Act IV - mallS Act V - monks and wine

Act IV - mallS

EEP, I am going to have to call you out in this post for putting me through one of the more tortured shopping experiences of my life in the Proper Topper where we spent no fewer than 90 minutes deciding on a winter hat in a store that at BEST is 50 square feet.

However, I think that experience has been topped by the amount of time I have spent with Jo looking for a winter coat and camera in 3 different trips to shopping malls. On Saturday post injury, we wandered West End Mall for almost 2 hours. Even once he had found a dirt cheap but nice coat he decided to pass because he "hadn't seen enough options yet". I was thinking - dude, you need a winter coat, this one is nice just get it. We returned to Mammut Mall on Sunday morning for an hour or so before we headed to Castle Hill. I pray he found a coat and camera this week so I can be freed from shopping in anymore Budapest malls for awhile

Act V - monks and wine
After my mall trip and brief tour around Castle Hill on Sunday, Julia (said you-lee), my manager, and her friend Zsuzsanna (i still don't know quite how it's said - something like zju-zanna) picked me up for a trip back into the countryside to a Benedictine monastery that dates back to 996 AD. Random fact learned on the tour - the Turkish (who invaded and took over the monastery at some point) did not like statues or carvings of human faces. They cut off all the noses in the monastery as they thought this would keep the faces from breathing and kill them. Totally weird.

While the monastery was cool, particularly the library, the best part was the wine tasting. Apparently Benedictine monks are not allowed to drink. However, these monks were given special permission to drink as they ran a winery but were only allowed to drink their Hemalina - or just the amount that kept you from being drunk. However, as this was a different amount for each person, there was no set limit - just Hemalina. Well anyway, now there is a wine named after this "limit".

And so ends the saga of last weekend. I made it home in time to welcome Joe from my home office to town for a few weeks and then repack for Szarca.