Day 1

 We survived the flight and hotel transfer.  Unfortunately it is only 4 in the afternoon so too early to go to bed so we are off to find some dinner. There is a pedestrian walkway 1/2 block from our hotel/apartment.   Lots of eating places with employees standing outside trying to convince you to come in for a meal.  We opt for a pub like bar. Big enough to do the trick.  Food was okay with good sized portions. Unfortunately we did not locate a grocery store so in the morning we will forage for food and a grocery store

Off we go in the AM to explore. We are a block from the Danube so there is a wide walkway   First off locate a grocery store but opt to find breakfast so we are not lugging food in our backpacks.  Locate a Mc Donald’s and the employees are outside seems like it is break time as there are several guys standing around. Cigarettes in hand, how easy to forget tobacco use in Europe. McDonald’s is closed for 30 minutes. Unsure of what that means. Maybe it is break time.  Onward we trek and locate a coffee shop as we head in an employee meets us and explains they are closed because of a utility failure and it will be 30 minutes to an hour. Onward, hope is not lost on the next block a Starbucks. Of could I know NO Hungarian and the help running the cashier has only a small bit of English, the line is 3/4 of the way to the door. Was able to order Dan’s hot chocolate I have no idea of what the menu says and get lucky to see Americano. I am hoping for black coffees figuring I can add the sugar to it. Doing well until she asks what I assumed was size do you want?  The universal answer hand sign back small. Figure that was safer than trying to explain grande    Dan has secured a table unsure how she realized I wanted it to consume here. I was was able to identify our order because who in their right mind would order black coffee and hot chocolate?

Off to wander the streets of Budapest or more correctly Pest since that is the side of the river we are on. It has started to rain, I have a rain coat and Dan has the umbrella of course mine is back at the hotel. We cross an area of food and trinket stalls. They appear permanent in the square. It is Friday so perhaps they are only weekend fixtures. We have landed in the Jewish Quarter and a tour of the Great synagogue. This was a central part of the Budapest Ghetto during WWII and the Nazi occupation. This is a sobering reminder of inhumanity. 

Time to head back to the hotel and grocery store. I have given Dan the chore to use his phone to guide us back since he didn’t feel my sense of direction was correct. With help he starts us out. Looks like about 1/2 a mile.  

After some walking he says this is crazy it is now 2/3 of a mile. We keep walking per his direction. It is now raining fairly steady but lots of people out and about.  He says I don’t understand it but now it says we are .85 from the place to turn.  This is not the first time we have walked in the wrong direction but usually I have the map.  At this point I take over directions and navigation.  Upon arrival at the hotel we are sopping wet and will have to go out later to find a grocery store.  Needless to say Dan’s navigation days are over.