A great week!

This picture should give you a clue as to what we did this week...

I ended last week's entry with David running in the Budapest 2011 marathon and Glenn, Debbie and me following him around the route to cheer him on. He didn't think it outrageously funny when the rest of us made comments about how sore and tired our feet were, at least not as funny as we did!

We figured he would be a little sore the day after the race so on Monday we went to the Szechenyi Thermal Baths.

Since we got a late start (somebody was awfully tired and sore and slept late! ME!), we decided to pack a lunch and eat a picnic in the park on the grounds of the baths. Why do sandwiches always taste better when eaten on a picnic???

We enjoyed going from one pool to another (they have different minerals in them and are different temperatures too) soaking in each one to get the various medicinal benefits they have to offer. We tried a couple of saunas too. I prefer the one with the eucalyptus aroma but the room is so foggy that I can't see where I am sitting. I'm always afraid I'm going to sit on someone's lap (other than Glenn's) by accident!

We stayed until our hands were like prunes and we were totally relaxed! Ahhhh!

After a couple of days of working from our home, we noticed the weather was about to turn cold and nasty so we planned a day in town to show David and Debbie the sights of the city. With a trusty map and our cute looking guide (Glenn), we headed into town for the day.

My daughter, Kari, discovered this perfect spot for taking family photos with the Parliament building in the background.

And it's been at least two months since I showed any photos of the tourist sites in town, so please bear with me ONCE AGAIN. This is of the Szechenyi Chain Bridge, my favorite bridge in town. (There are 8 bridges that cross the Danube River in the downtown area.) The Szechenyi bridge, completed in 1849, was the first permanent stone-bridge connecting the city of Buda on one side with the city of Pest on the other side of the river, and today is the most well-known bridge in Hungary.

Just north of the Szechenyi Chain Bridge is the Margaret Bridge (Margit Bridge, in Hungarian) and just beyond that bridge is the Margaret Island, which today is a city park that is popular with joggers, lovers, frisbee throwers, tourists and local citizens alike. Margaret Island sits in the middle of the Danube River, a short walk from the gorgeous Parliament building.

We spent some time up on Castle Hill overlooking the Danube River and the city of Budapest. It must have been a school holiday in several of our neighboring countries because we saw and heard many tour groups of high school students speaking different languages.

These 3 tourists are looking over at Fisherman's Bastion.

The white-stoned Fisherman's Bastion, is described as being Disney-esque because it is full of turrets, projections, parapets and climbing stairways. (That word "parapets", I got from a web site; it's a real word. I didn't make it up. It means "a defensive wall or elevation, often made of earth or stone, in a fortification." It was built in 1905. The seven towers represent the seven Magyar tribes that came to Hungary in 896 that eventually joined together to form Hungary, or Magyarorszag ... as it is called in Hungarian.

This monument, Shoes on the Danube Promenade, commemorates the death of Hungarians shot by the terrorizing Arrow Cross party in the winter of 1944-45. Containing 60 pairs of iron shoes, the monument is about 40 meters long. Even though this is not the only location where people were killed and dumped into the river (to save them the trouble of burials), it is symbolic of all the victims who were told to take off their shoes before being shot (because shoes were valuable belongings at that time). The iron shoes were placed on the bank of the Danube River in 2005.

A magnificent sight in the late afternoon with the sun reflecting off the words of Christ, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life", St. Stephen's Basilica is the largest church in Budapest and the second largest in the country. It is dedicated to Hungary's first king, St. Stephen, who is credited with bringing Christianity in 1000 to the seven warring tribes that came together to form Hungary.

More known for housing Hungary's most sacred treasure, the mummified right hand of St. Stephen, than for any worshipful experience or its' extravagant gold inlays inside, the church is a favorite among tourists and a must-see for those who out-of-curiosity want to see the mummified hand. It took 5 decades to complete and 3 architects to build due to several unfortunate mishaps, including a collapsed dome and 2 wars (the 1848-49 Revolution and the War of Independence). It was finally completed in 1906.

After all this sightseeing, of course we had to "show" Debbie and David the famous and delicious Kurtoskalacs! Sweet bread strips deftly wrapped around a wooden spindle, slowly baked until puffy and golden brown, unceremoniously dredged in cinnamon sugar, coconut flakes or chopped walnuts, and then while still scorchingly hot, slid into a cylindrical plastic bag, easy for pulling apart to devour, these Hungarian delicacies are the best!!! (How was that, Kari?) Glenn calls it Decadence on a Stick.

And while we were in town, we saw quite a few of these three-wheeled bicycle-carts for hauling tourists around whose shoes were not designed for hours and hours of walking on our cobblestone streets. This is a NEW thing for Budapest, having arrived this past summer. Don't they add class to the landscape of our city? At least they could have made them to fit in a little better with the quaintness of the architecture or chosen a more appropriate color, such as tan or beige!

While at the bus stop, Glenn and I enjoyed a good laugh. This is an advertisement of an American Express credit card, complete with a very popular Hungarian name. That's a little funny to me.

But it's sad that Hungarians are following too closely and too quickly in the debt-filled footsteps of overextended westerners, and it's especially sad that they are being encouraged to get it the American way-with an AMERICAN Express credit card.

Made my weekly way to Judit's house for some more English conversation on Tuesday. I really enjoy her friendship, but I have to keep reminding her to speak in English as much as she can; after all, that was the original point of my going to her house each week I am in town! It's amazing how much Hungarian I can understand! Anyway, I never plan ahead what we will talk about because there's usually enough going on at her house to keep us talking for an hour. Such as her flowering plants that are EVERYWHERE inside and around her house!

And this week, she learned the all-important English word "hedgehog". Now, how many times in her lifetime will she need to know the English word for this prickly little fellow? They found him lying on their driveway, drunk from pigging out on the rotting (fermented) figs fallen from the trees in their yard. It was really hard to get excited about petting this little creature. His quills are stiff and painful if you rub him wrong!

One day this week I took Debbie and a couple of ladies staying at the Eden House to a pottery outlet and we stopped for lunch at a roadside kiosk that makes from scratch the delicious langos that you've read about several times here on my blog. Sorry, the picture isn't light enough for you to see the four sweet batter langos deep-fat frying in oil!

The langos are light and fluffy but they sit pretty heavy in the stomach once they are laden with sour cream, ham bits or salmai (as pictured above), shredded cheese and garlic sauce! YUM!

After all my raving about it, I was relieved that Linda, Debbie and Jessie enjoyed the Hungarian specialty as much as I do

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After almost a week of sunshine and unseasonably warm (mid-to upper 70's) temperatures, Saturday turned out cool and slightly overcast. Perfect for working out in the yard. But that's NOT me out there planting Jonquil and Daffodil bulbs under the apple tree in with Glenn. No, that is Debbie! She lives in an apartment in Moscow and misses being able to play in the dirt so she was thrilled to "have the opportunity" to work in the yard, which she did for hours and hours on Saturday! After having traveled so much this summer and early fall, our yard was in sad shape. Not sure why we planted Pansies since we will only be in Budapest for 14 nights between now and January 1. (No joke.) Who will be here to enjoy them???

We invited the Doyles, Jessie and, of course, David and Debbie who are still staying with us while waiting on their visas for Russia, for lunch on Sunday. I used a recipe from Elaine (who used to live here in Budapest) for a Mexican Chicken casserole. It seems all our personnel love Mexican food!

We leave on Tuesday for Serbia for a week. David and Debbie will still be here, waiting on those visas. Be back soon!