Germany: There and Back again

Christmas lasted a few extra weeks in Bekescsaba. The manger scene and decorations stayed put up for some time in January. It was a good reminder that Christ isn't just a part of the Christmas season.

The traditional Hungarian New Years Eve menu consists of korhelyleves (guzzler soup) and a nice lentil soup for a year with good luck.

Our New Year's party started at Nikki and Tomi's flat. There was quite the variety of food. I made Oreo Truffles. Ivana brought some Serbian homemade pastry type rolls.  Nikki and Tomi added in the crunchy Hungarian appetizers and Pisti made the apple (I think it was apple) tarts. The Hungarian gathering was made complete with some delicious csipos kolbasz made by Zsoka and her boyfriend.

Me with Erin (an American setter that stayed for a few days) and Ivana

The year started out with focused practices, in preparation for the Challenge Cup matches against Vilsbiburg, a German club team. We would play them once at our gym and then once at their gym to decide which team would move on to the next round.

Our gym looks a little different for the Challenge cup games. The rules are very specific on the playable area so the new boundaries are built with wooden stands that happen to double as advertisements. There were also the flags of the countries hanging next to the CEV banner. It looked pretty legit.

Then we started for Germany

After driving for six hours, we took a sleeping break at the cozy Popeye Inn just before the Austria-Hungary border. 

Another six hours brought us even closer. We stayed at a hotel in a village just fifteen minutes away from the Vilsbiburg gym we would play in. The hotel was very nice and homey except for a few short hours when I felt like a dead body in a freezer. I'm really grateful we got the heating fixed.

The main tourist attraction in this tiny village was this horse. At least from what I could see. I love the simplicity of this tiny village.

Vilsbiburg with the team. We took a little midday stroll through the city before our game.

We ate most of the meals at our hotel. The food there made me feel like I was back at home with some fried dinosaur and fish. I found it quite interesting when the fried eggs were served as part of dinner. The food was cooked perfectly and I might have gained more than a pound during the trip.

After the unfortunate loss against Vilsbiburg, we enjoyed our last German meal at an Italian restaurant. I'm not sure I will try to eat Italian food in Germany again. 

The highlight of the Germany trip was finding out that they have doors you can open to set off alarms. I guess the German word "alarmgesichert" wasn't close enough to the English word for "alarm will go off if you touch this." 

Bekescsabai food continuing...

After our return to Bekescsaba, Misi invited us to his flat for dinner and game film and made us delicious four cheese penne and bread pudding. 

Rakott Kelkaposzta

Zuzaporkolt: This is quite possible the most interesting meat I have tried thus far. It looks like it belongs to the clam family and even has the texture of a clam. The flavor was nice. I'm glad I finally found the courage to try this mystery meat. (The direct translation is "knuckle roasted")

Rakott Burgonya: My favorite dish. Layers of potatoes, meat, eggs, kolbasz, cheese, sour cream. Really good.

We celebrated the arrival of the new American setter by ordering a pizza from Stones Pizzeria. This pizza was awesome! A stuffed crust pizza with a cream cheese topping instead of tomato sauce.

Christmastime

 Our adventure began at Déak Ferenc Tér (pronounced "Day awk fur rents tare"). We all had our bags (and boxes) and really wanted to drop them off at our airBNB apartment. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a hold of the owner. So here we are waiting in front of Déak Ferenc 17 trying to catch the wifi. Thanks to Brenda and her phone, we were able to finally message Mr. Gisi (name changed to protect the innocent) and gave him my Hungarian phone number to call when his girls had finished cleaning.

Then we rushed off to the Parliament building because our tour was starting in ten minutes. With all our bags.

The parliament building is really incredible. The detail all over the walls and ceilings is crazy. The building took about seventeen years and a thousand workers to build. 

Here's our nice apartment. It's on the fourth floor and has an incredibly slow elevator. This is where we spent our nights in Budapest. 

Christmas Eve

A really controversial monument built for the Jews lost during WWII commemorating the 70th anniversary of Hungary's Nazi German occupation. This is the Hungarian angel being attacked by a German eagle. Next to the monument was this nice nativity.

Our Christmas Eve walking tour began at this Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge connecting the two cities, Buda and Pest. You can see the Buda castle to the left. 

That's the parliament building you can see at the left of the picture.

We decided to walk to the castle instead of taking the tram or the bus which was a great idea. We would have missed out on some really great photo opportunities and the fifteen variations of Deck the Halls from a paid violinist.

Matthias Church- this is a beautiful building. I think my favorite part is the roofing and the spectacular detail.

Nathan, the tourguide, and Kendell, the photographer

Here we are on the Fisherman's Bastion. I feel like it is this part that looks most castle-like.

After our four hour walking tour, we started for home, exhausted and Hungary. 

We happened upon a church and watched their nativity program. It was one of our favorite parts of the trip. If you sang the Hungarian words loud enough you didn't have to listen to the other singer.

Budapest is beautiful at night. That's the parliament building (not the castle).

Our dinner that night was this scone sandwich near the Szent Istvan Basilica. In front of the Basilica is a Christmas market.

Inside the Basilica.

Our Pre-Midnight Mass Meal consisted of salt bread, burberry juice, pumkin poppyseed and mulberry walnut strudel.

Midnight Mass. The Basilica was packed with people and was a really neat cultural experience. We had a fun time trying to sing along in Hungarian.

Christmas Day

The Jewish synogogue happened to be closed on Christmas (Nathan got a really big kick out of that). This area was a part of the ghetto where thousands of Jews were kept during WWII. In the back of the synagogue there is this interesting monument

The metro stops on this route really took me back in time with their tiled walls.

Hero's square

Behind Heroes' Square there is an ice skating rink, a castle (left) and I think the building on the right has some sort of spa.

This castle wasn't built until the late 1800's and is a replica of maybe four different buildings in Hungary.

Christmas dinner: Toltott Kaposta, a massive hot dog, kurtos kalacs, and the best Serbian Chocolate ever!

Kendell and Brenda left the next morning. Nathan and I had some time to explore more of Budapest before Kathryn arrived.

Gellert's hill

At the top of this mountain is the Citadella (Fortress) and the Liberation Monument

You can get some really great panoramic views of the city from the top of this hill.

Szent Gellert Monument. He was rolled down this hill to his death by his enemies.

Inside the Opera House

The Museum of Terror was not open during our time in Budapest but there was a really heavy atmosphere just being outside. Here is the iron curtain.  

The Western Railway Station (Nyugati palyaudvar) was built by the same company that built the Eiffel Tower.

The McDonald's at the Nyugati train station is supposedly the most beautiful McDonald's in the world. I think I would have to see all the McDonalds before I could say that about this one. But it does have a nice atmosphere and a nice restroom if you have your receipt from McDonalds.

I had my first Big Mac and Nathan tried his first Makos Guba.

The rest of the day we spent exploring churches on the Buda side of the city.

Keleti Train Station. I really felt like I was living in the movie Hugo when I went into this train station

I know that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ, but it really wouldn't have been a Christmas without some of my family here to celebrate. I am so grateful for my brothers and my sister-in-law who joined me in this adventure and for the calls from family. But most of all, I am so grateful that two thousand years ago, Christ was born because without him, life would be meaningless and empty. And with him, I can find joy.