lake balaton

This week was our trip to Lake Balaton, the biggest lake in Hungary and a popular summer vacation area. We got up fairly early Monday morning and traveled for upwards of six hours by train, by bus, and by foot until we reached our destination. We were staying in the first floor of a house, actually, that the owner rents out during the summer. The floor was equipped with two bedrooms (which was nice for the four of us), a kitchen/dining room, a back porch, a bathroom, and a separate room for the toilet. I heard that this is fairly common over here, but it is just weird to use the bathroom in one tiny room, then head next door to wash your hands. It is strange. After we arrived, we set out for a jaunt along the lake shore and pier. There were swans and ducks and boats everywhere.


We stopped to buy some groceries, ate dinner, then settled down for some serious card games (like Uno, Skipbo, and Hearts). We ran out of time for the most hardcore game of all: Go Fish.
The next day, Tuesday, we breakfasted and prepared lunches and set off by boat for the Tihon peninsula in Lake Balaton.


The peninsula actually used to be volcanic, and the plants were very lush and green and beautiful. We poked around inside the monastery there, which was beautiful, but not very impressive after the Sistine Chapel. Here is a little bit of beauty I spotted on the way out of the monastery:



After that, we walked a street lined with little Hungarian shops, and stopped at an “open air museum.” It was actually a house and outbuildings from the 1800’s that had been preserved and set up and outfitted just like they would have been back then. The house was cool to look at, with it’s white stucco walls and thatched roof.


However, once we got inside, I was in for an amusing surprise. The Hungarians are a short people, and apparently they once used to be much shorter.


The doorways were very small and modest-height people like me would have been a little inconvenienced living in a house like this.
We looked at all the interesting places on the peninsula, then headed back on a very cold and windy boat ride. As we arrived back on land, we hunted around for a nice beach, in case the weather was better the next day. We went back to the house, and I took a little nap, waking up in time to eat dinner on the back porch. I don’t know why I am sleeping so much! I usually get much less sleep and am fairly perky. Now I just doze off all the time. I think I am getting old.

The next day, Wednesday, we were going to visit a castle nearby and hit up the beach. Well, we all awoke to rain. It rained all day long, so we sat and talked and laughed and drank hot tea and played card games all morning. As noon drew near, no one wanted to make a soggy run to the grocery store, so we played a game of Skipbo. The winner would eat the leftovers, while the losers watched. I won. But actually everyone ate, we just split up the leftovers and had a grand old time.
I spent the afternoon drawing a self-portrait (which actually turned out pretty well, I think, considering my drawing ability) and figuring out more about my camera. I tested out different functions by taking silly pictures of myself, then reviewing them contentedly and making some camera adjustments and doing the whole thing again. I eventually started playing air guitar to “The Mullet Song” and “The Sadie Hawkins Dance.” It was a well-spent afternoon, I should say. In the evening, I decided to call home and surprise my family. I think I did. Of course, they were preparing for breakfast while we were preparing for dinner, but at least it was the same day. I called once when it was evening by them and the next morning by me, which made it seem like we were in parallel time, and it kind of scared me. Anyway, I called home and it completely brightened my day. Literally. When I hung up the phone, the rain had stopped. It was still cloudy and windy and cold, of course, but no wetness was descending. Hooray! I celebrated by eating dinner, then walking down to the lake shore with my cohorts for some ice cream. I tried pineapple this time, which was awesome.


We goofed around near the water until we were all chilled through, so we came back for some more hot tea and a few more card games before bed.
The next morning, Thursday, was the day that we were to leave Lake Balaton. The weather was too cold for swimming, and too unpredictable for any excursions. So we ate our remaining food for breakfast, I did my daily pushups, crunches, and lunges faithfully, and we headed to the train station for an early start on our trip back to Debrecen. We originally weren’t to leave until mid-afternoon. We got the first three hours of our trip out of the way, then stopped in Budapest, Hungary’s capital, for some looking around. We visited the castle of Budapest, which was good. It was built right near the Danube River. As we walked around the walls of the castle to gain entrance at its main gate, I looked up at the huge, ivy-covered stone walls. I could maybe have climbed up the ivy now, but other than that, the thought of assailing this Turkish/Hungarian fortress was rather daunting. After seeing all the western remnants of Rome and such, it was cool to see the more Eastern architecture as well. We entered the castle walls to find a good-sized little old town. It had all been preserved and kept up much like it would have been, and not really modernized, so it was fun to walk through. We looked out from the walls of the castle to see the river, the Hungarian parliament building,


and the city of Budapest. We looked at the few buildings that were purposely left intact after World War II. The buildings had been shot at, and the shell marks were still obvious. I wish I had taken a picture, but I didn’t. After about an hour inside this castle, we left to catch our next train back to Debrecen. Three rainy hours later, we arrived back “home” for a late light dinner, a shower, and some sleep.