Day 11 – Komárno to Budapest

We got an early start, hitting the grocery store on the way out of town for some fruit. We  stopped for a bit to wander around the Roman ruins just outside Komárno. Fairly uneventful until lunch across the river from Esztergom, where we were entertained by the Tom-Cruise-in-“Cocktail” of ice cream scoopers and by the antics of a little brother and sister who were playing with some toy boats in a watercourse that ran through the square. After lunch we crossed officially into Hungary, eventually taking the ferry over to Szentendresziget (St. Andrew’s Island) to avoid the hills on the west bank.  As we were taking the ferry at the other end, we saw a Prius with Maryland plates. Gyorgy Teleki – who was born in Hungary and left after WWII – and his wife had just retired and were moving back.  I did not ask if he was a part of the famous family, but his reason for leaving after the war (“It was either that or Siberia”) made it sound like he was.  As we got closer to Budapest, the signage and map both became more confusing, resulting in some backtracking and stops looking for open WiFi in order to use Google Maps. After a rest at a NutriBar that had some great fruit juices, we decided to just stick to the main road into town, which had a few harrowing moments and the beginnings of a rainstorm before we got to the hotel.  We quickly cleaned up and ran downstairs to meet Agnes, my friend from the LBJ School. We went to dinner at a floating restaurant called Spoon, which was full, but when the host heard us speaking English he managed to find us a table. We had a wonderful time, and Agnes invited us dinner at her house the next night. The rain had stopped, so John and I walked back to the hotel, with John exclaiming that he had never seen such a beautifully-lit city…beating even Paris.