Hungary - Part 3

Day 168 – June 17

Andrea, her sister Diana, who has a short holiday from work, and I walked to Margaret island, a nearby green island/park in the Danube. Because of the water level of the Danube, most of the island was closed off as a precaution, but it looked like a very nice park.







Andrea went off to work and Diana took me to a little overlook of Budapest, some Roman ruins, and then our final destination, the town of Szentendre, a little ways outside of Budapest. It’s a very cute town, a little tourist-trappy with all the stores doubling as tourist shops, but it was fun. There I tried lagros, a Hungarian food like Indian Fry Bread, only savory rather than sweet – you can get it with garlic, sour cream, cheese…













We found a cat.







It’s amazing how tired the sun can make you. You’d think it would give you energy, but after a day out in it, you just want to crash.

Day 169 – June 18

Friday night we took the train into Szombathey, Andrea’s hometown, so on Saturday we explored it. It was a nice town – smaller, but not too small, and with a lake. It reminded me a tiny bit of Prescott, at least when we got to the lake and I saw the paddle boats and I remembered the times we would rent paddle boats at Lynx Lake (though Lynx Lake is much bigger, and Prescott is bigger as well…).

















A tourist, just like me!

In the afternoon, Andrea’s dad, who’s a journalist, asked if he could interview me. Andrea acted as translator/interpreter for us. His questions were interesting and jumped from subjects to who I would define as a “real American” to how I feel about American movies to what I like about archaeology. We also talked about how much I knew about Central Europe and Hungary in general, and whether or not I knew anything about it before meeting Andrea (no, except for the elementary school joke “How can you be Hungary surrounded by Greece and Turkey?” which, growing older, I learned was geographically incorrect…). It’s a little sad how little we know about Central Europe, but I can say that I now know, if not a lot about the region, far more than I knew coming in.

Andrea’s dad’s girlfriend came in the evening. I really liked her. She was really warm and inviting and open. She had also made food for us and left it in the fridge, which was so nice (and it was good). It was fun, just listening to everyone chat and listening to the sound of Hungarian…and sometimes Andrea would translate things, or her dad’s girlfriend would ask me things. It’s amazing how much you can communicate even when you don’t speak the same language. Granted, it helps having Andrea around, but even without it – facial expressions, hand gestures, everything – there is so much you communicate that you don’t even realize. Maybe the basics, but the most important things.

Day 170 – June 19

Saturday we went to Sopron, an absolutely beautiful town. Its character was just perfect. Cute buildings and streets, awesome cobblestone alleys, archways…I think it’s my favorite place I’ve been to in Hungary.





















We found another cat.





It rained off and on, but nothing too heavy, and it didn’t stop us from having ice cream. At one ice cream place, they had a picture of an ice cream sundae, which had me craving one. We asked inside, but they said they didn’t actually have any so we’d have to go across the street. False advertisement! The place across the street may have been owned by the same people, but I still declare false advertisement. However, the other place was an adorable little café/ice creamery with lots of fancy ice creams. At the outside window, we read the menu and saw something labeled “Pizza ice cream”. Both of us made a face, but when we went inside and saw the menu, we actually decided to get one – it was not, as we first guessed, ice cream tasting like pizza, but lots and lots and lots of fruit. Hurrah!




Day 171 – June 20

Sunday morning we did a bit more walking around Budapest and saw the most important place of all – the Elizabeth Bridge. :-)

















In the afternoon, we went to see Toy Story 3. I’m mentioning this in my blog not because it is in any way cultural, but because it was so amazing. Pixar, of course, is always amazing, but this movie really was awesome. It made me cry. It was a little like Up in the way that it seemed to be a more adult Pixar film – some of the stuff was actually really scary. Anyway, point being, the movie was awesome (and the short film, as always, too!).

This guy was awesome.

In the evening we went to Caledonia, a Scottish pub, since Andrea and I share a love for the Scottish. It was a fun night with Andrea, her sister, and her mom, and we played games and ate chips and listened to everyone else screaming for whichever team had currently scored a goal at the World Cup.