Thursday in the big city

today we went into budapest proper. first stop was the market - 2 floors of things hungarian. on the bottom floor are the food stuffs - sausages, meats, spices, vegetables, honey, nuts, cheeses, and more of the same. a large space in a very large building for all the things you need to make a good goulash. on the top floor are the tablecloths, t-shirts, embroidered vests and blouses, various crafts, and a sort of food court. the building was architected by the same fellow who did the eiffel tower, and is very impressive.

next we went to the museum of applied arts. the special exhibition today was of ceramics by early people in íhungary and Transylvania, as well as a different exhibit on glassware by a french fellow and by tiffany. there was a substantial colelction of treasures from the esterhazy's as well. they were prominent in the history and the culture of Hungary. Hayden was sponsored by the Esterhazys.

then we walked the streets of downtown budapest, vaci utca and other streets as well. there is a fine music store off one of the side streets, and near by is a shop that sells marzipan. Supper tonite was at Sir Lancelot, a restuarant that features food prepared medieval style, and patrons eat with their fingers. deer, bear, rabbit and boar are on the menu.

There are many sunflower fields around budapest. The drop has now ripened, and waht you see are stalks about 4 feet high with black heads about 4 inches across. I presume somone will cut them down and take them to a processing plant soon.

first day in budapest

last night we arrived safely in budapest - met by many relatives of Kati's, including Ester ( her niece) and Attila, our hosts. our timing was impeccable, because it was ester's birthday, and attilla had prepared a hungarian goulash, cooked on an open fire for the whole afternoon, seasoned with paprika and red wine. it was served over spaetzle noodels, and with a cucumber salad. dessert was birthday cake which was a walnut torte iced with marzipan. cake doesn't get much better than that. ester and attilla's place is spacious and new, with tasteful decorations and a well landscaped back yrd including a firepit, smoker, swimming pool, and a BEER TAP. That is for the times when you don'wat to drink palinka ( made from blueberries, distilled after fermentation) or campari.

today is our first day in budapest. we are taking it easy to recover from the long trip and the time change. first off is a walk in the neighborhood. the houses here are very nice - of brick construction faces with a composite material that looks like cement, but brightly colored. all homes have fences, most have at least one dog, so a walk can generate a lot of noise with all the mutts coming to pass judgement on the newcomers. there is much vegetation, most of it edible. peaches, pears, apples, quince, grapes etc. also many varieties of flowers, including a lot of hyacinth, and a surprising number of bamboo trees.

in the afternoon we head to nagykata, where margitnanny lives in the home where kati's parents used to live. margitnanny is about 8ö, and was waiting at the gate for us to arrive. she had proibably been standing by the gate for an hour waiting for us. she had a lovely meal ready - soup, potatoes, chicken, and cucumber salad.

testing image upload

Here are Tara and Andrea helping me figure out how to upload images

Our European vacation, 2007

Hi all

Kati, Oscar, Bob and I are headed to Hungary and Turkey on August 27 . Kati, Oscar and Bob return home on Sept 15 and I go on to South Africa for two weeks. I will be posting vignettes and photos as we go along. Here is our itinery:

August 27 fly to Budapest
Sept 6 fly to Istanbul
Sept 15 return home ( Bob, Kati and Oscar)
Sept 15 travel to Peitermaritzburg via Dubai and JoBurg
Sept 21 fly to Cape Town
Sept 27 go to Pretoria
Sept 29 start journey home

There will be more the first chance I get at a computer.

Mary