Getting happy with a Cuban dictator

For those of you who've been reading my blog regularly, you'll be pleased to hear Saturday was a very good day :) This little papier mache dude was on the corner outside a shop.

In the morning I got up and headed off to meet Judit at the big market I went to on my third day. After a quick look round, we headed off to meet her sister, Zsuzsi for coffee, at a little place called Castro's, near Deak Ferenc Square. The cafe was very cute, with eclectic music, and free internet. While we were there, Judit sorted out the delivery of my new internet on Tuesday, much to my relief. We chatted about lots of things, and one of Zsuzsi's uni friends showed up to pick up some dog collars Judit had made her. After that we had a quick look inside St Stephen's Basilica, where Judit and her husband, Phil, were married. And I saw the wretched hand of St Stephen, which is over a millenia old, and the English translation of its history, which some tourist had seen fit to correct.

We strolled on to the West End shopping centre, where Judit was going to ask the people at T-Mobile how much I owed for going over my internet limit. We were all on tenterhooks, fearing the worst (that I might owe £100 or more). As it turned out all was well, and the deal I had would only ever cost the flat rate. The only catch was that internet speed will drop dramatically after I go over my limit, but that I could live with (especially since I was getting a new internet connection at home). The mobile internet would just be a bonus now.

Next we wandered around Margaret Island, which is noted for being the only real large spot of green in the city centre. The entrance was difficult to get to because of works on the bridge, and the warm weather bringing out a lot of park-going people. You could tell it would be a nice place for the summer. I still missed luscious English parks though. Turns out we're quite spoilt in London.

The girls headed off, and I went to meet Sally, who was out shoe shopping (unsuccessfully). I met her and Lovisa for coffee, then we headed to Tesco to buy some grub for supper (and, so it seemed, a yoga mat for me!). Sally's flat was very nice, and the communal entrances had been renovated beautifully. It's hard to know whether there's more charm in some of the grumbly facades and entrances (like mine), or whether the renovation knocks the dazzle into them. Either way, you can't help but keep noticing beautiful buildings all over Budapest.

Finally we headed out to the rugby, and watched England get unfortunately beaten by the French. Then Sally and I headed off in search of a bar. She took me to a small place near Astoria, which was nice, though suffered from relatively expensive wine. With some red in side me I began to get a little emotional, and we had a long chat into the wee hours, before heading homeward on a nightbus. It's nice being just one stop, and 5 minutes from your home.

I arrived back at the flat feeling a little drunk, and had found a small rug on the way back there. It seemed a few people had belatedly put their rubbish on the street, and with all the poor interlopers out of the way, I was determined to find some second-hand goodies. I headed out into the night, and by 3am had staggered home with a chair, a very large blue rug, and this rather lovely drinks cabinet. I was most proud, because it was real wood, unlike a lot of the junk I'd seen chucked out earlier in the week.

Heading to bed, rather chuffed, I put on the first Terminator film, until my eyes decided it was too much, and fell asleep, anticipating a rather quiet Sunday.