Petes Pix 2022

This was outside Marks & Spencer in St Albans this afternoon.  On the trays they were giving passers-by Sauvignon Blanc and Malbec. The savvie was dry, not as crisp and gooseberry sharp as I prefer but better then many insipid savvies I’ve had in pubs.  The Malbec wasn’t bad, fruit without the jammy sweetness I associate with Barefoot. One could taste any wine they had in the van.  The only other red was a Shiraz and I was pleasantly surprised in that it was noticeably dry with tannins. Would I rush out now and buy a bottle of Barefoot?    No, but I’m much more pleasantly disposed to them than I was before the tasting, and if there were a glass of Barefoot Shiraz in a pub I’d go for it, if only to taste it properly in a glass.  Horrible little plastic beakers of course; but I did score a pair of Barefoot branded sunglasses!

Walking today near Brocket Hall we saw these poppies on Ayott Estate farm lands.

Viking Lif, sailing down river Danube from Budapest to Bucharest. 11 days starting 3 June with two days in Parisi  Udvar hotel in Budapest, seven nights on the boat and one night in Radisson Blu, Bucharest. View from cabin in Budapest The Danube was swollen and the boat we'd been scheduled to board, Embla, had been unable to pass under a bridge upstream on Budapest so they'd swapped the passengers onto the Lif. Parisi Udvar entrance and restaurant Parisi Udvar ceiling Parisi  Udvar had opened only two weeks before we got there after a massive renovation . The entrance hall is magnificent, the rooms are spacious and well equipped but the restaurant was luxury priced for inexperienced, slow, inefficient non-luxury service. Driving 10 horses, standing on last 2 The cruise was, as usual, excellent, though the included trips mostly featured castles and churches. The Bakodpuszta horse farm (Kalocsa, Hungary) was the best with a welcome glass of wine and a snack on arrival, and amazi