Monday, September 28, 2009

Next Stop - Back to Budapest

For whom the bells toll is not just a book or movie title. As comfy as the bed was, the Lutheran church at the end of the block has bells that toll every quarter of the hour. On the hour, they ring not only the hour, but the hour is six languages or so it seems. They go on forever. It was almost as disturbing as trying to sleep near a mosque in Egypt with the call to prayer at unusual hours. A bit groggy from interrupted sleep, we went down for breakfast. Then I went to two other hotels for a tour and note-taking for the book. Everyone was genial and giving of their time, though I had written them ahead of time. All sights were closed - Monday is the universal day for closing of museums. We hunted down Lena Bayer to meet and thank her in person. She is a charming young woman. We had brought her a box of homemade truffles from my favorite chocolate shop in Budapest, much to her delight. Although it was Monday, the town was still sleepy lazy empty. There was not a lot of traffic either car or pedestrian. We looked in some shops, walked the longest park in Central Europe and bought our train tickets before finding a bakery for a coffee and munchie. We brought it to the park and watched the world go by. On the 1:10 train, I paced my book to finish it as we approached Budapest, but the train was delayed an hour, so I had to nap for an hour since the book was now history. I will have to order the third book in the series. Karp is funny! We were home by 4:30 instead of 3:40, but it was a good little get-away. Sopron is a lovely little city.

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