Toward the end of the week, the weather turned cold and yucky so we spent some time just hanging around the house, mostly watching T.V. and eating. (Kate and Kari worked on their computers a good bit, too.)
After a couple of days stuck at home, we decided to brave the cold and ride to the town of Esztergom, just inside Hungary where the Danube River snakes its way down, separating Hungary from Slovakia. There is a bridge over the Danube that folks can walk over from one country to the other. We had to walk over into Slovakia, enjoy a coffee break and walk around the town center so that our kids could add Slovakia to their list of countries visited, so that is what we did first.
The fog was very heavy; so heavy that we could not see the water below the bridge.
Esztergom is well known for the Basilica that is on top of a small mountain. You can just barely see it in the background of this photo because of the dense fog.
Right in the middle of the bridge is a sign indicating the border between the two countries. We saw several folks getting their pictures made in this exact spot.
Of course, while we were walking around town just inside Slovakia, we took a coffee break (to warm up!) Glenn and the kids all got espressos and lattes, but I got a hot chocolate. It was delicious and plenty chocolatey! It was served in a bowl and eaten with a spoon.
One of the vendors selling scarves, hats and gloves was impressed that we were from America and gave us two "horns" to blow for ringing in the new year that evening. Glenn and Kate really enjoyed tooting their horns (in a modest sort of way, of course!)
After walking back to the Hungarian side, back to Esztergom, we enjoyed the most delicious meal we've ever had in Hungary. We had read about this place in our Frommer's Guide to Hungary of great places to eat (thanks, Kristin! We're still using your great gift!) and so asked folks for directions to get there. This meal was a gift of Kate's grandmother, Josephine Guidetti. She wanted Kate and Chris to take the six of us out for a nice meal. Wasn't that really nice of her? We thought so!!
After eating lunch, we hiked up the hillside to the Esztergom Basilica. King Saint Stephen was born in Esztergom in 975 and was crowned here on Christmas day in the year 1000. The basilica is Hungary's largest church. Construction was started in 1832 and completed in 1869.
Kari took a break from snapping photos with her new camera for her and Jonathan to pose for a couple of photos for her mom.
Chris and Kate also posed for me. Both Jonathan and Chris have limited patience with Kari, Kate and me always saying, "Hey, turn this way and smile for the camera!"
Up at the very top is a statue of King Stephen being crowned. On a sunny day, the view would have been tremendous, but today we could only see about 30 feet. That in itself was kind of beautiful too.
Chris and Kate held the pole from which flew the Hungarian flag!
At one of the outlooks, Jonathan and Kari re-enact a scene from the movie Titanic.
The kids were always goofin' off, keeping us laughing at their antics.
Any time we turned around, they were up to mischief!
I loved this photo of Kari. I think it captures her beauty perfectly.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day, even though the weather was pretty cold. We went on New Year's Eve and that evening we collapsed in front of the T.V. and watched How I Met Your Mother DVD's we'd bought in the States. We stayed up long enough to welcome in the new year with peppermint ice cream I'd made earlier in the evening and to watch from our balcony all the fireworks being shot off in our neighborhood. It was incredible!
We did an awful lot of eating this trip. Christmas goodies of every kind, special meals that we love but don't get very often, and desserts that just put on the pounds.
Most mornings, we ate a late but large breakfast. We found out this Yankee boy likes biscuits with sausge gravy.
He can also put away the fruit!
Kate fixed us a delicious lasagna with all the trimmings! She's Italian, you know.
On Saturday, we took Kari and Jonathan to the Ferihegy airport to catch their flight back to France. We miss them, but were glad to have Chris and Kate stay two more days, you know, to kind of wean me off my kids slowly. We take Chris and Kate to Ferihegy tomorrow morning so I will be in tears tomorrow. Bummer kind of days ahead as I re-adjust to life without our kids.
Saying good-bye to our kids is easier when we know when we will see them again. We know that we will be seeing our kids again within the year. Kari and Jonathan will be living with us in Marietta for a couple of months when we are on our stateside assignment next September through January. We will visit with Chris and Kate while we are in the States, probably twice during our 5 months there in the U.S.
2 comments:
Great post, Mom. (Oh look - I'm the first blog comment!)
I love that the line right above that picture of me reads: Any time we turned around, they were up to mischief!
Hmm... coincidence?
I wish I was with you for the walking and the touring and the HOT CHOCOLATE!!! You were in my prayers as the kids were leaving, I'm sure that was hard. Remember: there is a room here for you and Glenn when you are stateside later this year. I miss you, Cile...let's talk!
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