Robert's Thoughts

Macdonald

March 1, 2024

“I guess I have been spoiled by “Seven Mile Beach” read the email my son sent me this morning. He is vacationing in Cuba and finds the sands of that island’s beaches less...

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Robert's Thoughts

Opera

January 31, 2024

I fell in love with opera music when, on my 12th birthday, my father surprised me with an unusual gift – a one-year season ticket to the opera. I was lucky; I got to “see”...

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Robert's Thoughts

Bazaars and Souks

December 29, 2023

On Bazaar day in Lac Carré three weeks before Xmas,  I decided to spend the Yuletide Festivities with friends in Budapest.  Easier said than done. I soon discovered...

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Robert's Thoughts

Chimney Sweep

November 29, 2023

I am writing these lines in Vienna at one of the city’s best restaurants. It is called Zum weissen Rauchfangkehrer – The White Chimney Sweep. A couple of weeks ago, it had...

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Robert's Thoughts

Crescent Street

October 31, 2023

Strange as it may sound, fall is perhaps my favorite season. It is a melancholy time of the year and I guess I have become a kind of a romantic guy. I love watching the leaves...

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Robert's Thoughts

Montreal Smoked Meat

September 28, 2023

A couple of weeks ago I visited my coiffeuse (female barber) and, after she had attempted to tame the hair on my head and face, I looked out the window and saw brilliant sunshine...

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Robert's Thoughts

Stateless

August 30, 2023

After the Communists expelled my family from Hungary in 1949 we became Stateless Aliens and nobody wanted us. My Parents settled in Paris temporarily so they were issued French...

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Robert's Thoughts

A Soldier and his Horse

July 30, 2023

On my way to Vienna one fine day in 1956 I decided to pop in to see my sister who was living in Paris at the time. She liked the idea. We had not seen each-other for quite a...

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Robert's Thoughts

The Royal Palace of Gödöllő

June 29, 2023

The Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Francis Joseph I, was obliged by his coronation oath, taken in 1867, to spend regular periods of time in Hungary. To this end, the Hungarian...

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Robert's Thoughts

The Amalfi Coast

May 30, 2023

I have always wanted to visit the place where my parents had spent their honeymoon: Capri. I never got there before now. So I took a deep breath while visiting Budapest and...

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