Friday 10 July 1998

Slideshow Pictures

At the Hungarian border I handed the guard our passports, she glanced at them and waved us through. Approximately a hundred yards away was another booth and our passport were glanced at again, and again we were waved through. As we left the border I heard a whistle and looked in the rear view mirror. The guard was gesturing for us to pull off to the side, so we did. He came up to the car and said that he had noticed that the car was a rental (there was a Sixt-Budget sticker on the rear window) and very politely asked if he could see the registration papers. For one moment I thought, the heck with him, but then changed my mind. He was so polite and seemed to be a nice guy, we didn’t want to ruin his day. So the papers were handed over to him. In approximately two or three minutes he was back with the papers and wished us a good journey.

In Sopron, which is just on the other side of the border from Austria, we stopped to have an espresso at an outdoor restaurant.

Then we were off to Szombathely. Stopped at a roadside restaurant and ordered a chicken soup and a wooden plate for Rachel and me, Rita wasn’t hungry. It was a thatch covered building, with antique farm equipment laying around.

The wooden plate came piled high with chateaubriand, WIENER SCHNITZEL, sausages and rice and potatoes. The chateaubriand you could cut with a fork. It was too much for Rachel and me to finish, so (our finnisher) Rita helped, but still we had to send some of the food back. We each had two beers Rachel two cokes. The bill was 1,800 forints or $17 CAN.

We sure liked this country so far.

Szombathely, Hungary

We arrived in Szombathely at 5:00 p.m. and headed directly to the Claudius hotel. There was a dog show in the city and people from all over Europe were staying at the hotel, with their dogs. Checked in, freshened up, and were off to see Minke and Pali (my second cousin and her husband) who lived near the hotel. They were waiting for us, and had phoned the hotel several times to see if we had arrived. After exchanging gifts, (they gave us an electric clock set in a hand painted, Kalocsai motive, plate and a cup and saucer to replace the saucer that she had broken when she was visiting us in Canada.) we sat down for dinner.

In a phone conversation earlier in the year I had mentioned that we might visit Hungary during the summer, at which time Minke had asked what she could prepare for us in the event that we did come. I had said "something out of the ordinary, a traditional Hungarian dish that you wouldn’t be able to get in a restaurant". That’s exactly what she had made for dinner. Lung stew with dumplings. Later on in the evening her daughter Ria arrived with her two daughters and explained that they were renovating their apartment and her husband Sanyi and her son Balázs were working feverishly to finish the electrical work before the drywallers arrived the next day. I told her that Dean had sent a video camera to Szombathely and she offered to go with me to the post office to pick it up, the next morning. I phoned my cousin Kálmán and arranged to have lunch at his house the following day. Walked back to the hotel around midnight.

Saturday 11 July 1998

I woke up early and went for a walk around the small lake that was across the road from the hotel. Met several fishermen who complained about the condition of the lake, and the lack of fish. They told me some fish stories from the past. Fishermen are the same around the world I guess. At 8:00 A.M. I went to Minke and Pali’s apartment had coffee and Pali went with me to Ria’s apartment. Ria and I went to the post office which was only a block away, and discovered that it was closed. When we arrived back, Ria phoned the main post office in Budapest and was told that the parcel had not arrived in Hungary. She arranged for it to be held in Budapest, and for them to notify us, when we arrived at the Gellért hotel in Budapest.

Had breakfast with the dogs and their owners at the hotel, and then left for Sorkifalud where Kálmán lives. We missed the road sign to the town and ended up in Vasvár. After backtracking we finally found Sorkifalud and Kálmán’s house. Met his wife Ibolya and his daughter Katalin. Their son Zsolt was not there.

They were preparing lunch for us, so Kálmán took us for a coach (hinto) ride.

 Ended up in Szentléránt, the town my parents came from.

As we entered the town we noticed a huge storks nest on the chimney of a building. This was the first of many storks nests that we saw in Hungary.

He showed us some of his properties and said that thatched roofs were again becoming very popular in Hungary and that he had set aside some acreage for that purpose. He then drove us back to his house. We had chicken soup and fried chicken for lunch and then drove back to Vasvár to see Kálmán’s sister Kláry and her husband Miklós.

They live in a nice house in Alsoujlak which is a small town outside of Vasvár.

Had a short visit with them and asked her to arrange for dinner, for the whole family, at a nice restaurant for the following evening. Then we were off to Szombathely to have dinner with Minke and her family at a restaurant.

On the way back to the hotel we wanted to find a cash machine to withdraw some money. There was a speed trap set up, manned by two policemen. I quickly glanced at the speedometer, no problem. We stopped at the roadblock and asked were we could find an ATM They told us that just around the next corner there was a shopping center with all kinds of them. Withdrew some money and went for a short look at the stores around the square. Rita and Rachel were raving about the prices in the windows. Thank God the stores were closed, which didn’t help much, because plans were being made by the ladies to return the following day. Stopped for refreshments at an outdoor restaurant in the square and then off to the hotel.

After freshening up we drove to Minke’s apartment and then drove to the restaurant where Ria and her family were already waiting.

 I snuck off and paid for the dinner knowing there would be protests from the family. Food and drinks for ten people came to about $80 CAN.

When we went outside the rain was pouring, so I (being a gentleman) went off to get the car parked just around the corner. Soon after, Rita decided to run to the car, under Ria’s umbrella. Rachel likes the rain, so she got soaked. Just as they were getting to the car, I drove off. So, they went back to the restaurant and waited for me to come around the block.

Ria being ready with an umbrella brought back an old memory from the 1950s. I was visiting Szombathely one summer as a child. Pali, Ria’s dad, as I remember, carried an umbrella most of the time, like an English gentleman, using it as a cane. He took me to a football (soccer) game on a beautiful sunny day. During the game, a cloud came over the stadium and it started to rain. Of all the thousands of people in the stadium we were the only ones sitting under an umbrella.

Drove back to the hotel and went to sleep.

  Sunday 12 July 1998

Woke up early had breakfast, yes with the dogs, and went to visit my cousin Erzsi and her husband Emil. Pali had told us the night before that he would guide us to their place so we went to Minke and Pali’s apartment first, had coffee and then we followed him to Erzsi’s place. Erzsi vas sitting in front of her house waiting for us. Pali said his greetings and hurried off because they were going to Ábrahámhegy that day to prepare their cottage for us. Erzsi and Emil had really aged since I saw them last in 1974. It seemed they had aged more than any of my other relatives.

Since it was Sunday, we had the customary chicken soup and fried chicken, and after a short visit, we were off.

Went to the shopping center to check the stores, but they were closed. No seven-day shopping in Hungary (at least not yet). The ladies were really disappointed. I was filled with glee. Stopped for a drink at an Espresso on the square. 

We went back to hotel, dressed and were off for Vasvár. Visited my cousin Annika and her husband Imre. Their two sons, were there and one son’s girlfriend. One of her sons is Gábor, the other sons name I can't remember (I think Zoltán).

Imre wanted to take us to his winery on the hillside but decided not to, because it had rained so hard the previous night and we would have been covered in mud.

They said the dinner had been arranged at a roadside restaurant that we had noticed the day before. Rita had commented that it looked interesting.

 After tasting their wine it was time to leave. We followed their car to the restaurant.

We were seated in a thatched roofed lean-to with huge windows all around. It had rough rustic furnishings and it felt very open.

A political conversation started between my cousins who were equally divided between the old system and the new. I mentioned that under the old system the conversation wouldn’t have taken place. End of politics.

A deep conversation started about the state of the farming economy in Hungary, crop rotation and fertilization. It was very interesting.

The World Cup final was on and some of the men snuck off, occasionally, to check out the score between France and Brazil on the TV. which was in the main building of the restaurant .

Wonderful dinner with wonderful people.

Kálmán and his family.

Klári and her family, Miklos her husband and their two sons, Robert and Csaba.

Annika and her husband Imre.

I wanted to pay for the dinner but was told the bill had been taken care of. We thanked them for the wonderful evening, said our "Hello,Seeya" (the greeting in Hungary) and went off to the hotel. The game was just ending as we walked by the cocktail lounge in the lobby and entered the elevator. France had won and the Europeans were pleased.

Monday 13 July 1998

Woke early, and yes, we had breakfast with the dogs. Packed and checked out of the Claudius (paid $100 CAN.). We were leaving for Ábrahámhegy. If you have forgotten about the shopping center, mentioned earlier in the story, the ladies had not. We went from one store to the next acquiring this and that. I took my usual place standing outside the entrance of every shoe and ladies’ wear store in the shopping center. Rachel bought shoes and a T-shirt, and Rita bought a cosmetics bag. Went into a department store where the greeter at the door was Asian, and I was shocked that he spoke perfect Hungarian, without an accent. In Canada you are never surprised that an Asiatic-looking person speaks perfect English. I don't know why it surprised me, but it did. Asked a salesperson if they had any lederhosen but all they had were leather knickerbockers. Tried one on. Now I really regretted not buying the hat in Innsbruck. It would have made a cute ensemble. Instead of buying the knickerbockers, I spent my money on buying luggage to carry all the acquisitions of the ladies. WHAT A GREAT GUY!