The Eden House
Backyard and children's playground
Family room
Office
Main kitchen for guests
One of 8 bedrooms
In addition to catching buses into town, there is also a train that comes through our neck of the woods, passing right by Campona Mall on it's way into town or going out of town to other parts of Hungary. Catching the train into town is much faster than taking a bus because it makes fewer stops and it moves much faster than buses do. It is no problem to catch a train going into Budapest because any train coming from your right is going into town. However, catching a train from downtown out to Budafok where we live is a little more confusing because of all the trains going to various other cities. Unfortunately, it has been difficult for some of our missionaries to read and interpret the map and departure schedule in town for the trains coming out to our neighborhood, which has caused several of our missionaries to hop on the the wrong train and sail right pass the Campona Mall!
I needed to learn which is the correct train(s) for our missionaries to take so that I could instruct them in how to do it, so on Thursday Kristi, her son Ryan, and I hopped on the train into town and then she showed me how to read and interpret the map, and then we got on the right train to come home. I learned, "DON"T take the RED train because it is the express train and even though it passes through Budafok, it does NOT stop at Campona Mall".
Riding on the train with Ryan reminded me of the many trains we caught when Kari and Chris were his age while we were living in France and going to language school before moving to Cote d'Ivoire. It brought back wonderful memories of our train trips to Germany, Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland during our language class breaks.
Hopping on that train gave me the bug to travel, so after talking with the other wives here, the 5 of us decided to hit the road and spend Saturday in Vienna! I drove, which was great experience for me! Actually, it was quite easy as once we got on the interstate, it was a straight shot into Vienna. We parked in a parking garage just as we got into town, bought a metro day pass, and stormed the city. I think each one of us had our own reasons for wanting to go. Mine was just to experience another city for a day; a chance to get out and walk; one last opportunity to sightsee in another country before the weather turned too cold to enjoy it.
Krisit's reason? STARBUCKS!!!
We left Budapest at 9:00 am. It is 1 1/2 hours to the Austria/Hungary border and then another 30 minutes to Vienna, so we arrived in time for morning coffee at Starbucks.
4 Starbucks cups but 5 ladies. Who doesn't drink coffee?
Me!
But I love Coke Zero which was available everywhere in Vienna but can't be found in Budapest!
After the morning coffee, we took advantage of our trusted guide, Kristi, and her trusty map, and took off to explore the city.
We did a lot of walking, meandering wherever anyone wanted to go. It was very relaxing. If anyone wanted to go into a store, we stopped to let her. If Karen or I wanted to take a picture, the group waited patiently.
No one had anything in particular they wanted to see or do, other than try to find all the Starbucks possible, so when we happened on a festival to celebrate the harvest season, we took time out to enjoy it.
Boot toss
There were lots of things for children to do. This game was to see how many men's heavy rubber wading boots could you pitch into the wheelbarrow that was about 5 meters away. You can't see it very well, but her boot is in the air, just over the U in the sign. She did pretty well, getting 4 out of 5 boots in the wheelbarrow!
Free-for-all climbing on the hay bales. Chris would have loved this!
Just for Queenie!
There were quite a few of these huge bales of hay covered with fruits and vegetables for decoration. I couldn't help but think of Glenn's mother, Queenie, and how much she would have enjoyed seeing these!
We discovered a beautiful rose garden and I talked the ladies into doing a lap around the outer edge of it.
Parliament Building
Don't know what this is but it was big and beautiful
Excavation finds city below the city in the heart of the city!
Another beautiful, ornate Catholic church
I hope my father will forgive me. Between my lack of love for history in general and having seen every Catholic church, cathedral and basilica in Europe when I was a child, I have no desire to see any more, much less care about learning the names of them. Besides that, they all look the same to me. Lots of gold inlay, ornate woodwork, humongous pipe organs, priests standing in high towers from which they "preach", and all these tourists walking through in the middle of services. Needless to say, I do not know the name of this church; one of the ladies wanted to see it so we came inside.
We walked along a pedestrian street and enjoyed the street vendors and performers. There were several of these types of human statues dressed totally in silver or gold dotted all along the street. This particular couple would slowly bow down when you place coins on the ground in front of them. I'm not sure what the talent is here, other than not scratching when something itches.
I much prefer the real perfomers such as this juggler, or the blind trio that sang a capella, or the hippie duet playing the drums or the man singing while strumming on his guitar. We dared Kristi to do a cheer for everyone to enjoy to see if anyone would give her money, but she tells us she has forgotten all of them. Yea, right.
I love the old buildings and can't seem to quit taking pictures of them!
We ate dinner at a restaurant on the pedestrian mall. I chose weiner schnitzel and it was delicious! The restaurant, however, was a bit expensive in the end. They advertized out on the street the weiner schnitzel at 9.50E (9 euros and 50 cents is about $13 USD) but on the menu inside it was priced at 10.50. The waiter told us it was an old menu out on the street. (Hmm?) Then they also charged us 2 euros per person cover charge (which is about $2.60 a person)! They also charged me for 3 ketcup packets at a cost of 1.20 euros, which is about $2! (At this nice restaurant, they used ketchup packets so they could know the exact amount you used and charge you for it!) Good thing I ordered tap water. When I needed a refill, I poured it from my water bottle because I was afraid they'd charge me $6 for tap water!
Another Starbucks!
Anyway, the trip was a lot of fun and it was a great time of fellowship. Of course, before we headed back to Budapest at 9:30 pm, we had to have "one for the road" at another Starbucks! Since I don't drink coffee, Kristi had to promise to keep me awake, which was no problem after all the caffeine and sugar in her 2 coffees that day!
Glenn is catching a train on Monday for a meeting in Prague (Czech Republic; no longer Czechoslovakia), but will be returning on Tuesday. We have 4 family units in the Eden House right now, so things are still busy. I made 1 1/2 gallons of potato soup on Friday and took it up to the Eden House to share with everyone. We also ate homemade ice cream and a chocolate cake (thanks to a wonderful care package!) to celebrate Beth's birthday (one of the guests). No wonder I am really enjoying the Eden House ministry! Lot's of opportunities for parties!
Thank you for your prayers, especially for God to call someone for the Eden House ministry! He is faithful to answer them. Thank you for asking!
Have a good week!
2 comments:
Wonderful update!! Long and informative, lots of photos and captions...almost enough to make me forgive you for reminding me how much I miss Starbucks! ;)
Love, K
From one non-coffee drinker to another: The chai latte at Starbucks is divine, and if no one hears you order, you'll look like any other coffee drinker. You'll also have a warm drink on a cold day, as opposed to the lovely Coke zero option. In other news, those statues and street performers remind me of the ones I saw in New Orleans...very fun post!
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