I am on my own again, as Molly sleeps the day away......I just can't do it....she goes out all night, I am ready to go in the early morning.
I hook up with April, from Sacramento, not San Francisco, and together we go to the Flea Market I have been looking forward to for days. I love those things. This is what all the Budapestians do instead of having a garage sale. They bring there junk to the Flea Market. I enjoy sifting thru the old coins, jewelry, piles of used clothes and china. I lifted up a pair of boots to find a Playboy magazine. I could have got a couple kittens too. I think these venues are pure culture. April and I might have been among the few tourists. And, I love to bartar.....for me some of the pleasure in the purchase is the working of a good deal.
After an hour, we meet up again and walk around the huge City Park more. We see the Anonymous Statue......I touch the pen for "good writing inspiration". We see a Ronald Reagan statue (what he means to Hungary, I don't know), we visit the thermal baths in the park, we visit Heroe Square. I stop to get a gyro for the third day in a row............
Lucky me, I am having a massage after my afternoon nap. I nap, wake and shower before my massage, a quiet, cross-eyed man with strong hands and no english. Perfect. I lay on the table as, for one whole hour, I get a lovely back rub and foot massage and........well, it is very nice and relaxing. For while, I feel like a glob of jello. But enough of that......
Today is a national Hungarian holiday, All-Saints Day. A day of remembering the dead.....our hostel hostess, Kata, spearheads the evening of celebration. She, with help, cooks a pumpkin souffle and baked pumpkin and apple. All the hostel guests gather in the kitchen and share the lovely meal and laugh and enjoy the company. Kata says we are the best group of hostelers she has ever had....maybe because of the eight Greeks, the Turk and the Columbian. I, however, am sure she is right. Kata is a woman who is passionate about life and speaks from the heart. She is thoughtful and intelligent, sensitive and deep.
We toast to the memory of the dead, to Kata and to each other. Molly has gathered in more friends, so the crowd is large. We eat all the food and many of the group continues the celebration by going to a ruin pub called Simplot. This was the most amazing bar. After passing thru three sections of hanging plastic barrier, you enter the bar which is in a building near tear down. The bar is big and the special drink served is a hot spiced wine. I could grow to like that. We talked, played foosball and had fun. The Greeks never found us....are they bad at directions?
