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I haven’t been able to post for a couple of days ‘cos I’ve not had access to the internet.
After a great night on Monday we left London on Tuesday morning and headed for Dover, we made good time and caught the midday ferry to Dunkirk, waving good bye to the white cliffs as we went.Â
The seagulls are obviously used to the ferries, one travelling with us for miles just hovering next tot he deck and begging for food.
We made it through France, Belgium and Holland Ok, but then we hit Germany.
It goes on for EVER and the autobans and BORING.
Maria seems to know a very limited range of games you can play in the car, and John was either driving or testing his eyelids for leaks.
When I saw John turning off for Frankfurt airport I thought great they’ve seen sense and we’re going to fly the rest of the way. No such luck we were just going to a hotel for the night. You should have seen Maria’s face when she realised it was a Holiday Inn. John keeps telling her there are some excellent Holiday Inns etc. etc. But she’s yet to be convinced.
This one started off well. Nice receptionist and very quick, a slight hiccup when she tried to give us just one token for breakfast, still we were prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.
The room was long way away, but this was due to the fact we had been upgradded to a suite. A sitting room, a bathroom, an extra loo and a bedroom, reasonably nice, very roomy and the complimentary basket of fruit was very nice.
However the suite was made up for only one, one pillow and one single quilt ( on a queen size bed?) and one bath towel. We found another quilt in the wardrobe and Maria called down for another pillow and bathtowel. We then found the quilt in the wardrobe did not have a cover. While the bedroom had a phone, it was at the far end of the room from the bed and there was no chair.
So Maria quickly checked that the hotel we’re staying in on the way back is NOT a Holiday Inn. Thankfully it’s not.
We spent Wednesday morning in the rain driving through Germany and reached Austria just after lunch. At which point the rain stopped and the sun tried to break through. By the time we reached Hungary the sun was shining brightly.
We found the hotel OK and its lovely, nice people and a lovely room. Only disadvantage is the fact that it’s on the second floor, and there’s no lift. Thankfully it’s airconditioned ‘cos it was very warm outside. About 32 to 33 degrees. We had a lovely meal and a palinka in the bar and then off to bed.Â
Maria woke up feeling pretty lousy today, a combination of heat and dehydration we think, so we just hung around for the morning.
John and I could have gone out, but he does insist on staying with her. I don’t think I’ll ever get married.
In the afternoon we decided a drive out would be OK, the car is nice and cool. So we went to Lovaszpatona, apparently the village Maria grew up in (well up to the age of eight anyway). We were taking some flowers to put on her grandparents grave. The cemertery seemed to be full of her family, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends of her mum….
While there the weather turned rather ominous and we could hear thunder. We thought we might get wet but the rain held off. The temperature dropped to a much more reasonable 27 degrees.
As we drove through the village it was a constant litany of:-
That’s the memorial with my uncles name on, he died in the war.
That’s where I went to school, it used to be a hunting lodge you know.
That’s where my mum went to school.
That’s the street I lived on.
That’s where I broke my arm…….
On the way back we decide to call in on some cousins of Maria’s (on her fathers side). You should have seen their faces, apparently they hadn’t seen each other for about 18 years. Still I gather it was nice to catch up.
We are still hearing a lot of thunder and seeing occasional flashes of lightning, but as yet no rain.