The lost part of my family

As a child I could not communicate with my grandmother and her children. My aunt found me just before I left Hungary so this time we prepared for meeting with them. Unfortunately my grandmother could only watch us from above, but her younger sister was still with us and shared many photos about the family.
This was the first time I ever saw a picture about my father as a child. The new generation had a chance to get to know each other little better too. The youngest child of one of my aunt entertained Zsolti.

New friends everywhere

In some cases using the train makes crossing the city easier that is why today we took the train and met an old friend of mine. To our biggest surprise the train was a brand new, stylish one. Zsolti enjoyed it a lot.
He was very happy to realize my friend has a 6 years old son and just like they grow up together they find each others company very entertaining. We already arranged a new appointment to visit again so the kids can play more.
We had a great time and my friend prepared an excellent lunch for us.
During the hottest hours it was pleasant to hide in the house, the boys were playing the computer ( they did not mind it at all ) and we caught up on some years.
It seems I was in the best place at the best time, the husband of my friend is a musician. I mentioned to him I am missing practicing the piano a lot and he said he cant let me to be without a practice piano and he lent me a piano, which I am soooo grateful.

Our translator friend is getting settled

Many of my friends had great changes in their life ( just like in mine :)) )
One of my best friend, who teaches English get happily married and found an appartment in a great location.
This is the view from one of their room.
He is a pianist in his free time and he knew I started to learn the piano and surprised me with a practice book. Im grateful to have such great friends.

Visiting friends

Zsolti is only satisfied on days when we are just running and visiting people one by one.
Today he must be happy as we only got home in the evening.
It is a custom to bring some surprise everytime we visit. As it is really hot so many times we bring icecream to the hosts. When every we enter the store Zsolti gets distracted by chocolates and sweets. This time he got the pink heart instead of icecream.
At the end of the day I enjoyed Indian tea in a teahouse where my friend is the owner. Zsolti got creative and changed the decoration a little in the teahouse. As a surprise he got some icecream in a cone and he was running to show me he got FREE ice cream... I found that very amusing.

Walk in the City Park

In the middle of the city, near where we live there is big park called City Park, it is one of the lung of the city.
There is a nice lake in the middle and many green to walk and play around.
To please Zsolti my artist friend and us went on a walk there.
Shortly after we started our walk the rain washed us away...
We escaped from it into a chinese restaurant.
An hour later the rain passed and we continued our walk.
Our last stop was at the Heroes Square and we could see how the lights were slowly turning on as the sun set.

Flower for me

I got a flower from Heni... we were building lots of fun stuff.
Now that Zsolti and me had cameras, she had to have one too... and she calls it computercamera... when she takes pictures she holds it upside down.

Amusement park for kids

Zsolti saw a rollercoaster and we had to try it immediately. My "foster-brother" and his 3 years old daughter joined the fun too... I think the 3 years old enjoyed it the most from all of us. Zsolti wanted to go on 2 or 3 more rides :D

After the rollercoaster we were bumping in cars, Zsolti was driving... he was so dangerous I could not take any photos while he was driving. :)))

And other birtday party during the evening

Today was a busy day and not only started with a birthday party but ended with one too.

While other people were staring at the tv watching the soccer world championship we had a pleasant chat, later we went to dance a little...
Some of the girls were partychicks and they were teasing us, telling we are the retired group because we left the scene after 2 hours. :)

The three comedian musketeers

It is easy to convince the kids to be goofy.

Birthday party for my brother

My mom planned a party for my brother.
We had a good time together. Little Heni enjoyed it the most. She found a cabinet with glasses which served as a mirror and she entertained the whole group. She was singing, lauging, dancing.
Later she became a hairdresser and created a new style for her grandmother.
Finally she decided she needs lots of photos of herself too.

Learning how to drive with stickshift

My friend Bernát was so lovely that he let me use his Mercedes and taught me how to use a stickshift.
Time was pressuring us because we only had an hour or maximum two. He was surprised how fast I started the car and slowly rolled... the beginning was very promising but fast I caught up on stalling the car couple of time...
This was necessary for me to have a feel for the clutch.
It is maybe more economical to drive such car but I am already spoiled and used to the automatic stift... it was strange to handle 3 pedals with 2 feet and plus the stick.
But now I can say I did drive a car with stickshift :)

Leaving the lake

The first picture is the proof we travelled with a different train, other than ours... ooops we caught the previous train. The controller was asking for our special tickets, luckily he was nice enough and he let us leave the train at the next station without a fine. He said in Hungary the trains only come let, never earlier... :D

Later when we found our original train Zsolti had a chance to entertain others. He was sitting with a nice couple who also entertained him well during the trip.

Some words about Lake Balaton

Everytime I mentioned the Lake Balaton for tourists I told them this is the Hungarian Sea. Hungary doesnt have an actual sea but standing on the shore looking around gives the feeling of endless water.

This is the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe. It is 50-mile-long, and one of the shallowest lake, the water gradually deepens to 11 feet.
The water on the beach warms up fast as early as May and it is enjoyable sometimes even around September and beginning of October.
The narrowest diameter is 3 miles at the peninsula, and the widest is almost 10 miles.
Every year there is a competition for brave, sportive people who can swim accross the lake at the narrowest point. Many of the competitors arrive with their family and even younger kids take part in the trial.
Swimmers shipped to the opposite shore so when they reach the finish line they can meet their family and have their packages.
I always wished to participate in it but I never had a chance yet.

Pleasant walk around the harbour

Around the lake there are many smaller cities and villages with great ambience.
Some of the harbours has regular traffic, promenade boats for those who would like to take excursions or just reach the other side of the lake.

Finally I found a hat for myself which is big enough to fit my hair and head in it. It is also a great help to prevent more sunburn. Even though the weather was windy and cloudy mostly I managed to get some sunburn ( even with suncream.)

My friend likes my hat too, so she requested a photo with me in the hat. :)

Zsolti's photos

Zsolti got a camera so he can express the things he like while we are in Hungary... and hopefully will learn some responsibility to take care of it..

He asked for a homepage where he can post his pictures ( where I post his pictures to be accurate)

Here is the address

http://zsoltipictures.blogspot.com/

Enjoy

Fish dinner

Even though I am not really fond of fish and I did not have too much desire to search for fish bones, the freshly fried fish had a great scent.
Zsolti got lucky and his slice did not have any bones in it.
Our hosts said the fish in the lake is so famous many amatour or pro fisher come every year.

Windy weather

Some people thought it was unfortunate for us arriving on a week with rain and wind but I did not mind the mild weather.
I havent seen the Lake being so "upset" before. Zsolti wanted us to rent a water bicycle and he could not understand why noone is in the lake.

Trip to Lake Balaton

The week we spent at the Lake Balaton is almost over.
We had a very pleasant weather, neither too hot , neither too cold.
We took walks every single day with Zsolti and sometimes our hosts were coming with us too.
Before our arrival it was raining so the lake could not warm up too much yet... Trixi, my friend and Zsolti only tried the water very carefully.
Zsolti got a camera on Saturday so he can also take pictures of us and different things he likes. He enjoys this a lot. Whenever he can he takes photos ( but the capacity of the camera and the life of the battery cant keep up with him. :) )
He finds every single playground and he tries them all.

Budapest at night

This is one of the sights where we like to go and just walk around during the night and talk about all kind of things...



By accident this is one of the most gorgeous point which gives an overview over Budapest with all the famous sites to see.

Night walk with Bernát

This is one of the sights where we like to go and just walk around during the night and talk about all kind of things...

Just like in the old times

Zsolti was waiting for meeting his old friend Johanna and I was waiting for listening to the news from my friend Elvira.

Dunakeszi at my grandfather's place

We visited my grandfather who was very happy to see his great grand children ( both of them at the same time.)

After the party

Summer goodbye

Heni my niece had a party before the end of the kindergarten year. They had a Turkish party, boys and girls were dressed as rulers and princesses and they were dancing and singing.

On the market

Having a great lunch or dinner requires a trip to the market where you can buy safely grown vegetables. The prices were shocking for me ( how much it change only after 2 years... more than doubled.)
My sisterinlaw and I were shopping and found some good Hungarian food I missed so we were tasting them and buying them too.

The second day we slept a lot. In the afternoon we went to do some shopping in a brand new mall near the place we lived before.
There is a square near there, where they are constructing a new underground line... and people can sneek in the construction area.

We arrived to Budapest on Wednesday afternoon, the weather was pleasant, not too hot and it was a little raining.