closing in the summer. The one year they remained open, all of their product was a soupy mess all over their display counter. This is good training. We are planning our trip to Australia for December. Alice Springs gets up to 112 degrees. Good thing we lived in the central valley of CA. We know heat.

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I Concede

It was a long time coming, but I concede. I was a staunch Hillary supporter; now it is time to cash in the chips and throw my support behind Obama. I do not have the optimism that some of my fellow Americans have in thinking this is a no brainer situation. After all, they reelected Bush/Cheney for the second time. Actually, they elected them the first time, four years ago. The Supreme Court elected them the first time around.

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FireFox 3 - The Best Yet

Firefox 3 has been set loose and it is an awesome experience. Many of may add-ons are currently disabled due to the upgrade, but expectations are they will catch up soon. In the meanwhile, I found a new extension that I have used to replace my former home page. It is called Fast Dial. It creates 12 blocks that you can make into quick and easy bookmarks for websites you use repeatedly. It takes a screen shot of each website and puts it in the box for a quick visual. You can name it at the bottom. FireFox 3 here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-rc.html Fast Dial Add-on https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5721

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Budapest Airline News

They won't be here for long.

New flights at Budapest Airport

Thursday 19 June 2008

Budapest Airport is to welcome several flights this summer, with new routes from a series of low-cost carriers. Wizz Air will launch eight new flights from Ferihegy over the course of the next two months. Flights to Greece will be added in June, as will services to Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria and the popular Spanish holiday destination of Mallorca. In July, Budapest will welcome Wizz Air flights to Sandefjord in Norway and Treviso in Italy. The Treviso flight will be the first service from the airline to connect Budapest with the airport near Venice. Fellow cheap flights airline SkyEurope will add two flights a week to Trieste in Italy, with Clickair introducing flights to Barcelona and Portuguese airline TAP increasing the number of flights from Budapest to Lisbon it offers. "The network of Budapest Airport has been enhanced with great, real summer destinations. In addition to increasing our connectivity, we will contribute to our passengers' holidays with favourable parking tariffs and special offers in airport shops," said chief executive Jost Lammers. Other airlines to introduce additional services to Budapest include Hungarian carrier Malev which is adding more cheap flights to Madrid and Stockholm. Wizz recently announced that it would add flights to Dortmund in Germany from Budapest in October.

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Ambassador's Invitation

On the Occasion of the 232nd Anniversary of the

Independence of the United States of America

Ambassador April H. Foley

requests the pleasure of the company of

Dr. Ryan James

at a reception in the garden

on Thursday, July 3, 2008

from 12 noon until 2:00 p.m.

Venue: Budapest XII. Zugligeti út 93.

RSVP: by June 27, 2008 Dress: Business Attire or

Phone: 475- 4283 or Service Uniform

budapestprot@state.gov

*

This invitation is personal and non-transferable.

Please print and present this invitation and photo identification for admittance to the event.

Please note: there is no parking available at the premises during the event.

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Reprint of iPhone Tips

From Frommer's Budget Travel Online iPhone tips and tricks for budget travelers

Posted by: Sean O'Neill, Monday, Jun 9, 2008, 4:23 PM

Apple announced today that it will start selling souped-up iPhones for $199 a pop on July 11. GPS will be built-in, letting you find where you are on an electronic map. (Free add-on applications, such as Loopt, use location feeds to help you find friends on the go, along with other neat tricks.) And the new iPhones will run on AT&T's speedy "3G" (third generation) network, which ought to let you access info much faster than current iPhones.

Now that the iPhone is entering "budget travel" territory, here are some iPhone travel tips. You may be hit with enormous charges if you travel with your iPhone overseas—even if you don't intentionally use any services and never place a call. Here are tips on how to avoid these charges. I've used these tips myself on my overseas trips. [Note: I have interspersed language from Apple's and AT&T's websites with my own tips below to be as precise as possible, particularly on the instructions about how to use the device.]

Tip 1: When overseas, turn Data Roaming "off". When you travel overseas, international data usage is not covered under your AT&T plan. And because the iPhone is constantly seeking large amounts of data, you can be unpleasantly surprised by data charges while you're traveling overseas—even if you rarely use the device. To turn data roaming "on/off" tap on: Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming. Toggle Data Roaming to "off" and you will block data roaming (but not voicemail service) outside the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Note, I'm assuming that the new iPhones will not ship with this function already in the default "off" position. It's good to check to make sure, whether you have a new or "old" iPhone.

Tip 2: When overseas, use WiFi instead of the 3G network on post-July 11 iPhones: WiFi is available in many airports, hotels, and parks to browse the Web or check email. The chips required to receive info over the 3G network pull a huge amount of battery power, and your iPhone will likely run down faster when using it.

Tip 3: Turn off your iPhone's "Auto-Check" function for email. Check email manually using WiFi instead of having emails downloaded to your iPhone automatically. That way, your iPhone won't be constantly seeking new messages—and adding charges to your phone bill—while it's in your pocket. (To turn off the "auto-check" feature, tap on: Settings>Mail>Auto-Check and select Manual.)

Tip 4: Avoid the International Voice packages from AT&T. The phone company offers to upsell you on packages that reduce your per-minute rate for making calls in exchange for paying a monthly fee. Unless you're a business person planning to make dozens of calls on the road, this will not pay off for you, on average in most foreign countries, by my calculations.

Tip 5: But do consider the "Data Global Plans", which AT&T offers for more than 35 countries. Because you'll probably be roaming, any time you receive a voicemail message or download a map or an email, you may be "roaming internationally" and paying a fortune in "data pay-per-use" charges. If you order the plan, you'll be spared wild charges on the receipt of voicemails. Plans can be added by a phone call to AT&T customer service, and start at about $6 a month. You can add it just for the month that you're traveling to a particular country and then call back on your return to de-list from the plan.

Tip 6: Beware of the iPhone's camera. When traveling overseas, some places, from mosques to government buildings to museums to train stations, don't allow you to take photos. If you are already toting a separate digital camera, you may want to stow your iPhone away.

Tip 7: Get real-time estimates of travel times on your driving route. Open Maps, and you'll see a mini version of the U.S. Type a location into the search box by street address and state or zip code, an intersection, or a major attraction (Niagara Falls). Need driving directions? Tap the button that has two arrows, one pointing up and the other pointing down. Enter your start and stop destinations. (You can click on a name in your Contacts list if you've already entered an address for him or her.) Then tap Route. You'll get an overview. Tap the button that looks like a car, in the lower-right corner of your screen. Strips of road on your screen will now change color, with red-lined roads indicating high-traffic volume. On the first screen of driving directions, you'll see a total-driving estimate that is updated by what is known for current traffic speeds on your route. This works on both "old" iPhones and post-July 11 iPhones.

Tip 8: Use Google on your browser wisely. Find the forecast for your area by typing weather chicago or weather 60609...meaning, "weather [city name]" or "weather [Zip code]." For currency conversions, use this as a model: 85 usd in euros.

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Gay Pride Canceled in Budapest

Outrage as Budapest Pride banned by police

By Tony Grew • June 12, 2008 - 13:20

Gay rights activists have reacted angrily to news that the chief of police in Budapest has decided that a Pride march planned for July 5th will interfere with traffic and therefore will not go ahead.

The Europe branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association said it is "appalled" by the decision.

ILGA-Europe called on the police chief, Gabor Toth, to change his decision and back Pride.

At last year's Pride in Budapest skinheads and fascists massed along the 7km (4.3 mile) route of the march for gay rights. They threw eggs and bottles filled with sand at the marchers. Later that evening almost a dozen gay people were set upon and beaten. Pride organisers said that the police had failed to take appropriate action: "Contrary to a number of reports and the statement of the Interior Ministry, items capable of causing grievous bodily harm were thrown at the marchers: beer bottles, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails," they said.

"The counter-demonstrators continuously shouted: "faggots into the Danube, followed by the Jews," "soap factory" and "filthy faggots." "In the neighbourhood of the event closing the parade dozens of attacks on gays by lingering counter-demonstrators took place."

On that occasion the Prime Minister of Hungary, Ferenc Gyurcsany, utterly condemned the incidents as "brutal, unacceptable, and outrageous."

Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said today: "We are appalled by the decision of the Budapest police chief. "We consider his decision as a sign of giving in to the threats of ultra nationalists. "The traffic hindrance explanation and an earlier suggestion to the LGBT

activists to organise a stationary event in an area remote from the city centre are just excuses for the unwillingness of the Budapest police chief to take his responsibilities seriously to ensure order.

"One of the main objectives of any LGBT Pride March is to raise visibility for the LGBT community and communicate the community's concerns and issues to the wider public.

"The police should not be preoccupied with making their lives and jobs easier by banning the demonstrations or sending the participants away from the public. "It is the duty of the police to ensure that each citizen or group of citizens has a right to assemble, and express their view and opinions without interference.

"The law in Europe and Hungary on this subject is clear and the police are there to obey and enforce the law."

Fascism has been on the rise in Hungary in recent years. In 2007 a far-right Hungarian political party, Jobbik, known for their anti-Semitic, anti-Roma and homophobic rhetoric, inducted the first members of its paramilitary wing, the Magyar Guard, outside the country's Presidential palace in Budapest.

Jobbik supporters were among the people who attacked Pride. The founding members of Magyar Garda took oaths of allegance in front of over a thousand supporters of the Jobbik party waving red and white striped Arpad flags, similar to those used by the country's pro-Nazi Arrow Cross regime during the Second World War.

More:

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7935.html

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Never Get Caught Up

Well the e-mails back and forth between Ron and I kept coming until he returned home on June 7th. The point of the inter-play was to highlight the fact that while he was having a wonderful time, I was overwhelmed. Therefore, when he returned, I was not about to be refreshed, lively, and a wonderful waiting play pal. The day he returned and walked into the door at noon, his great niece or is it grandniece Andrea arrived at 6pm after visiting Prague with her friend Mila. With guests leaving the large room that morning and another guest in the small room during their stay, we barely had an hour to meet and greet each other before others needed our time and attention. With Ron traveling overnight US time, he had to take a much needed nap to adjust for playing host. I continued with the lion's share of household duties until the niece left so give him quality time with her, but depleting my supplementary energy reserve in the effort. I love having family come to visit from the brief experiences we have had. Andrea's sister Elise was the first family member to grace our home last summer and now Andrea. Hopefully, this will be a new trend and they are paving the way for others. My closest, dearest friend Daphnee canceled her visit at the last minute due to medical issues. This is the second time this has happened. Heaven knows, it will be a cold day when my nephews decide to bless me with their presence, so I more than welcome Ron's crew. Ron escorted them around the city, sometimes having to drag them along. They were exhausted, but he was bound and determined to make sure they filled their minutes with activity. Paradoxically, he had some concerns when his niece Elise had the same agenda for him when he was in Denver, but the memory is short when on your home turf. Both young women were more than delightful, a pleasure to have around and their presence created a feeling of family that I so often miss. As the saying goes, "Fish and house guests start to stink after three days". However, the ladies could have staid longer without this missive applying to them. They blended nicely. On the Monday night they were here, some of my students came to take them out and show them the youthful side of Budapest. Students arrived here with bottles of beer to start out celebrating and do the warm up drinking exercises before heading out. Two hours later, they made it to the door and reports are that they crawled in again at 4 am, long, long after we were in bed. Once the family left, Ron had to share the responsibilities of relighting the pilot light on the hot water heater each time it goes out, fixing the toilet when it won't stop running, preparing breakfast for all who happens to be here, going grocery shopping, paying bills, running to the post office, changing the linens on the beds, cleaning the room, making reservations, greeting guests, and the list continues. He had over three weeks of being wined and dined, being made to feel special and recharge his batteries. My battery needs jumper cables and a jump start.

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One From Paul-iana

Ron: "OK, OK, I read your blog and I get it. So no more perky Pauliana

stories from me. Well, maybe a couple more.

Last night we did Mexican food before Comedy Club. Four comedians, all

quite funny. Elise and Katie (when she got the joke) laughing loudly.

A couple of gay jokes I'll try to recall later. Then to pub

specializing in "infused vodkas"... we had strawberry and pineapple.

Quite intense flavors and jolts. The more mature 3 of us - Mark, Rita,

and I- left at 10.30. E and K are now still sleeping it off in their

basement. Their big plans for brunch at Bump and Grind, where servers

are queenly impersonators, and a hike are indefinitely on hold. After

church, Mark and I to shop. No sign of your Red Roses or 5 in their

large selection. The hunt continues.

Yesterday, noticed Hard Rock, so E will get me there for a pin. That

reminded her that she and Nicold got us one from Hawaii. Neat

pineapple one. The tried Virgin for Tibetan Bells... sold out. While

there, three young blind women and Fleurette, their canine friend came

in. They seemed confused, asked me if this was Victoria Secret ! I

passed them off to Elise and she got them oriented. They were cute,

said Fleurette liked lacy panties too.

Laszlo wrote two sentences. Said he'd be back in August. Sigh......

Mark has a fake crab salad ready, so I'm off.

Well, I see where your priorities are...TWO, count em, Vanilla Cakes.

Not at one sitting, I hope. Now you need to go to all the baths to

steam off those goodies. But good on you. (Practicing Aussie talk)."

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The Communiqués of R to the 2nd Power 15

One book claims men are from Mars and women are from Venus. I propose that two men can be from different planets just as well. Ron: "got here after making it through the night with amtrak. arriving 7

a.m. rita, mark, and elise there waiting, then took me to nice

breakfast place and to botanical gardens. elise is planning most every

minute, so i'll probably have to negotiate the pace soon. out tonight

for supper and a club show. tomorrow to church with r and m, and

insist on slowdown time.

i hope no news from you today is at least o.k. news. missed your great

notes, but know you have tons of stuff going on.

ok, i will confess now and get it over. one of elise's (her fault!)

adventures was noon showing of 'sex and the city'. don't hate me too

much.... it's so good that i want to see it again with you.

i'd better call billicks now and get ready to go." Ryan: "

Why would I hate you over seeing a movie without me? I have plenty of other reasons that take priority. This whole back and forth reminds me of that old 12 days of Christmas series of letters that starts out with Dear John, Thank you so much for your generous gift of a partridge in the pear tree, I am so overwhelmed with your kindness... And ends with Stop sending these damn presents. The birds are shitting all over the maids won't stop milking, spilling milk all over, the lords are leaping all over the place and I am putting a restraining order on you.

Each day you have pleasant reveries to share, while each day I have some battles to fight. The ladies left yesterday. The night before one asked me what they owed and I said 290 Euros. She said how about the discount for the book we gave you and having the Frommer's book. I said that did not kick in until July 1st. She seemed to be slightly disgruntled, but said "That's fair". I wanted to say, but did not "The three loads of laundry you did, the long distance phone call you made to reconfirm your tour, the broken bed, and the kilos of cheese eaten really do more than make up for the cost of both books you bought, one of which you will take home with you."

Yesterday, they had a late train at 7:40 PM, but she wanted to go to the thermals by 7:00 am. I said breakfast was in the fridge, help yourself. It has been so hot here at night, I have been sleeping more poorly than usual. My foot has been cramping in the middle of the night and then spreads up my leg. I have to jump out of bed and try to walk relieve it. I am sure it is an after effect of my mother having polio and I am headed for a crippled future. I wake up to get breakfast feeling like I have spent the night in a barn. When the other woman left at 10:00 to meet up with the first one, I decided to hang around until I got paid and the keys. After stripping the bed, mopping floors, and cleaning up otherwise, I took a 2 hour nap. They returned at 6:30, gave me the money without an issue, asked me to sign the Frommer's book, gave me a country flag magnet and got a hug out the door. They were really sweet and fun to talk to.

The family of three arrived on Friday in the large room. Lovely, lovely family from Phila. She is from NJ originally. Last night after the girls left, they were here and I said I was going out for awhile. I went to find the laundromat the girls found for their fourth load of clothes. Then I went to Heroes Square to see what remained of the Magyar Horse Exhibition the Hussars. The Yellow metro stopped at Baja u causing everyone to get off. The street was a festival from there to Heroes Square. Little booths of the usual food, and a booth for every little town in Hungary to promote tourism, all in Hungarian. I plowed through the crowd for some time, but it was still so hot at 8:00, I could not take the heat from the people and went down the side. All of HS was blocked for the show, which continues today. I walked around a bit and then came back down a side street to avoid crowds and walked to the hummus place for dinner. Looks like M is closed for good.

When I got home, the door window was still open and only the top lock was locked on the door. I had left the three here, so I was expecting them to be in the room when I found the window open. They were not. Thankfully, I had the foresight to close the kitchen window when I left. They returned about 30 minutes into my dinner with pizza from Pizza King.

This morning I got up to make breakfast and had the coffee going. I was cutting bread and cheese. Charlie was up already and on the computer. When I turned around, the coffee pot had spilled all over the counter, leaving about one cup in the pot. It was firmly in place and I had washed the filter before making it. It ran all over the counter and my clean floor, taking 20 minutes to clean up. Charlie oblivious to the whole thing until I was finishing up, though I was cussing while cleaning. I then washed the pot, filter and all and made another pot. Same thing all over again without any discernible cause. I am going to run vinegar later to see if this helps.

Things I wanted to do while you were gone to make me feel like I was having a "mini-vacation" and to be up-to-date for guests and the book.

1. Rudas - haven't had time to go.

2. Kiraly - guests coming or going on men's days, haven't gone

3. Széchenyi - never made it.

4.Palatinus pool on Margaret Island. Haven't had time to go. I planned on today, but the forecast is for thunderstorms. Just heard thunder.

5. Culinaris - a pint of Hagen Daz ice cream that I eat all by myself. Haven't had time to go.

6. Italian vanilla cake that I ate in one sitting by myself until I was sick. DID IT TWICE!!! Stress eating and heavenly.

So I confess, I am not having a pleasant time. The amount of joyful experiences I have had could fit on a post-a-note with plenty of blank space to spare. Am I happy you are having a good time? Yes! Am I going to be a raving lunatic by the time you return? You bet!

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