I enjoy two springs. One in Florida in February when the trees start to green up on the golf course, and one that is far more exciting in Toronto when the flowers and trees start to bud after a long beige winter. I love watching my perennials burst into bloom; particularly the daffodils with their sunny dispositions, and then by the second week in May no matter how rainy and chilly, my big maple is full of leaves. This year the rhododendrons were excellent and I could view them from the window of our newly renovated bathroom. How exciting it was to arrive home to a new set of clothes cupboards, bathroom vanities, and a totally wonderful bath and shower room with non slip heated floors. Robert did an excellent job. Even our art was hung on the walls after a few video calls. Everything was finished. We only had to put away all our clothes and toiletries, but that was pretty exciting, putting them in fresh new spaces. I enjoy every moment of this new area. Now my favourite room in our comfortable house. Of course our bird feeder is outside the window so we can watch the antics of our cardinals and little woodpeckers. Small pleasures.

beginnings of spring in Toronto

I attended the COC spring season. I took my dear friend, Elizabeth, to the exciting double bill of Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung for a birthday treat. And Charles and I saw a delightful production of Werther. We also celebrated Wouter’s birthday at the fabulous Kaji Sushi restaurant. On July 1 there will be a big celebration for his 60th. It is appropriate, as Canada Day is so special to him since he got his citizenship. He is now a dual citizen.

The highlight of our return was our fourth Globe and Mail journey to Budapest and a cruise on the Danube river. I know I have mentioned this before, but we love these cruises that the Globe and Mail puts on because they are stimulating. Every morning and evening there are ‘Talks’ with journalists, the editor or publisher, and it is a chance to read the paper, discuss it, and use our brains. The bottom line is that everyone on board is an avid reader of the Globe and Mail, is Canadian, and has an inquiring mind. The cruise ship offers at least five choices of excursions every day from bike riding, wine tastings and cooking classes, to many walking tours of old towns and castles. But I will start at the beginning.

We left on Air Canada, where I love the lie flat beds, and the Signature Lounge beforehand for dinner with excellent wine and food choices. I had a trout tartar with caviar for example as a starter with champagne. You get the picture. Last year I was in a wheel chair after an attack of vertigo before our departure. Some difference. Thank you Dr. Rutka.

Our route took us to Zurich where we switched planes easily and arrived in Budapest in the early afternoon. The best words on arrival,’your room is ready’. So we settled in and had a long delicious nap. We were staying in the hotel, the “W”, chosen by the Globe. It was wonderful and perfectly situated opposite the opera house. We had a view of it from our room. Dinner was at the hotel on our own, as we arrived a few days earlier than the rest of the group. We ate at the hotel Bistro, https://beefbar.com/petit-beefbar-budapest/, and sat outside by the street and the glorious opera house view. We ate beef tartare that was excellent and served with praline chips. The Hungarian Sauvignan blanc was terrific; a discovery, as were many other Hungarian wines. After dinner we headed to our room for a long sleep.

The opera house in all its glory

At breakfast the next morning Charles realized that he had lost his wallet the night before. We looked around the room with no luck, but assumed he dropped it outside. After alerting the hotel manager, we ate breakfast. I was busy making a mental list of all his credit cards when the manager arrived at our table. He showed me a video of Charles at dinner and you could see clearly that he took his wallet from the table and put it in his pants pocket. Whew! Back to the room to search again and there it was, his black wallet nestled on a dark blue velvet chair where Charles had flung his pants the night before. That was a lovely way to start our first real day in Budapest, and how wonderful that the hotel was watching everyone at dinner, CCTV camera. Who cares about privacy.

I had booked a tour guide from our favourite travel company, Tours By Locals. and our first guide, Andrea, met us at the hotel to take us on a tour of The Jewish Quarter. She was excellent. The area we walked was close to the hotel. The old synagogues were closed because it was a Saturday, the sabbath, but we got to see the exteriors that were very impressive and learned much of the history of Jews in Budapest and their ghetto.

Reading a plaque on the synagogue wall

Moorish Architecture

shoes by the Danube

memorial to the 1956 departure of Hungarians , many came to Toronto

The next day I had booked Adam, who was also excellent. We travelled on the subway that was built in 1896 and was the first electric one in Europe. It was clean and built with wood finish and very efficient. We also traveled on a tram and a bus. It was a great way to experience Budapest and see the inhabitants close up. Seniors are free on all the transport. A nice perk for being old. The parliament buildings were fascinating and we were told that after Orbán lost the election the new Prime Minister, Péter Magyar invited the crowds to take selfies with him, proving his ideas of a new democracy. We visited the very sad scene of the shoes on the bank of the Danube, to honour thousands of people massacred by fascistHungarian militia belonging to the Arrow Cross Party in Budapest during the Second World War. Victims were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be stolen and resold by the military after the massacre), and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. The memorial represents their shoes left behind on the bank. A tragic heartrending sight to see. All in all our tour was fantastic, if long, for two octogenarians.

Charles and Adam

We returned to the hotel and we seemed to need some libation in the form of savoury bloody marys, and we also needed our afternoon naps before dinner. On every trip I pre-book restaurants. I enjoy looking up menus and venues and it makes it so much easier when we arrive in a new city to have reservations. We haven’t been disappointed. We ate at three splendid restaurants in Budapest. One, Textura, was quite small, but charming with a large free form sculpture of a tree adorning the main part of the room.They featured different degustation menus and the food was excellent. Another, called Costes Downtown, was unique in that they featured artistic creations on the walls and on the plates and brought for example, our fois gras in a painters box complete with a paint brush that you used to remove the sugared powder. We had a crispy skinned salmon for our main course that was extraordinary. The final restaurant that we attended with a new friend from the tour, was called Déryné. We ate outside in a splendid garden and passed a Hungarian couple we had seen in Textura. We all recognized each other. Small world! The food was sharing plates and I was assigned to choose all. Everything was wonderful and very tasty, things like a giant grilled caesar salad, great bread with dips, carpaccio of fish, and decadent brownies with cherries and ice cream for dessert, and we got to know our new friend, Peter, who is a retired criminal lawyer from Toronto. It turned out to be a joyful evening.

A city of memorials

On the first night when the other Globe and Mail attendees arrived, there was a reception and a chance to re-meet old acquaintances and make some new ones. The cruise started the next day and followed the Danube. It was a lovely journey on that famous river. Our cabin was very comfortable and we enjoyed great service from the cabin staff. One incident that brings a chuckle I will relate to you. I was disappointed that there wasn’t very hot water for my shower. I took quick ones with lukewarm water and asked the attendant to provide hot water. Perhaps they needed an engineer for the problem. When we returned after one of the daily excursions there was a note that said hot water with an arrow pointing to a thermos filled with hot water. Hmm. So I left another message about the water and the next day there was another note with arrow pointing to a teapot filled with hot water. Obviously something was lost in translation as they were Serbians. And my Serbian is rusty ha ha. Then I took a shower and Charles said to turn the knob completely to the left, I had been turning it to the right. Et voilà masses of hot water. And lots of laughs.

The Globe reception with Andrew, the President and CEO, and Tara , the food journalist and expert.

First cooking class Hello Goulash

Images of the second class with schnitzel oyster mushrooms and salmon trout en papilotte

There were different excursions every day with multiple choices that I chose before we boarded. Highlights: Two cooking classes that were totally different from each other. One where we made Hungarian Goulash and chicken Paprika was in a simple kitchen. We started out quaffing wine early in the morning while we were cutting and dicing vegetables which put everyone in good spirits. The goulash soup was yummy as was the chicken. All very homey and rustic. The second experience was with a chef in a restaurant in Vienna. There we made a superlative salmon trout in papilotte or parchment paper that we steamed with herbs and our choices of seasonings or condiments. Most unusual was s schnitzel made with large oyster mushrooms instead of chicken, veal or pork. The usual, flour, egg, breadcrumbs for the Schnitzel and then frying, made these mushrooms incredible. We also made a warm potato salad, but I found it too vinegary. I certainly will try the mushrooms at home. After these classes we sat at tables and ate our creations, and enjoyed wine with them, a wonderful learning lunch . While I was at the second class Charles visited a castle.

dancers at the Viennese concert and the wonderful carriage in the castle

Robert Fife’s farewell cake on his retirement. A fun event.

We went to a concert at the Liechtenstein palace with a couple of opera singers, two ballet dancers and a nice chamber ensemble. The acoustics were over rich, but the concert was enjoyable in the gorgeous environment. The highlight of all is travelling and talking with the guest journalists; Robert Fife, David Walmsley, Tara O’Brady, Kelly Grant and Andrew Coyne to name but a few. To meet other well informed guests where we continued with stimulating conversations made our days complete.

We attended a fine wine tasting at Prager wines and tasted many delightful white wines in this Austrian winery. The owner was well -spoken and knowledgeable and the wines we tasted were delicious.

at Prager wines

Sadly we missed our last city, Regensburg, as the Danube was too low. Charles and I opted to stay aboard rather than bus to it, and we enjoyed a very peaceful cruise in an almost empty boat. We have already booked the next Globe trip a year from now to Greece. Although we have travelled there quite a few years ago, we look forward to this new adventure.

Till next time,

Riki