Hungary Trip 1

Early in the morning of February 8 we drove to Dublin. Some of the road was icy and we had some sleet, but we made it in good time, checked in, ate our sack lunch, and flew out - very smooth! We arrived in Budapest and were met by the van driver who drove us to Debrecen - about 2 1/2 hours. This is the second largest city in Hungary, but we had no perception of that size during these first 2 days - it seemed like a town the size of Tralee. It is known as "The Calvinist Rome" and has a huge protestant church and a Calvinist college. We arrived at the Aquaticum Hotel about 9:30 and were greeted by a very friendly staff and a fruit and sandwich plate - pretty nice. Dana's dentist, Kiss David (Hungarians use surname first) rang us about 10:00 that night to welcome us and tell us that he (yes, the dentist himself) would collect us at 9:45 Monday morning. He did so (in a bright yellow car) and Dana spent 5 hours in the dental chair while I (MFE) toured Debrecen town centre. (The 2 pictures from the bell tower and the chair are by MFE). I exchanged money, climbed to the top of the church bell tower, toured the church and saw the "Kossuth chair" from which Lajos Kossuth proclaimed independence in 1848 - we came to learn that every town in Hungary has a Kossuth Ter or street or both. I had a really nice tea, and just walked around the town - had a good time, though missing Dana and hoping all was going well. I also bought tram tickets - there's a great tram that went in a circle from our hotel, past the dentist office, and to town centre and back. Though I bought the tickets we never saw anyone punch tickets, ask for them, or check in any way! I took the tram back, waited a bit, then we rode to the hotel, where Dana rested and I enjoyed the thermal baths - 4 or 5 huge round pools at different therapeutic temperatures. There is also a pool and water park (slides, etc) but I did not avail of those! Dinner at the hotel and an early night for the semi-invalid - who wouldn't accept any nursing or sympathy at all and denied much pain - what a stoic.

Tuesday we took the tram to the dentist again and Dana received his temporary bridge. He was out in about 4 hours and felt okay, so we went to town centre where he got these nice pictures of the church and Kossuth Square.. We had lunch at the Belgian Bier Garden (recommended by David, the dentist); here I am with our nice waiters. We walked around the square. The picture of the Debrecen McDonalds stands for the literally hundreds that we saw in every town - and in Budapest on every corner!

Next we went to the Deri Museum. This is a very eclectic museum - it had everything - Hungarian art and history, a Death Cult room (very interesting, despite name) china, pottery, jewelry, furntiture. Like most places it had English translations for most but not all exhibits - and as usual, the translations were not perfect! Over the trip we got a few laughs from the English useage; if we only knew Hungarian we could have a ready-made job I think! We rode the tram back to the hotel and waited only an hour or so for Chris and Paul - they arrived earlier than anticipated- in fact she rang my mobile while we were on the tram heading back - a perfectly timed start to a perfect reunion and holiday!