Bearhugs Blog

Well, yesterday, we set off from Papa in good time and in rain. We were going to call in on Pannonhalma on the way, a priory with a superb library and monks who make and sell wine and liqueurs. It rained all the way, as we came in sight of the priory we realised how spectacular and imposing it would have looked in decent weather. It stood on top of a hill totally dominating the countryside around it. Shame it was wreathed in mist and cloud.
Visiting the priory and the winery would have involved an extended walk and since it was chucking it down, we decide to give it a miss and just go to the gift shop where John bought some drink and Maria bought some Christmas cards (a touch early I’d have thought). We then went to the café and tried the drinks John hadn’t bought and decided to go back and buy some of them. That’s when John discovered he was a credit card short. The last time he could remember using it was when we checked out of the hotel in Papa. So back we went to Papa. Hungarian drivers are appalling!! We were coming up to a bend in the road when round it came 2 vans and a car overtaking them, ON OUR SIDE OF THE ROAD. There was nowhere for us to go, John and I closed our eyes, luckily Maria (who was driving) didn’t. She pulled over as far as she could and braked, the van at the back did the same and luckily the car missed us. It did however hit the car following us. Y then everyone has slowed down sufficiently that while the cars were damaged there were no major injuries. It was however a close thing.
We made it back to Papa in one piece and found John had left his credit card there, so that was ok, and eventually we made it to Budapest. Back to the Gellert, our favourite hotel where we are known by all and sundry.
We have a nice room with a balcony, overlooking Gellert Hill and the Danube.

We unpacked and then we were off. We had tickets for a show of gipsy music and folk dancing. It was performed by the Rajko Ensemble, a group we had not seen before. They were very good but I think our favourite is still The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble.
 
We went back to the hotel restaurant for a meal and our favourite waiter wasn’t there!
Still the others know us as well and Maria had seen Zolti’s head from our balcony so we knew he hadn’t left
Today the weather had taken a definite turn for the better, too good if anything, the temperature was soaring. We planned to spend the day messing about in Budapest. First we visited another of Maria’s cousins, Ili. Apparently Maria and family used to stay with her on visits to Hungary in years gone by. She was looking well and very pleased to see us. She gave us a prezzie of some wine to take away with us, not I might say the first person to give us wine.

Then we moved onto a big book store Maria had found out about, the biggest in Budapest. John parked himself in the café while Maria had the staff running around finding her obscure books she remembered from her childhood.
They were very good to her, mind you she spent enough..

After that we traipsed around the Herend shops looking for this Matyo Madonna, Maria is so keen on. We only found a large one, so we’ve ordered one to pick up at Christmas, so I assume we’re coming back for the Christmas market. In the meantime of course, Maria had to have a small figurine to keep her going.
We were all wacked by now and grateful to stop at the Gerbeaux cukrazda for some well deserved refreshments.

 

It has been very hot, I feel truly sorry for the little old ladies in black begging on the streets, first because they’re begging and then because they must be so hot dressed all in black.

The gipsy band were playing during tea and they remembered us, which was nice. In fact we have our bedroom window open and we can hear them, which is lovely.
However we have had a disappointment. Zolti has transferred to the Brasserie (and they call him Zoli!!) so do we go and have our tea there and miss the band or do we stick with the restaurant and miss Zolti?? .

Pretty damp and chilly this morning, Maria even put a cardigan on, although John and I thought this was rather over the top.

We had decided to visit Herend today, a very famous porcelain factory, not my kind of thing but when you travel in a group you have to adapt. The journey was pleasant into the Bakony hills, with some nice scenery. John and Maria had been before, but many years ago,back in the communist era. Things have changed a lot. The factory is now owned mostly by the workers with the government owning 30%. There is an interesting visitor centre with a minifactory where you can see the manufacturing processes. Most of the making and decorating is done by hand, even when moulds are used there is a lot of hand finishing to be done.

One of the most famous patterns is the fishnet, and I was rather taken by this lion on display in the square.

We had a look in the shop. We loved some of the tea services, consisting of a tray, a teapot, sugar bowl, cream jug and 2 cups and saucers. However we felt we could not justify paying £3.000. We came very close to buying a figurine of a horseman (for a mere £200) but Maria said she would rather have a Matyo Madonna she’s seen before, they did not have one in this shop, but they have 3 more shops in Budapest, so we’ll have a look there.

By now we were all ready for some refreshment and visited our first cukrazda on this trip (and ate off Herend plates).

We then headed back to Papa, Maria particularly wanted to visit St Anne’s chapel (apparently she was baptised there) and John rather fancied the wine festival (Maria wasn’t so keen when she realised she’d have to walk.

The chapel was closed but we could peek in and Maria did a lot of – ‘Just think I was here when only a few days old, I can’t remember it at all’ – honestly!!

We then walked to the wine festival, Maria whinging all the way, we were rather early and things hadn’t really got going. We sampled a couple of wines and then started heading back, Maria still whinging. Then we found we were near the Blue Dyeing Museum, all of a sudden she wasn’t quite so desperate to get back.

Actually it was pretty interesting, we were lucky and 2 of the artists were there and were very informative. Maria and I were pretty interested in the patterns and designs. John was positivelly THRILLED with the old machinery, I think he made the guides day, he was so interested.

We’ve now made our way back to the hotel, a nice meal and then start packing ready to move on tomorrow. We’re off to Budapest (via Pannonhalma) and our favourite hotel, The Gellert.

A nice morning, the overnight rain cooled things down significantly and it was very pleasant outdoors. We had been invited for lunch by one of Maria’s cousins, so we strolled out to buy a nice bunch of flowers for the lady of the house.

We are only a couple of streets from the centre of Papa but the streets already have a lot of character, I don’t think they have changed for many, many years. I much prefer it to the newer more modern areas.

We had a lovely lunch, proper Hungarian food, and Maria had lots to talk about (doesn’t she always). I was starting to feel a bit bored, but then I made friends with young Hedi and had a nice chat with her. She was very interested in all my souveniers, bits and pieces I have collected on my travels. Maria gave Hedi one of her bears last Christmas so it was nice to catch up with him as well.

Later in the afternoon we went to meet another of Maria’s cousins (how many has she got?). She works in Ganna where there is the mausoleum of the Eszterhazy family.

A lot of stairs but fascinating, it is still in use, the last internment took place 7 years ago. The altar in the mausoleum is unique in that it has a figure of Christ on each side of the cross on the altar. When Mass is said, it is said by 2 priests at the same time facing each other, one in white vestments and one in mourning vestments, one dedicated to the living members of the family and one to the dead. 

We then took a nice drive to Dobronte, a very attractive village. One of Maria’s highlights was seeing the grazzing goats (what is it with her and goats?) 

… one of my mine was the rather picturesque ruined castle behind the cemertary

…and one of John’s was finding a stork’s nest with a stork in residence.

A nice day, polished off with a nice meal in the restaurant (Maria had strawberry soup??) and a drink of palinka in the bar.

 

I haven’t been able to post for a couple of days ‘cos I’ve not had access to the internet.

After a great night on Monday we left London on Tuesday morning and headed for Dover, we made good time and caught the midday ferry to Dunkirk, waving good bye to the white cliffs as we went. 

The seagulls are obviously used to the ferries, one travelling with us for miles just hovering next tot he deck and begging for food.

We made it through France, Belgium and Holland Ok, but then we hit Germany.

It goes on for EVER and the autobans and BORING.

Maria seems to know a very limited range of games you can play in the car, and John was either driving or testing his eyelids for leaks.

When I saw John turning off for Frankfurt airport I thought great they’ve seen sense and we’re going to fly the rest of the way. No such luck we were just going to a hotel for the night. You should have seen Maria’s face when she realised it was a Holiday Inn. John keeps telling her there are some excellent Holiday Inns etc. etc. But she’s yet to be convinced.

This one started off well. Nice receptionist and very quick, a slight hiccup when she tried to give us just one token for breakfast, still we were prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

The room was long way away, but this was due to the fact we had been upgradded to a suite. A sitting room, a bathroom, an extra loo and a bedroom, reasonably nice, very roomy and the complimentary basket of fruit was very nice.

However the suite was made up for only one, one pillow and one single quilt ( on a queen size bed?) and one bath towel. We found another quilt in the wardrobe and Maria called down for another pillow and bathtowel. We then found the quilt in the wardrobe did not have a cover. While the bedroom had a phone, it was at the far end of the room from the bed and there was no chair.

So Maria quickly checked that the hotel we’re staying in on the way back is NOT a Holiday Inn. Thankfully it’s not.

We spent Wednesday morning in the rain driving through Germany and reached Austria just after lunch. At which point the rain stopped and the sun tried to break through. By the time we reached Hungary the sun was shining brightly.

We found the hotel OK and its lovely, nice people and a lovely room. Only disadvantage is the fact that it’s on the second floor, and there’s no lift. Thankfully it’s airconditioned ‘cos it was very warm outside. About 32 to 33 degrees. We had a lovely meal and a palinka in the bar and then off to bed. 

Maria woke up feeling pretty lousy today, a combination of heat and dehydration we think, so we just hung around for the morning.

John and I could have gone out, but he does insist on staying with her. I don’t think I’ll ever get married.

In the afternoon we decided a drive out would be OK, the car is nice and cool. So we went to Lovaszpatona, apparently the village Maria grew up in (well up to the age of eight anyway). We were taking some flowers to put on her grandparents grave. The cemertery seemed to be full of her family, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends of her mum….

While there the weather turned rather ominous and we could hear thunder. We thought we might get wet but the rain held off. The temperature dropped to a much more reasonable 27 degrees.

As we drove through the village it was a constant litany of:-

That’s the memorial with my uncles name on, he died in the war.

That’s where I went to school, it used to be a hunting lodge you know.

That’s where my mum went to school.

That’s the street I lived on.

That’s where I broke my arm…….

On the way back we decide to call in on some cousins of Maria’s (on her fathers side). You should have seen their faces, apparently they hadn’t seen each other for about 18 years. Still I gather it was nice to catch up.

We are still hearing a lot of thunder and seeing occasional flashes of lightning, but as yet no rain.

Well we’re off again. I was ready last night, all packed etc. but Maria and John kept faffing about, making lists and so on. Maria has planned an itinerary for the whole trip, We’ll be lucky if we have time to stop and breathe.

However today was pretty easy, pack the car and leave about midday, heading for London. We popped in on John’s parents on the way, we owed Maureen a birthday prezzie from way back in early July, this seemed a good opportunity to drop it off. And then off to London, we’re staying there overnight because we have tickets for Joseph (we watched all the TV shows).  With John travelling so much, he collects hotel reward points and we’re staying at the Crowne Plaza on Buckingham Palace Road, just down from Buck House, very nice it is too.

We arrived mid afternoon rather peckish and so had afternoon tea in the courtyard, good job the weather has improved. That should keep us going until after the show.

We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow, the aim us to end up in Frankfurt tomorrow night. Hope Maria knows lots of games to play on car journeys, otherwise I’ll get rather bored.

Ps. Isn’t it a small world. Last week Claire, Maria and I bought an Indian takeaway from Waitrose (John was in America). It was a rather special southern Indian meal, based on food from a London restaurant called Quilan, It was lovely and we all wondered where in London the restaurant was. Well now we know, it’s at this hotel!!!

Pps. Joseph was FANTASTIC!!!!