Friday
April 22
2005
page 2

2005 BALKANS TOUR

Ben Oostdam
Paris
Budapest
Torokbalint
Early this morning, we landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris, where I only had one hour to catch the connecting plane to Budapest. Fortunately, that plane left from the same terminal, and once again, I had to take off my shoes in the security line. I talked with a young Rumanian who was on the way back home from California to renew his visa and eager to get back to the USA as soon as possible.
The plane was delayed and we had to drive quite a long way in a large and hot bus. On the plane, I played the Devil's advocate to a 17 year reborn Christian girl who had never been kissed and would not do so till she got married. She was a member of Grace Church and on her way to the Ukraine with a small group of fellow student-actors to spread the Gospel. We also enjoyed flying over the snowy Alps and eating some strange but tasty sandwiches: as a good Christian (or American-woman?) she yielded hers to me.
We landed in Budapest at noon.
I had bought 7,800 Hungarian forints on the Internet, but could not buy Serbian dinars either on the Net or at the Airport. 		Also had problems getting a ride to the ETAP Hotel and had to wait more than an hour to get a mini-bus to Torokbalint (7,800 forints if booked inside airport as opposed to outside "fixed one-way rate" of 12,000 !).

BLO fecit 20050616
 After check-in I took a rest, then walked through quiet fragrant lanes to a castle-like restaurant for beef soup and pancakes; the way back by full moon light was rather chilly in short sleeves...
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