Apr 2007

What an exciting morning spent at the zoo. I saw animals I have only ever seen on TV. Of course there were no mackos, only me and thank goodness they didn't thrust me behind bars for the Budapestrians to look at, although there did seem to be quite a lot of interest in me and my origins. And why wouldn't there be? I did see 2 fellow bears, they were white and swam in water, polar bears I believe. An amazing collection of monkeys and a 2 humped camel with baby, lots of south American animals. At least half of the zoo was under renovation but all in all a very interesting morning. I also had my first taste of Langos -fried bread with garlic, the equivalent of hot chips.

Yesterday the guys took me out an about town. See the photos snappys of me strolling down Vaci Utca and having a coffee at the Gerbeaud. We also stopped in for a look at Szent Istvan Bacilica. I was hoping to get a photo of me shaking the 1000year old preserved right hand of Szent Istvan they keep there, but we couldn't find the keys to the glass case. We're off to the zoo today, plenty of photo-ops there for sure!

After a lunch date with a huge pot of stuffed cabbage with a pre-lunch palinka and several glasses of home made red wine at Steve's Aunt and Uncles' we decided to have a lazy day in today. The highlight of the day was watching the Simpsons dubbed into Hungarian...coooool, and The worlds funniest pets with a singing dog.

After another satisfying Mudgee style breakfast we jumped on the Metro at Gare Saint George and made our way to the Tour Eiffel. Once the officials knew I was there we got VIP access and were at the top in 40minutes. See the snappys. At Notre Dame I spent most of my time hunched in the backpack yelling the bells! the bells! After Steve finally unleashed me I lit a candle for all the Teds in the world by Saint Denis’ Chapel. I was feeling a little peckish so we had a crepe with sucre and limone (that’s sugar and lemon to all you non Frenchies). Ah, what better way to wash it all down than with a coffee at my favourite café. Off to Musee Orsay where some of the best (in my opinion) impressionist paintings are located. I was amazed at the likeness between myself and Van Gough.

Hotel France Albion, what a top place. Pets are welcome so I fit right in. Great spot, top breakfast (the leftovers even provided lunch). Steve amused himself on the open top tour bus by making me wave at passengers in other busses. They sure didn’t back away from making grandiose architectural statements here in Paris, check out the snappys.
I couldn’t convince the staff at the Louvre that a photo of me with the Mona Lisa would be funny, but I did manage to sniff the butt of a statue just outside.