A Typical Friday Turns Into Another Great One.

When in Paradise, do like a Parisian...

What is more fun and enjoyable than driving to a town near you and sampling the food & wine. Of course having the opportunity to do this with family is even better. Cramming too much into a day of exploring can be tedious and clutter the senses. A spot of meandering around a village ( and in our case it was in Hungary...Köszeg ) and then choosing a delightful place to eat is more than enough.

That is what life is about and for years, the Parisians were the original ones to copy in regard to enjoyment of life in a simplistic way. Those elegant Parisians sitting in a side walk cafe, sipping red wine and eating proper food. Idealistic. Enviable. Clever.

As you know, we live withing spitting distance of Hungary and some of the most beautiful, historic and attractive towns are a mere 20 kilometers away. As an added bonus, prices in Hungary are so much less. Even in the tourist spots. Meandering through the various little shops, I discovered a material shop, that stocks wool at a quarter of the price one pays in Austria. In fact, in Austria the wool is so dear, that knitting a jersey is more pricey than buying one...Bob take care, because I am going to knit you a Jersey in outrageous colours!!!

We found a great place to eat and right next to the church and in this case also within the old castle grounds. They even offer a shot at archery, the weapons of yesteryear.

We got to our Restaurant early, and were at first almost the only patrons. Thankfully within the next half hour, the place filled up. We ordered from the menu but the locals all had the lunch time special, which we didn't know about. We caught on, when they all had the same food and rather quick as well.

What an inviting shop. The flowers were so lovely dangling that you couldn't help it but to go inside. Nice way to advertise.

Yes, the house is a little run down but the greengrocer made the best of it and put up the most magnetic display. The various reds of tomatoes, the yellows of paprika and the greens of lettuce just drew the eye to it and if we didn't still have a few hours in a hot car ahead of us, I would have shopped there. Brilliant marketing. By the way, this area was still part of the communist block in the late 1980's.

After lunch we slowly made our way home and even that was nice. What better way to enjoy the scenery than lazing in the back seat idly looking at the countryside flashing past, lost in thought. A nod of imminent sleep every now and then, was an excellent reminder of a good day.

We had the most brilliant end to the afternoon. We had been home for a while and I had even done a spot of cleaning ( part time occupation during the season ) and decided that the sun was low enough to have a glass of wine. Polly and I sat on our stoep, or rather the steps on our front door with a glass of chilled Burgenland wine in our hand. Shooting the breeze, watching the neighbourhood drive by in batches and waving a cheerful Hello to all. A good life.

Biggi