Thursday 7th August 2008 – Northern Budapest, Hungary

The Ford service was booked for 13:00, so we had a relaxing morning on the campsite. Flute music was drifting across the campsite and it didn't sound as if it was a recording. I decided to investigate and found a man a short distance away playing the flute. He must have been professional or a very good amateur as his playing was of a very high quality. He played for about two hours and included very long pieces that I recognised although I couldn't tell you what they were.
The journey to the Ford garage at Solymar should have taken 20 minutes but the roads were very congested and it took us 30 although we still arrived by 13:00. The check-in took about 15 minutes and was incredibly bureaucratic, requiring all sorts of details including the vehicle registration documents. However, we were told that the van would be ready in about one and a half hours, so we set off into the town to find somewhere to eat our sandwiches and obtain some cash. We found a bak but couldn't find a park or even just a seat, so we opted for a small restaurant instead. I had a very large breaded veal escalope with parsley potatoes and Jane had a lasagne. I have never seen such a huge portion of lasagne – Tesco would have sold it as a 'family lasagne' and it would have been a large serving for two people! Needless to say, Jane didn't finish it but when we had finished, she was presented with a plastic container holding the remaining lasagne.
We returned to the garage to find that the van was ready – no problems found - and a bill for £140. It would probably have cost us more at a Ford garage in England – it is amazing how they can create such a large bill in such a short time.
We returned to the campsite via an enormous Auchan hypermarket where we felt almost guilty with our very small amount of shopping.
Photos: The flautist at Romai Camping.