My Hungarian Haircut

My hair was getting shaggy, so I got a haircut at Dudás Hajas Szalon.  Pretty modern I thought and wow they served me cappucino while I waited.  Afterwards, I met my friend Zoltan for coffee, and he told me I had chosen the MOST EXPENSIVE salon in Pécs to get my haircut.  By American standards, it was moderate - a $30 haircut.  Before I return Mike is encouraging me to get some red hair dye – which seems to be a popular Hungarian hair color.  So here is my haircut video.

 

Where are the Laundromats? $50 load of clothes

I find this strange – but there are no Laundromats in Pécs.  You know, a place where people who don’t own washing machines can do their laundry.  I looked everywhere and when I asked friends here, they all said the same thing – everyone has a washing machine or access to one (apartment buildings).  For a country that seems to have a much poorer lifestyle, fewer conveniences and luxuries, I was surprised.  I found a couple places in town that do laundry (mosoda).  I took a medium size load of close to the Arkad mosoda – 2 pairs of jeans, some tshirts, a towel – and asked how much it would cost to get them washed.  It was $50!!!!  I could not believe it.   Who could possibly afford this? Apparently, these mosoda are used to wash special clothes (an expensive dress; wedding dress) and usually have a dry cleaner at the same place. 

So I have been doing my laundry in my sink since I got here.  I hooked up a small clothes line from one of those bands you wrap around your luggage – or use to tie something on your car.  Jeans take a long time to dry – I have to hang them in the shower first so they don’t make a mess dripping all over the floor. 

Szilvás Gombóc and Hot Halloween

Today I got to try a very common Hungarian dish – Szilvás gombócs which are plum dumplings.  Many restaurants here have a daily menu that is posted outside.  It is generally a soup followed by a choice of one of two entrees.  These meals can be very cheap and a good way for me to try different Hungarian foods.  Often these smaller restaurants do not have the daily menu translated in English, so you can either take your pick – or try to figure out a few words.  I have learned the hard way (chicken livers with pickles – no joke) to try to figure out which choice seems better.  There is a big incentive for me to learn Hungarian “food” words. And it has worked well so far.  I have a favorite place one of my friends showed me – that has soup, salad and entrée on its daily menu – under $4. 

So today I saw a sign outside a restaurant that said    Lencseleves and Szilvás Gombóc  560 F.  Wow, I had to go in and try.  I knew from the name the type of soup was lentil.  It was a lentil, pasta, meat soup – very hearty.  And afterwards I was served a plate of Szilvás Gombóc.  I do not know if this would be a typical lunch at all, since the dumplings are much more like a dessert.  Here’s a picture.  However, despite the powered sugar on top, the dumplings are not real sweet dough.  They are filled with warm plum filling.  Like an apple dumpling, but not as sweet.  Very filling actually because it is a pretty hearty helping of dough.  And quite tasty.

I have noticed that as the weather gets cold, the cafes start to serve and advertise hot alcohol drinks – like hot wine.  I’ve had this before and love it.  And it seems very common – also in Croatia, Mike and I had a hot drink – rum punch that I liked very much.  So, today, I was passing a local coffee house and noticed they were advertising several hot drinks, so I stopped to try.  I ordered the Hot Halloween – seems appropriate – and here it is – I’m not sure what is in it – although I wrote down the ingredients to ask one of my Hungarian speaking friends.  It did have rum and an orange slice, but the other ingredient, the waitress could not translate to English.  Tasty.  

My McDonald's Confession

I do not go to the McDonald's in the U.S.  Not only is the food bad, but I support local restaurants and coffee shops - not Mickey D's and Starbucks.  If we don't stop supporting these huge businesses, there won't be any small ones left.  So I have always avoided the McDonald's that is located on the main square in Pécs.   I had a little coffee shop that I was going to for wi fi or I would go to the square by the National Theatre where there is a hotspot.   For some reason I have not been able to connect at the little coffee shop for some time now - the signal is weak and it never turns on.  And it is getting too cold to sit outside in the square to use the town hotspot.  I have had mixed results going to restaurants nearby and getting on to the web. Soooo - I find myself sitting at the McDonald's which, I must admit, has a very good wi fi connection.  This McDonald's is different from those at home - maybe it is a European thing.  There is the typical counter where folks go get their burgers and fries, but in the back there is a McCafe where they serve expresso and cappuccino.  I sit in the back and get a cappuccino and use their wi fi.   I was at university today hoping to use its wi fi- but some cable is broken (probably all that construction in town) and no internet, in some buildings, no electricity.  So, darn it, I tried - and now I'm back at the McDonald's.  What a traiter - I hope no one sees me here.  But the place is packed - what is wrong with these people?  OH, yea.  I am now one of them.  But I don't see any computers - so what is their excuse.

I Love Zagreb, Croatia

Just spent 3 days in Zageb, Croatia.   Beautiful city.  Great People.  I am still amazed at the lively street life that exists in Zagreb (Europe in general?) even when the weather gets cold and rainy.  People are still outside walking around; still sitting in the outside cafes.  Of course they have more clothes on and are under the umbrellas, but in this weather no one in Kansas City would be having coffee outside.

I attended the Zagreb Film Fest (that’s a separate post), bought cheese in Dolac marketplace, went to a couple of museums, and visited with friends – old and new.

I met my friend, who works for Croatian public television covering cultural events – just think they have a reporter whose sole job is to cover film, books, music, art openings. I won’t put her name or information on the blog as I know how she feels about privacy on the internet.  Anyway, I first met her on the train from Zagreb to Pecs about 5 years ago and have kept in touch.  We spent half a day just catching up – had coffee and then went to a local restaurant for lunch.  

Talking Croatian politics – did you know that their prime minister pulled a Sara Palin?  He resigned; said he did not want the job anymore.  Although there was speculation about the cause, he gave no reason.  Apparently, it was quite a shock.  Croatia now has its first woman prime minister, whom he appointed.  There are some investigations into corruption in government and folks speculated he may have been involved.   The government is under pressure from the EU to clean up the corruption if Croatia wants to join EU.  And you may have heard that last year a journalist who was reporting on this corruption was killed – with a car bomb in Zagreb.  So interesting conversations.

 I went to the Croatian Artists Center to see its current exhibit.  Absolutely amazing video installations.  Strange video of performance artist Hermann Nitsch, involving butchering a cow – and naked people drinking blood and having cow inards all over them.  I can’t describe the piece really well.  There were also some disturbing videos of anti-gay demonstrations in Belgrade – very ugly, violent stuff.   With a Serbian priest talking about how bad homosexuality is in the world.  Just a reminder that these issues are not only in the United States.  But lots of thought provoking work.  Fabulous. 

I also got to the Museum of Arts and Crafts 40 minutes before they closed and saw an interesting exhibit of mosaic chairs and paintings from Vladimir Meglic.  The permanent collection in this gallery is overwhelming and can’t be seen in such a short time – everything from clothing to furniture to watches and clocks, glass, photographs, art deco objects.  The basic initiative of the museum is to preserve the material culture of past life in castles, to give a look at the everyday life of Croatian nobility and middle class over the centuries.  It has the largest holdings in Croatia of applied art from 14^th to 20^th century.  I did not get to see it all, but it was worth the visit.  Me and a Japanese tour group.  This Muzej za Umjetnost I Obrt.

Some just some general shots of my time in Zagreb.

Duck Pizza

 

   

I thought this was just a cute pizza shop sign in Zagreb, but they seriously did have duck pizza.  I wanted to try it – but they didn’t have any duck pizza left – for those buying just a slice of pizza.  Here is my veggie pizza instead – pretend its duck.

Zagreb Film Festival

ZFF is a fabulous film festival.  I was lucky to catch the last couple days and meet Jadran Boban, a Croatian director, who had been to the Kansas International Film Festival, with his film The Ghosts of Zagreb in September.  But, of course, I was not in KC in September, so we met for the first time in Zagreb.  Great guy.  Here we are sharing a beer at the cinema cafe.

The Zagreb Film Festival uses six different venues in the city.  Europa cinema was one block from my hotel, so I went there to catch a couple films my first day in Zagreb.  I saw a Canadian film, I Killed My Mother, and a film from U.K., Somers Town.  All the films have English subtitles – thank you ZFF!!  And on the last day of the fest, I caught the Romanian film The Happiest Girl in the World.  

The crowds are truly impressive.  Here is a video that shows the cinema and the café outside where folks are gathering for the fest, the inside as they are lining up – oh, my - that shot in the theatre was a 3 p.m. Friday screening.  I was shocked at how many people came at that time of day.

SNEAKING INTO THE FILM FESTIVAL  Saturday night, I did not buy a ticket in advance.  The theater is large, I reasoned.  But it was sold out.  So I snuck in without a ticket – but I won’t give you the details to protect my sources.  I had made friends the day before at the festival. 

The festival has great graphics and you see its distinctive character and logo in all its advertisements.  Before each film it had a cute short film of its “mascot” jumping out of an airplane, Bond style adventure.  Very clever.

Jadran took me to a cinema nearby that shows  ONLY documentary films - Docukino.  It was packed.  Can you imagine a cinema in Kansas City that shows only documentary films. Hey Brian and Ben - how about devoting a screen in one of your theatres???

Riding Horses with Bette and Feri

I met Bette when she was a student in one of my film classes on a trip to Hungary six or seven years ago.  She is an amazing women, and I'm glad we have kept in touch.  She now lives outside Budapest in the mountains with her boyfriend, Feri.  He is also amazing.  He is the musician in the post on my first night in Budapest below.  He's also an artist.  I was able to see some of his artwork that had been in an exhibition and is was stored in the house.  Very interesting drawings - on the dark side and thoughtful - often incorporating found objects.

Bette and Feri train horses and give riding lessons.  Feri competed in show horse jumping.  I spent a few days with them in the mountains and got a look at a very different side of Hungarian living.  The house in the photo is where they live - and you can see the setting where the house is in the first shot - and the mountains and the pasture where they keep the horses. And yes that is me on my first night there - leading one of the horses from the day pasture into the area where they stay at night.  I can see that it is a lot of work taking care of animals.  Bette and Feri work in a different manner from traditional horse trainers.  They believe that humans should study horse behavior and use the natural instincts and behaviors in training hores instead of trying to get the horses to adapt to the humans.  They know a lot about animal behavior.  Bette has gathered an amazing amount of research and is writing a book on the topic.

I also helped them redo their electric fence in the night pasture - that is the fence you see in the video.  The white lines contain thin electric wires for the current.  The view of the countryside at the end was taken from top of the horse that I rode - and you see Feri also in the video.  

Bette and I went to the market and bought food for dinner.  She taught me to make hot wine (awesome - and Bette and I were shocked when we realized how much wine we drank together that day), a traditional basic soup, and stuffed cabbage.  Wow it was great.  Get ready for some good food and hot wine when I come back in December.  Sorry I did not take a photo of our food.

I really enjoyed my time with Bette and Feri since they let me see how they live, and I got to help out occasionally.  The horses are beautiful animals and so are their two dogs.  

 

Public Thermal Baths in Budapest

To Americans the idea of a public bath is uncommon - I don't think we have anything like these and I was a bit skeptical of going, even though I went to the baths with Agi.  Then when I realized that I forgot to bring my bathing suit to Budapest, I really thought - forget it.  Bette told us you can rent one at the baths.  Does that sound sanitary to you? Mandi bought a suit while we were out sightseeing, but I figured I'd get the full experience and rent a suit. The lady threw 3 suits out on the table and I picked the pink one (they are all basic one piece tanks) and held it up and she nodded that it would fit.  Well, it was not bad.  OK - if you think I am going to post a photo of me in the baths - FORGET IT.  But here is a look at two of the outdoor baths I went to with Mandi and Greg.  

The first shot in the video is from the famous Szechenyi Baths - that big pool with the steam coming off is part of the largest bathing complex in Europe.  The heat comes from a thermal spring that was discovered in 1879 - it is the deepest/hottest one in Budapest -  at 75 degress C (not Farheinheit).  It was pretty cold while we were in Budapest - I had three layers - a turtle neck sweater, my lambs wool sweater with hood I bought in Ireland, and a coat on.  So I could not believe that we were walking outside - barefoot in a swimsuit to get in this pool.  But it was great - and all these people are just lounging in this hot pool outside in the cold.  There are jets in the pool that massage you and also some overhead sprays.  I saw the men playing chess in the pool - that is a tradition that i had seen in photos many times.

Now here is the funny part - see that huge building in back of the pool.  Well the baths are a big complex and when I told Bette two days later that we went there - she laughed when I told her we were only in the outdoor pool.  Apparently this complex has MANY other pools, saunas, etc inside - but we did not know it.  So when I return, I'll have to check it out.  I know Mike would love this place.  He wanted to go when we were in Hungary before - sorry, honey,  you were right.

Well, we liked the thermal baths so well, we were going to go to the Lukács baths the next day where the guidebook said there were mud baths.  Sounds interesting. But when we got there - no mud baths.  So we decided to get massages.  There was only one person giving massages, so while Greg went first Mandi and I got in the outdoor pool which is the second one on the video. It's was not as hot as Szechenyi.  So we wandered around this maze of a building and found 2 other outdoor pools - both cold - YIKES - and 3 hot pools that were much smaller.  Still it is so cold when you get out that i don't think it is worth walking around.  The massage was terrific - lots of sore muscles from carrying my backpack and walking up the Bascilica stairs.  And I rented a suit here as well - getting to be an old pro at this.

Sightseeing with Greg and Mandi in Budapest

OK - these are just a few sights from my travels with Greg and Mandi in Budapest.  I was surprised that I could be so comfortable with people I don't know well, but they were so adventurous and fun loving and warm.  They made me feel very welcome hanging out with them.  It's more fun than seeing Budapest alone.  Greg - was clearly the guide - my horse owning friends, Bette and Feri, would call him the leader horse.  We saw many of the major sights on the Pest side of the city, including the Parliament building - my favorite of all the architectural wonders here - especially seen from the Danube river (the last shot of the short video here) I can't believe how well Greg could find his way around the metros, trams, buses and streets of Budapest - which can be very intimidating.  So he has inspired me to use more of the public transportation in Budapest - which came in handy on my last day in Budapest - THANK YOU GREG.    Toward the end of this short video, you'll see Greg at the top of St. Stephens Bascilica - the largest church in Budapest.   The climb to the top of the 96 metre high dome around a spiral staircase was a work-out - you can also see a shot of Greg on the way down that staircase. Much easier going down.  At the top - we could see Mandi waving to us from the square -check that out.  Oh, and that gold ornate box contains the most important religious relic in Hungary - the mummified arm of King St. Stephen!!!  

First Night In Budapest

Arrived in Budapest on Oct 15 by train.  Found the Red Metro line and the 11th Hour Cinema Hostel where I met Mandi and Greg.  Mandi is the daughter of some very very good friends of ours - Mike and Cherie.  Although I'd met Mandi before, I can not say that we knew each other. She and Greg are living and teaching in Germany and emailed me they were traveling to Budapest so I met them there.  We had dinner at a restaurant across from the hostel.  These guys are really awesome and proved to be great to hang out with in Budapest.  They were amazing.  I have a Hungarian friend, Bette, who invited us to a concert that night at the Filter Club - definitely a local hangout - no tourists here (oh, that's right we were there).  Bette's significant other, Feri, is the lead singer in this band.  when I got there - there were two more former students and another professor from the English dept in Pecs, whom I'd met before that Bette had invited to the club, so it was like a reunion.  This was a great night first night in Budapest - a funky local hangout, wonderful music, and good conversation about languages and Hungarian politics.   Here's a short video of Feri's band.  Check out his band's website and download some tunes   www.dyas.hu/in-english/

Cinepécs Film Festival

Another great line-up of films for the last two days of this festival.  I saw five films in a row on Saturday.  Wow, what a marathon.  With a quick stop for a bowl of bean goulash and a beer in a nearby cellar restaurant between films.  It’s hard to pick a favorite film.  I loved the film Belgrade Phantom – a hybrid documentary/drama.  Interviews with witnesses to the events were effectively woven together with a dramatization of the story of a young man, during the Tito regime in Yugoslavia, who stole a white Porsche and drove around the central city square in Belgrade evading police night after night.  He becomes a folk hero as people crowd the square to see him each night, while the police become increasingly desperate to stop him. I also liked the Croatian film Land of Wonders with a cast of characters all damaged by the war in different ways.  The Romanian film, The Other Irene, was a tale of a man’s search to find out the truth behind his wife’s death, fighting an unsympathetic bureaucracy.  This film won the top prize at the fest.  Sunday I went to four screenings, including 3 short documentaries about the gypsies that were in Hungarian with no subtitles unfortunately for me.  There was fascinating documentary called the Political Economy of Capitalism that followed 6 workers who formed a company together.  It was sad, brutal tale of one man’s eventual take-over of the company from his former co-workers and partners.  That evening the festival organizers closed a traffic tunnel, put up two big screens and projected an Emir Kustirica’s film (Time of the Gypsies).  They had food and drink followed by the awards ceremony in the tunnel.  There’s a picture of the tunnel events below. A very cool ending to the festival.   I believe I saw 15 screenings during the 4 day fest.  Hope to bring some of these films to the Kansas International Film Festival next year to a U.S. audience.

CinePécs Film Festival

This four day film festival highlights the work of first time directors in central and east Europe. I've have seen some wonderful films from Slovenia, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, and Bosnia so far. I'm looking for films that I can bring back to the States for the Kansas International Film Festival (KIFF) next September. I'm very impressed with the quality of the films and the festival in general. Screening at 10 in the morning and continue until 8 at night. A concert every night follows the last screening. I haven't made it to the concerts yet. I am impressed with how many people have turned out at the screenings I've attended. And looks like lots of students which is quite encouraging. I see many of my students here and also professors from the university. As far as the films - I'll just mention a few. Vladimir Balko's Soul at Peace was a great film. The story of a man, getting out of jail, struggling to reconnect with family and friends and build an honest life, was at once an intimate portrait of a Slovak village and its daily life and problems, and at the same time a univeral story of aging men, friendships, betrayals, and just the fates that life hands out. The director was a very humble man who apparently worked in documentary film before making his first feature drama. I was also moved by a Polish film, not in competition - Reliable System. A female director who was able to create very moving characters, particularly the lead actress, as an aging woman trying to redeem a past mistake. The interconnected lives, especially of the older man who is charmed by this lovely neighbor, makes for multi dimensional stories about life and loneliness. Fortunately, the festival organizers have both English and Hungarian subtitles for most of the films, extending a welcoming hand to festival goers by announcing films in both languages. It is much appreciated by me - as I am able to see these wonderful films. The whole festival is well organized in every aspect - I'm very impressed and off this morning to see more films.

Hike up Zengó Mountain

Saturday I joined Ági for a hike in the mountains.  She emailed me that it would be a 10 K hike.  I converted – the whole metric thing, you know – 6 miles.  I can do that.  Met her at the bus station Sat. morning.  She said, well, this is one of the more difficult routes – we’re hiking up the highest mountain in the Mesck range!! WHAT?  You didn’t say that in the email.  “Well, it isn’t the Alps” she laughed.  “And look how many people are older than you.” 

So I got on the bus to Pécsvárad with the group and our leader who was dressed in Alpine like short pants with great long socks. (see him below) Through the town we walked and up a hill to a church to set out on our path through the woods – after raiding a nearby fig tree that was loaded with ripe figs!!! Yummy.  The hike up was strenuous at times – think of climbing stairs for one hour.  I actually had this thought that if I had a heart attack up here – that was it – I would die on this mountain in Hungary, because I don’t think there is any way a helicopter could get to me – and don’t know if they have Medvac anyway.  But we took frequent breaks, so I managed to survive.  At the top we stopped and unpacked our lunch.  The leader passed around some home made wine.  I knew this guy was my kind of group leader.

There was a watchtower at the top which we climbed up for a view of the surrounding villages.  Then the hike back down was, of course, much easier than the hike up.  When we arrived at our destination village there was a festival going on.  So half the group set out for the bus stop to catch the bus back, and the other half went to the festival. 

There was music and dancing and a cooking contest. Here’s how it works.  You buy a festival pass – and get 3 tickets to exchange for food, and one for wine.  (I asked Ági if we could get 3 for wine and one for food) Anyway, you go through each of the booths and choose which food to buy with your tickets and whoever gets the most tickets at the end of the competition wins.  The food was great – I had a cabbage and pork dish with apples, a cabbage and pear dish (hey, I have Croatian blood, I love my cabbage) and a plate of food from the Croatian booth – I had to vote for them.  While eating we watched the performances. 

Ági met one of her former students, nice guy named Andras, and we wound up going to his house to visit his mother.  Ági had not seen her for a few years, but taught both of her sons in high school.  What a gracious lady.  She gave us an apple, then expresso, then this absolutely fabulous walnut cake with an amazing crème filling that her 83 year old mother made and which probably was a gazillion calories, and a glass of wine!! 

Well, we missed the second bus back as we were eating and drinking and visiting, but got lucky and caught a special bus that was taking a group of school children back to Pécs from the festival.  What a great day – I got lots of exercise in a beautiful setting.  (Of course, the walnut cake cancelled out all my exercise) Here’s a very short look at my mountain hike and the women dancing with wine bottles on their heads at the festival – how do they do that?

Eating Ostrich and “French Toast”

Struccuccok is ostrich in Hungarian.  I went to one of my favorite restaurants, Korhely (messy place).  Picked one of the ostrich dishes – here it is.  Well, it does not taste like chicken!!!  More like a steak.  It seems pretty common here to have some type of meat dish with either gnocchi or rice on the side.  No veggies.  I’d say this was a pretty tasty dish. 

This morning I’m having breakfast – espresso and “French Toast”  Well, the French toast arrived – it is like taking an Italian loaf of bread, cutting it, dipping it in egg and frying it – and then sprinking parsley on top!  No syrup or jam with it.   Just dry toast.  Humm.  Well, it’s ok – but being the sweet tooth that I am, I prefer mine soaked in sugary syrup.

HOLY SHIT

If you have been following my blog - all two of you - from the beginning, you know that when I first arrived in Pécs I stumbled across a beautiful outdoor wedding by the Cathedral.  I shot some video and posted it. 

Well, I just got an EMAIL from the groom.  How in the heck did he find my blog????  Anyway, he wanted to know if I had more video - as he'd like a copy.  Imagine that!!!  

Interesting Architecture

  Wanted to show you a bit of Pécs.  Not the monuments on the postcards, but apartments, shops, and streets in the town.

Chinese Restaurant with Eminen and Kanye

I told Ryan before I left for Hungary that there were no Chinese restaurants in Pécs.  He said impossible.  Well, almost, but as it turns out, he was correct.  I found one on a side street wandering around the city. There is also an Asia Buffet in the mall – but I don’t count that as a restaurant – and I generally don’t count anything in the mall as part of the City.

Today I decided to have lunch at the Golden Rivers restaurant.  I figure each country has its own version of Mexican or Chinese food.  After all, American Mexican restaurants don’t serve traditional Mexican food, but our Americanized version of it.  Well, I think the menu at the Golden Rivers had many items that would be standards in our Chinese restaurants – sweet and sour chicken, typical versions of spicy chicken, pork, duck, beef, and shrimp.  But I’m not sure you’d find duck liver – a whole section of duck liver dishes –in a Chinese restaurant, maybe I’m misinformed. There was also venison and turkey, something called cuttlefish, and a dish on the Chief’s Specials called squirrel carp.  The dessert section had Fried banana, apple or pineapple and ice cream boiled in oil.  I’m not sure if these are Chinese. 

I ordered a safe choice from the lunch menu – sweet and sour chicken which did turn out to be similar to what I might get at home: breaded chicken pieces in a sweetened sauce with pieces of carrots and peas, served with white rice.  It came with a spicy egg drop soup.  I would say the quality of the food was a step down from the Hen House deli – very average. 

As far as restaurants here, the inside was pretty fancy really.  A gold and maroon theme and lots of Asian details: carved dragon chair backs, Japanese geisha placemats, Asian theme tablecloths, hanging lanterns, a pagoda style roof over the bar, real bamboo in a vase at the table.  And, what’s this? the music, was that Eminem? singing about wonder why I dress like Elvis?  And then Estelle singing American Boy – with Kanye West.  How odd that the whole restaurant is full of Asian things, but the music is in English.

Anyway, I was too full to try the ice cream boiled in oil – but I must go back and see if that is like our Fried Ice Cream.  Here's a pic of the sweet/sour chicken.  I never did figure out what that black thing was - looked like greens, collards, but was definitely not - maybe some type of seaweed.

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.