My Birthday/Visit to Thermal Baths

This past weekend (Sept 27) was my birthday.  Kinda cool to be in Hungary, kinda sad to be away from family.  Ági was wonderful on Sunday. She took me to the big flea market that I always wanted to see.  I’ve never been to the Swap N Shop at the I-70 Drive-In in Kansas City, but I imagine this might be similar.  On Sundays at a large area in the suburbs of Pecs, there are booths with everything you might need to buy from clothing to car parts.  There is even a section with live animals: dogs, cats, bunny rabbits, and chickens I saw.  There are antiques and second hand items as well as new clothing, furniture, tools, etc.  There is also a section with fresh fruits and vegetables.  I bought a broom for my flat, a sink stopper, and some grapes and pears.  Agi then took me to a friend’s house, Aniko, where I got to pick fresh figs off her tree. Yummie.  I love figs and I confess I ate the whole container of figs by the end of the day.  I know, I have no self control.  Ági took me to a beautiful restaurant, the Owl’s Castle, for lunch.  Up in the hills behind the central city, we sat outside overlooking a vineyard and the city.  Good food and a glass of wine.  Then I went home and walked around the festival.  Today, in addition to the regular booths, there were crafts of all sorts – a lot of pottery, beautiful wooden bowls, folks selling different types of honey, more wine vendors.  I then got ready to meet Agi, Aniko, and Julia for a trip to the thermal baths in a small nearby city.  I’ve heard about the popular thermal baths which are supposed to be good for your health.  Naturally hot spring waters.  There were two different baths – one was much hotter than the other.  Basically, it looked like a big swimming pool with seats, and felt like a hot tub.  People, mostly older it seems, sit around in the hot waters and relax.  It was quite nice.  We got thirsty and had a beer afterwards.  Then back to town in time for me to have a video chat with my family.  So it was a very full day.  I did not have time to really wallow in my “away from family” blues. After the video chat, I went by the last night of the festival, watched some folk dancing and tango dancing, and bought some great cheese.  I had bread, cheese and my figs for my birthday dinner.  It was a great day.