Buda hills

A picture of the houses on the hill we live on, from Besci ut, where the bus begins it's uphill route

Today we had a new "adventure".  Some days we only accomplish one thing and today was one of those days.  Tesco is Europe's answer to Walmart or Target.  There is a Tesco store fairly close to where we live, however, unless we have a car, it takes at least 40 minutes to get there, either by bus or on foot.  The transportation company in Budapest is called BKV.  It has a great website that gives the routes and times of the bus/tram/metro arrival and departures.  It even is able to plan a route for travel by putting in departure location and arrival location and time of day travel is planned for.  I was looking at this site the other day trying to determine how to get to Tesco on public transportation.  It gave the quickest route as 30 minutes on foot.  It was a beautiful day and the walk was downhill, so Merrill and I decided to find Tesco on foot.  We walked through some beautiful neighborhoods and saw lots of blooming trees and flowers.  It's really nice to have beautiful weather, since Merrill is recovered and enjoying being out and about.

We literally walked downhill and when we found the main street, Besci ut, there was Tesco.  We did our shopping and then Tesco provides transportation to the bus stops on Besci ut, so we rode the Tesco bus back to one of the stops to meet our bus up the hill. 

The "golden arches" on Besci ut

There is a market that I have been to a couple of times for fresh produce and we made that another stop before heading back uphill.  The strawberries are coming in from Spain and Greece and are very tasty.  I also found some asparagus today, once again from Spain.  We enjoyed some lovely produce this evening!  Ok, so it might have been quicker to jump in the car and run to Target and HyVee, but probably not as interesting!  We knew about the Tesco bus, but not when it runs or where the route is.  The only way to figure that out was to get to Tesco and ride the bus.  It's the little things that count!  I definitely needed a nap this afternoon from all the walking, but that was permissible today, as someone else was taking care of the library.

One other aspect of our lives that I find interesting is meeting English speaking Hungarians on the street.  I do think this is one of those "God moments" when it happens, because it is so random!  Last week, I was waiting at the bus stop near our apartment, when a car stopped and motioned me to get in.  I waved and said, "I don't speak Hungarian."  The woman driving the car lowered the passenger window and began speaking to me in English.  She was offering me a ride down to the shopping center where there is a super market.  I accepted her invitation and we had a great conversation on the way down the hill.  She told me she is a doctor and speaks English and German besides Hungarian.  I told her why we are in Budapest and invited her to the library.  Today, when we got off the Tesco bus, a Hungarian woman began asking us about the bus and we answered in English.  She switched to English and then was curious what Americans were doing in Budapest.  I had a business card for the library and handed it to her.  She told us she was a librarian under Communism.  She also told us that she believed in God but didn't like the priests.  We told her more about the library and now will be praying that comes to visit it.  Sometimes, it feels like there's so little we can do to witness for Christ, not being able to speak the language here.  We're just planting seeds!