Dispatch from Budapest

George Webber, a.k.a Count Agoston Haraszthy, reports from Hungary: “After helping to form a Sister City between Sonoma and Tokaj, Hungary last year, I am en-route to the Tokaj Wine Festival; first stop Budapest. A beautiful city that goes back to the Roman province of Pannonia 2,000 years ago, Budapest is a full of parks, 19th Century buildings, and castles looking down on the Danube River.

“I always travel in costume as the famous Hungarian Count Agoston Haraszthy; it makes for interesting encounters. Children, bums, and people looking for directions take a special interest in the guy with the top-hat and Victorian garb—I look official somehow even in Budapest! I like to walk until I am either lost or tired; then I hail a cab and am back in my hotel in a few minutes.

“Yesterday was a 15-hour day; our Sonoma-Tokaj Sister City Committee is being squired around town by a member of the Tokaj-Sonoma Association who lives in Budapest. We toured Parliament, had lunch in the dining room with the Tokaj representative, visited Buda Castle above the Danube, bunkers in The Citadel where Nazi’s ruled during World War Two, and took in the famous Szechenyi Baths.

“Thankfully, joining us is Sonoma Mayor Pro-Tem Tom Rouse; without him our small delegation would not be official, so we are grateful he and his wife Michelle could come along. In Tokaj on Saturday afternoon our delegation will put on a bilingual version of my play—“The Count of Buena Vista”—on the main stage in front of 3,000 people. Budapest is about as different from Sonoma as a City could possibly be.”