We did a three-and-a half hour drive down to Budapest yesterday from Brusno, Slovakia. Hungary is supposedly more well off than Slovakia. I didn't see it, at least not between the Slovakian border and the actual city of Budapest. There were horse/donkey carts wheeling agricultural produce along the roads for almost the entire distance. And we also saw a number of, mostly women, hauling bundles of sticks on their backs, much like the photo on the Led Zeppelin IV album cover.

That said, Budapest is a grand city. The bridges that span the Danube, separating the cities of Buda and Pest are immense. We wandered through a gypsy bazaar finding nothing that couldn't be bought from the same types of places in Toronto. I ate wild boar for the first time ever; it was tough and gamey, just like I'd have thunk a wild boar should be. Another first was my praise for auto emissions testing and catalytic converters. They obviously have neither in Budapest and I felt as though I could cut the air with a knife. By four o'clock I was happy to point the car north and head back to Slovakia.