Last weekend I went to Budapest for a few days. It was Memorial weekend in the USA, and Children's Weekend in Hungary. I felt like the country mouse going to visit the city. I got on the bus going north, and we drove through several picturesque villages.
For some foolish reason I presume that everyone is going to Budapest, so when I get on the bus I just say "good day," and hand the driver cash for the fare, without requesting my city. He looks at me. Oops! "Budapest, please." He makes change and gives me the ticket, "good day." The bus is full when it leaves Baja, and it empties out as we go north. People get on and off, mostly off. By the time we arrive there are only a dozen people on the bus.
I'm getting used to the stucco houses and shops with tile roofs. The really old buildings have moss growing on the tiles. It looks like lots of the roof tiles are made of stone. Some of the major buildings in the villages are made of stone, such as municipal buildings and churches. Most shops are brick covered with stucco. I keep my eyes open for stork nests, hoping to see a stork or some babies. I finally get a picture out the bus window, see below. May Day was May first, and it is a national holiday. I see decorated tres all over the place. In one town I saw giant dolls in a tree; a boy was climbing up to a girl at the top of the tree. I think that the idea was for him to reach her and ask to marry her. It's very sweet! After about a three hours we reach the Budapest suburbs. My cousin picks me up and takes me to the house. The children will arrive in the morning, so the adults have a quiet evening at home. .
For some foolish reason I presume that everyone is going to Budapest, so when I get on the bus I just say "good day," and hand the driver cash for the fare, without requesting my city. He looks at me. Oops! "Budapest, please." He makes change and gives me the ticket, "good day." The bus is full when it leaves Baja, and it empties out as we go north. People get on and off, mostly off. By the time we arrive there are only a dozen people on the bus.
I'm getting used to the stucco houses and shops with tile roofs. The really old buildings have moss growing on the tiles. It looks like lots of the roof tiles are made of stone. Some of the major buildings in the villages are made of stone, such as municipal buildings and churches. Most shops are brick covered with stucco. I keep my eyes open for stork nests, hoping to see a stork or some babies. I finally get a picture out the bus window, see below. May Day was May first, and it is a national holiday. I see decorated tres all over the place. In one town I saw giant dolls in a tree; a boy was climbing up to a girl at the top of the tree. I think that the idea was for him to reach her and ask to marry her. It's very sweet! After about a three hours we reach the Budapest suburbs. My cousin picks me up and takes me to the house. The children will arrive in the morning, so the adults have a quiet evening at home. .
The next day the children arrive. The little girl will turn seven this weekend, she has a friend over to play, and I play with them as well. It started out as Hide and Seek, but turned into Zombies. I was naturally, the Zombie (see the post about the dog bite). But after a while the little girls turned and started chasing me. I was a very fearful zombie! I ran away howling, waving my arms in the air. We made so much joyful noise that the next door neighbor girl came to join us. Little kids are such fun!
The birthday party was the next day, Saturday. So we went to the piac (bazaar) for fresh fruit, veggies and eggs. The city piac is open every day of the week unlike the country piac. Well, except for Shopping Day, of course. We also went to the toy store to pick up a couple of presents. I told her she could choose anything within a certain price range, and she got a little doll that smells like cake. It's a "thing" here, and she has several of those dolls. Children's Day is a big deal, and is actually the whole weekend. We buy presents for all the kids, even the children who are now grown ups.
At the birthday party I met all kinds of relatives, great aunts, cousins, and people related by marriage. One of the friends has a plan to come to the USA and ride a Harley across Route 66. A wonderful tradition! We have a home made ladybug cake, it has fondant cling and marzipan flowers and antenna. The layers are strawberry and poppyseed. I bring several pieces back to Baja for the family here. We play football I the front yard before dinner, and share a round of fruit brandy, palinka. We all have to down our drinks in one tip of the glass.
The next day we go downtown and have a nice walk about with some, you guessed it - ice cream! Just like in the country there are little shops of all sorts close by, an auto mechanic is right beside the house and you'd never know it. Naturally there are chickens and roosters all over the place. And ice cream stores a few blocks away. A friend of the family. Runs an import grocer, bringing fancy cheeses and oils from Italy. I don't think that kind of thing is available in our small town down south.
The are a few differences, though. Our little town down south has some tourism, but nothing like Budapest. It's easyto feel like I live in Humgary since I'm staying with family. I enjoy watching tourists eagerly contributing to the national economy. Budapest has little two-man taxis, called Tuk-Tuk. I've seen them in Belize and Peru. They almost look like pedi cabs, with the driver up front, and a fold down-soft top for the two passengers. Compared to Budapest Baja is a sleepy town. I know there are tourists in Baja, but the downtown area is small and I don't see them as often.
The ride back home is becoming familiar, I recognize towns and landmarks and I know when we are getting close. It was nice having TV, it helps with language. But it will also be nice to be able to ride my bike all over the place.
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