Sunday, 8th June

Our plan for Sunday was to get up, have some breakfast and then embark on our exciting plans for the day. However, this plan suffered an early set back, when Geraint didn’t appear for breakfast at the appointed time. Ah! said Jerry and Alan thinking back to university days – nothing’s changed there then. He’ll be here eventually. And true to form he breezed in just before they stopped serving. (Hey, if you come Dungroamin Geraint, you’ll need to be thick skinned.)

For our first day we decided to go on a bus tour of the city, as we find this a good way to get your bearings in a new town. So after some negotiation with the hotel receptionist we purchased our tickets for a Hop–on Hop–off sightseeing tour.

Our first Hop–off was at Heroes’ Square where we stopped to take some pictures.

It was at this coffee and snack stop that Sally told us about the reproductive inclinations of her tortoise. One would expect the sex life of a tortoise to be quite boring, but not the way Sally tells it. With ad libs from Fiona raising the question of whether the tortoise comes out of it’s shell during the mating ritual, the mind boggles. So, as I understand it, you have to tickle the tortoise to make it have eggs (crickey, Sally how did you ever have any kids?). This works whether or not the tortoise comes out of her shell, but the shell must get a bit tight when she is pregnant. Or alternatively maybe she grows a bit of pregnant bump underneath. This would be alright except her legs wouldn’t reach the ground.

After a walk round the park we came across a kind of street market where they seemed by be selling a variety of drinks among other things. There were a number of things going on which we browsed as we walked though.

We eventually got back on the Hop–on Hop–off bus which took us up to the top of the hill on the opposite bank of the Danube where we stopped to take some pictures.

Back on the bus, the heavens opened and we started to experience the problem of open top buses. Mind you they did hand out plastic ponchos to help keep us dry. The ailse of the bus contained plug holes to let the water out! – much like you have in a bath.

With the rain coming and going we stopped for tea in a cafe where they had a television screen, which was good for us blokes as we could watch the European championships which were being played.

After a bit more wandering and a return to the hotel to change, we ventured forth again to look around for somewhere to eat. After our usual trek around two dozen eating establishments, we settled on the Fusion which served a mixture of Hungarian, Indian and Chinese food. However, I’m not sure from where Geraint’s drink of milk and hot water and honey originates. He said he was having this because beer made him go limp! (He had obviously fixed up a date with the doll from the market.)

Our return from the restaurant saw us standing in the middle of a street in Budapest, in the dark, looking at pictures of dolls on Sally’s camera. Geraint was getting quite excited by this time.

We had been warned to beware of strange women on this street, but this was not quite what we had expected.