Lottery Week

I feel like I won the lottery, it has been an incredible week. On Tuesday, I had my eye surgery. All went well, thank you for asking. It turns out it was 105 Euros LESS than I had been initially quoted and that was not because I only had one eye done. The quote was per eye. Not knowing better, I had planned on having both eyes done, so I saved a whopper amount of Euros there too.

Then our guests from Austin gave me the Windows 7 as a gift! I still cannot believe their generosity. 

You know how things come in threes? Well, I had sent an e-mail to Zack, the owner of Tipton Eyeware to tell him I had left a "Recommended by Frommer's 2010" sticker at the store, but I don't think they understood why and may have ditched it. While I was at it, I had to share that I had brought my friend Kim in there, not knowing we would be there for over an hour while she tried on and modeled frames for me, before settling on a pair. Another thing I mentioned was that due to the surgery, I needed good sunglasses without a Rx, but with 100UV protection. Zack zipped back an e-mail asking me to come in, meet him, and look over the collection. This time it was my turn to try on and model. 

The wowser part about these frames is that they are made from recycled 45 and 33 1/3 vinyl records. The designs are original and not the run of the mill off of the rack kind. When you wear Tipton glasses, you are making a statement. After a few different eyeglass changes, Zack suggested I try one of his newer line of eye wear. All of the temples are made of old, but genuine celluloid cinema film strips. The one Zack gave me to try was from an old 'adult' movie, risqué but tasteful still. 

They looked great, felt wonderful, but could I really splurge on sunglasses? Of course I can! I am worth it. However, Zack would not hear of it. They were a gift with his thanks for putting his wares in both of my books and bringing a eyeglass-a-holic friend to the store. Now, let me be upfront. If I did not like the product, they would never have made it into the first book, let alone the second book. The truth is, I love them and think others will too, so I am going to do my best to direct people to Orange Optika at Király utca 38 in Budapest. But hey, if you are not heading to Budapest, don't despair, there are plenty of other stores on their website.

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Kim Files 6

Ron took Kim on a tour of Kerepesi Cemetery, which some may think is strange, but really it is a glorious park where history meets art. I have included a larger section on it in my new book. While they were gone, I caught up on my writing for the book, completing a couple of chapters, which really felt accomplished. After they returned, Kim rested, we discussed our shopping day. When I told her of the itinerary, she rebuked the idea of so much territory, but I knew better. We started on Kiraly, where she tried on eyeglass frames from the Seattle/Hungarian Tipton. His frames are handmade from old vinyl records and the newer models are from old celluloid film. After trying on a dozen pairs, she finally settled on one to purchase. We wandered down to the tram to arrive at the great market for a quick once over for souvenirs, but they were declared unworthy, so we moved on to Vaci street. Once I got her into one of my favorite stores, Intuita, she received that shopper's rush of energy. Store to store we went, shopping bags accumulating with each block, and finally making it to the other end of Vaci, my original suggestion earlier that morning. All in all, it was quite an exciting day having a shopper with me for a change who made purchases. Dinner was at Marquis de Salade. This was a memorable restaurant that Ron and I went to when we first, first came to Budapest on vacation in 1998. The service was fine, but there was something off about the food. We did start with the six salads, a great choice, but the entrees were not as spectacular as in the past. For one thing, the menu has shrunk. There were quite a number of choices from Russia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and other countries, but many seemed to be absent from this new menu. What we ordered was good, but not exceptional, so it was disappointing for me who wanted to show off a great restaurant.

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