first day in budapest

last night we arrived safely in budapest - met by many relatives of Kati's, including Ester ( her niece) and Attila, our hosts. our timing was impeccable, because it was ester's birthday, and attilla had prepared a hungarian goulash, cooked on an open fire for the whole afternoon, seasoned with paprika and red wine. it was served over spaetzle noodels, and with a cucumber salad. dessert was birthday cake which was a walnut torte iced with marzipan. cake doesn't get much better than that. ester and attilla's place is spacious and new, with tasteful decorations and a well landscaped back yrd including a firepit, smoker, swimming pool, and a BEER TAP. That is for the times when you don'wat to drink palinka ( made from blueberries, distilled after fermentation) or campari.

today is our first day in budapest. we are taking it easy to recover from the long trip and the time change. first off is a walk in the neighborhood. the houses here are very nice - of brick construction faces with a composite material that looks like cement, but brightly colored. all homes have fences, most have at least one dog, so a walk can generate a lot of noise with all the mutts coming to pass judgement on the newcomers. there is much vegetation, most of it edible. peaches, pears, apples, quince, grapes etc. also many varieties of flowers, including a lot of hyacinth, and a surprising number of bamboo trees.

in the afternoon we head to nagykata, where margitnanny lives in the home where kati's parents used to live. margitnanny is about 8ö, and was waiting at the gate for us to arrive. she had proibably been standing by the gate for an hour waiting for us. she had a lovely meal ready - soup, potatoes, chicken, and cucumber salad.