Serbia

We spent last weekend in Belgrade, Serbia - not a place we ever thought we'd visit. 

I had a conference there so we bought some extra train tickets and the whole family came along for the ride. The 8 hour ride (which actually seems longer when there's a group of drunk 30-something guys in the seats across from your kids...) was rough. And long. Way too long.

While there we toured the Nikola Tesla museum, a Medieval torture device museum, visited Republic Square, the Fortress of Belgrade, the Roman Well, the city park, the Bohemian Quarter (Skadarlija), the Parliament building, walked by the zoo & amusement park, saw St. Mark's church, saw the famous Hotel Moscow, some local parks and (of course) McDonald's. My kids have made it a mission of theirs to eat at McDonald's in every country we visit. I picked up all of one word in 4 days there - Hvala - which means 'thank you'. 

We saw a few interesting sights on our way into the country and the city. Recently, a border has been erected between Hungary and Serbia due to the current migrant/refugee situation and the train goes right through there. 

We also saw some buildings that were still standing despite being bombed in 1999 by NATO as well as some memorials to those who died in the bombings. 

We left the weekend with a sweet note to the hotel staff at Hotel Excelsior from our youngest about how much he liked the family suite room. (We really did like it - plenty of room for the 6 of us and they were very accommodating). 

Oh yeah, the conference talk went well, too :)

A Regular Weekend

A couple of our regular weekends here.

October 10-11: Katie had a birthday party to go to in the evening - at a McDonald's of all places. This particular McDonald's had a partybus outside where the party was held. As it took a good 30 minutes to get there on trams and buses, we decided to spend the 2 hours of the party inside the McDonald's so that was our dinner plan that night.  

Side note: McDonald's! The golden arches are a familiar sight here in Budapest, but things are a little different. Each McDonald's has slightly different offerings - some have triple burgers, some don't. Some offer a pöttyös McFlurry, some don't have any at all. Some offer burgonya chips, others don't. They do have fries and burgers in general, and chicken nuggets. I try to order something different when I see it and can tell it's vegetarian. They have fried potato & cheese items at a few, and that's usually what I end up with. 

The next day started with the Budapest Marathon. I had signed up for it back in the Spring thinking I'd train for it over the summer, but my million miles of driving and flying and moving overseas and... (ok, excuses). I didn't train, so I bumped my registration down to the 10K, and ran that in the morning. Then I headed home, grabbed the family up and we headed back to Heroe's square where the race started/ended for a Kürtőskalács (Chimney cake) festival. While we were there we got to see some of the back end of the pack finish the marathon. I loved it. I love watching races - they're so exciting - even for the slow folks (I'm in that group for sure). We spend a little while at the festival, most of it in line for these: 

These amazing little cakes are rolled around a wooden spit and rolled above hot coals. They you choose a flavor or topping. We went to an entire festival dedicated to these. IT WAS DELICIOUS. The rain made us leave that a little earlier than we would have otherwise.

From there we met up with another Fulbrighter, Ellen, and her sister who was in for a visit at Szimpla, a ruin pub - arguably the most well known one - in Budapest. A falling down old building decorated in the most eclectic way. It was our first time to a ruin pub.(and, yes, the pictures in the tub are in the bar).

A birthday party at McDonald's, a 10K, Chimney cake festival and a ruin pub. In my book, I call it a win for the weekend. 

October 17-18: This weekend was a very low key weekend. We had plans to visit a Hungarian Fulbrighter at his home, but his wife wasn't feeling well this week so they had to rearrange their schedules so we're putting it off another week or two. So, we headed to a local mall yesterday for an English showing of The Martian. We all really enjoyed it, even in 3D, and the fact that it only cost $40 for 6 tickets, 6 pairs of glasses (had to buy the glasses, but now they're ours for later use), 2 large sodas, one large popcorn and 5 bags of candy made me very happy. I'm still figuring out which seats to buy in the theater (assigned seats!) and whether it's acceptable here to ask the ticket agent to leave one empty seat in between us and the folks next to us... 

After this we did some grocery shopping on the way home. Stores are not open on Sundays, so all meals for Sunday and Monday morning before school have to be planned by Saturday otherwise we have to eat at restaurants. Not a bad deal, but better to plan ahead. Today is Sunday, and we're hanging out at home. I have a conference poster to finish prepping to drop off tomorrow, and the kids are creating Halloween Posters for their school competition. Lazy days are a win for me, I love staying home working, doing laundry, watching movies (we've already watched Gremlins today), and just chilling. 

Next weekend should be spent in Belgrade, Serbia if all goes according to plan.

Debrecen & Hortobágy

The first weekend in October, Fulbright Hungary organized a wonderful two day trip to Debrecen & Hortobágy Park. This was our first overnight trip from Budapest since we arrived. 

In Debrecen, we toured the University of Debrecen - the oldest continuously operating institution of higher education in Hungary (since 1538) - including the library and the beautiful reading room. We visited the English/American Studies department and met some former Fulbrighters there. Then left and headed to the College of the Reformed Church. We toured the college, then did some sightseeing in town including a stop at the American Corner. 

Day two included a trip to Hortobágy National Park in Eastern Hungary. We toured the park, or the puszta (plains),  by horse-drawn trolleys so we got to see the sheep, cows & pigs there, as well as some tricks by the Hungarian cowboys who stand on the horse backs (and by their horses). 

They train the horses not to be startled by the whip so they crack it constantly (not on the horse!) - this was how they used to train them not to be startled by gunshots. They also, of course, train them to sit like dogs. :)

We each even got a turn on the horse. The saddles are not belted on the horse like what we ride in the US, so that if they fell off the cowboys wouldn't get tangled up in the horse or stirrups. It definitely felt less secure than any horseback riding I've ever done before. 

At the visitor's center, we toured the museum to learn about what the cowboys wore & how they lived then visited the craft/food fair going on outside.

On the way back, our bus drove right by (through?) a parade - just a regular old weekend harvest festival - the kids in the parade were happy to wave back at us :) 

We had a really nice time, thanks to Fulbright Hungary. We know we wouldn't have planned that weekend if left to our own devices, and so we're really grateful that Fulbright is willing to put together these cultural outings so we can see more of Hungary during our stay.