Stan and Carol and Slovakia

BUDAPEST October 16th and 17th

Our travel by car from Prague to Budapest took us through beautiful forested countryside and farmland.  The soil is black, quite different from the Mojave Desert where we reside.  We drove on a well maintained freeway the whole way in our rented grey mid-size Mercedes.  We thought we fit in quite well with the European traveler..............but apparently not.  We were stopped twice by the police, once in the Czech Republic for not having purchased the sticker required to drive in their country and once on the border of Slovakia and Hungary.  We still don't know why we were stopped there, but we did produce every form of identification that we had and we DID have the proper sticker purchased so we are not in jail at this time.

Stan in Europe is like a kid in Disneyland.  We hit the ground running as soon as we checked into our Marriott hotel by taking what was supposed to be a 30 minute walk to the Chain Bridge, getting lost and arriving at the Chain Bridge which stretches across the Danube River about an hour and a half later.  It was lovely once we arrived and we strolled across the bridge, had dinner, and started back.  Stan and the Garmin again disagreed about the best way to get back to the hotel, and we were once again lost.  He had lost all sense of direction and even I knew it.  I told him that there would be a taxi ride from now on if he wouldn't listen to the GPS.  He made up for it today by taking me on a guided Parliament and City Tour.  Before we did that, however, we found our way to a chapel for Sacrament Meeting at one of the local wards.  It was high council Sunday.  The missionary there found a member who knew English to translate for me.  The message was forgiveness, having a loving heart, and missionary work.  We visited many sites today and the Hungarian Parliment Building is my favorite of all the castles and buildings I have ever visited in Europe.  It was magnificent and tasteful and practical at the same time.  Very beautiful!  We also visited Heroes Square, Mathias Church, and the Royal Castle area.  We ate stuffed cabbage, cucumber sour cream salad, crepe stuffed with paprika chicken and pork tenderloin with potatoes at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the Danube then walked back to the hotel with no wrong turns.  It did, indeed take about 30 minutes!