DANIEL'S DAY OUT

We just got back. We managed to get to the park. We went into the Zoo which wasn't too bad at all until we saw the Polar bear and he was pacing and swinging his head from side to side. We left after seeing him.

We saw the Hungarian Arc d'Triumph.

We had only a little bother getting around. Andrassy utca which led up to the park was very like the Champs Elysses, very wide. Fortunately it mostly had dropped kerbs when we go to them. There were many Embassies along here.

I couldn't not have done today without Daniel. It gets very frustrating when one cannot get into places because of steps. That is almost all of them. We came across one flat entrance and two with ramp. The ramps were far too steep. We tired one to see and I almost flipped backwards, John saving me in time.

There are many beggars here. The first we were aware of was a crippled man, bent right over using a half size crutch. By the time we had seen our third such man and one woman, we began to think they were fake. It seems odd they would all have the same disability. Later, a boy, a child, offered to help and John was rather curt with him and I spoke up. John was right though, this too was a beggar and more than likely a thief. John could see the boy was getting close as he could to my jacket and we were being watched by his 'mother'. Really, my senses are not very attuned some times. I think today I am just tired and I certainly have not been as observant as I usually am.

I almost made a mistake on the way here, in Austria. I started to fill my car fuel tank with Unleaded and my car is a diesel! The pumps were all the same colour and I didn't notice until I had put in 5 litres. The garage phoned for help and were told that it would not harm the car as it only a little. It urned out to be correct advice.

We found one of the yarn shops, the second one here and it was dire, only slightly better than the first one.

I bought a shirt and it is American! Made in Michigan I think. Anyway, it's a cowboy type. One of those things I liked very much as soon as I saw it. I had been drawn into the shop by a waistcoat carching my eye but this shirt was my only buy. It jumped right out at me, the only one they had and it was my size.

Although food and drink in shops is much cheaper here, and so are the restaurants, everything else seems to be more expensive.

Oh, at the Zoo the fee was 1690 HUF per adult but were charged only 400 huf for us both. I think this was because of Daniel and I guess they saw John as my carer,

One disappointment was the Baths and Thermal Springs place. We went and though English signage was visible, it wasn't informative and the people didn't seem to be too bothered about helping. When I saw staff that looked very Boris and Olga (stereotypical big Russians) I decided that I didn't want to thermal tub and massage after all.