Unexpected adventures

It was brought to my attention that a whole four days had passed without a post and I guess I now have followers anticipating updates with bated breath. ;-)  We returned Saturday evening from a three day trip to western and southwestern Hungary and our hotels didn't have reliable Internet access.  Today was the only free day during our three weeks in Hungary and I packed everything I could into it.

On Thursday, after visiting a thousand year old Benedictine abbey, we were supposed to visit the site of the Pan European Picnic.  I remember watching this event on television news as a kid, so maybe you remember too.  It was 1989 and for three hours Hungary and Austria planned to come together in a field at the border, as a sign of bringing down the Iron Curtain.  It was highly publicized and when the date arrived, more than 900 East Germans had gathered and streamed over the border into Austria and on to West Germany.  Within a few weeks of the Pan European Picnic, the Berlin Wall came down. 

Here's where our adventure started.  We arrived at the marked turn off for the memorial site to find the road closed.  Not a problem, there is another road about a kilometer further that also includes a border crossing post and we can approach the memorial from the other direction.  That border post is also closed, so Gábor, our master bus driver decides to take the tour bus off-roading!  Through wheat fields and narrow rutted paths in the woods, we eventually reach a point too narrow for the bus to pass.  We decide it's time to walk (while Gábor figures out how to turn the bus around) and while we stay on the path, we come out to a ridge overlooking a beautiful landscape in the middle of nowhere.  Retracing our steps to the bus, we reverse our illegal border crossing and stop at the prison to ask how to reach the Picnic site.  The prison guard says the road isn't really closed, but the local residents have put up their own barricades, so our guides and the Fulbright director simply took them down.  The bus was filled with the famous American nervous laughter and the Hungarian phrase (that I like to translate closest to "Oh shit!") "Hoo-ha".

Friday was when we were able to see Lake Balaton, or the Hungarian Sea.  It is landlocked lake, but still has a slightly salty quality due to all the minerals and springs in Hungary.  This is where most Hungarians vacation, families have weekend homes and during Communist times people were able to meet from East and West.  Aside from the ferries that cross at the narrowest point and police boats, no motorized vehicles are allowed on the lake, which leads to the beautiful sailboats everywhere. 

Saturday we were in Pécs.  It is the Cultural Capital of Europe this year, so there was loads of renovations and work being done on the city, highlighting all its unique features.  We visited the catacombs discovered to be the earliest Christian burial tombs in Europe, dating to the 4th century.  Late afternoon we headed back to Budapest and about an hour outside of Budapest the bus overheated.  We spent an hour and a half on the side of the highway trying to cool the engine and refill the radiator.  A really hot highway helper stopped and Elisa had her camera at the ready.  I'm still trying to get those photos from her and will share ASAP.  Trust me, it'll be worth it. ;-)  On our first day, Andrea, our tour guide, said that Hungarian men are known to be ranked as the best husbands, combining romance with shared responsibilities of home and family.  I will say that I've seen many attractive Hungarian people...

If anyone has the opportunity to see a movie called Gloomy Sunday, I'd recommend it.  Set in 1930s Budapest it is about the composer of a song called Gloomy Sunday.  The song became popular as the Nazis were starting their occupation of Hungary and there was supposedly a rash of suicides throughout Budapest among people either playing the song or in possession of the music or lyrics.  It became known as "Hungary's suicide song" with hundreds of suicides in just a few weeks.  I saw the movie the week before leaving, and intrigued googled it and read in Wikipedia that the story was just urban legend.  Well, we've been in two cafés so far with gypsy bands playing and taking requests.  Both have known and played Gloomy Sunday and claimed the story is completely true.  As we returned to the hotel Saturday evening, Andrea also mentioned that one of the cafés we'd visited near our hotel is where the song was originally played in the 30's and also attested to its accuracy.  I just thought that was pretty darn cool!