Back to Budapest

“You can spend the entire second half of your life recovering from the mistakes of the first half.”

Saul Bellow

We are up early and I make breakfast. I use all of the truffle butter in the eggs.

Pack and leave. A six hour drive to Budapest.

“There was nothing to talk about anymore. The only thing to do was go.”

Jack Kerouac

We hit our regular Phó place for a snack. A late lunch before dinner. Beers to wash it down and then back to our apartment to watch the highlights of Collingwood beating Carlton.

Dinner is booked for Goli at 6.15 pm.

I have had enough wine for now. Goli has an excellent cocktail list that needs to be explored.

It is only a kilometer to Goli and the night is cool but not cold. A perfect Spring evening.

The music is loud and the people shout to be heard so we sit outside in the quiet with a couple of beers.

We order house-made labneh from a secret family recipe and bread. The highlight is charcoal-cooked beetroot. Eggplant, also cooked over coals and a tabouleh. We finish up with two meat dishes – lemon chicken schwarma and beef onglet.

We order some cocktails, an Isfahan Sunrise based on lemon infused gin and a Gold Cigar, based on Israeli Whiskey—both excellent.

We stroll home.

I am trying not to think about Dubai.

I lay in bed and pretended that I lived in an apartment in Budapest. Tomorrow I will go to Zërgë and have a coffee with Shell. We will read and walk around the city, maybe go to the gallery. At no point will I go to the airport.

“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.”

S.E. Hinton