From Memory in 2017
Kay and I arrived by air in Budapest from Munich in December of 1989. The Malev Airlines flight that brought us served salami-and-pickle sandwiches. Naturally, it was cold, and the hours of daylight were short.
This was quite an exotic trip for us, our first to Eastern Europe that was just then emerging from decades of Communist rule. At the time of our arrival the red star was still standing atop Hungary’s parliament building, and, in Berlin, the wall was coming down.