| Vacation Day 1 |
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| 02:16pm 11/08/2004 |
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This morning I woke up very early. I went to get the Angel from the hospital, have him signed out, checked on his tummy--tummy is always a problematic point--and then helped him dress and we hit the road. We went to our little summer home in Vonyarcvashegy, on Lake Balaton. The Balaton is the largest lake in Central Europe, with an impressive length of 77 km and width of around 6 km it is the home of several lake resorts, largish towns, little villages and one of Hungary's historic wine regions in Badacsony.
Vonyarcvashegy is on the very west of the North Shore, making it a pleasant swimming spot with its fast deepening water on the beach and classy restaurants. One of the traveling amusement parks usually stops in the village for several weeks, so that provides great entertainment to the kids as well.
Before we got there our friends Mikey and Sheridan were vacationing in our house for a week. They not only cleaned up after themselves, but they filled our fridge with all kinds of goodies, including a nice selection of alcopop, soft drinks, a chocolate cake, grilled chicken, and did I mention a brand new refrigerator? Sheridan got it as part of his Bonus, but they already had two... Some of the perks of working for a company that manufactures all kinds of things, from cell phones to refrigerators to televisions. I, on the other hand, get free sterile wipes! Now that can be useful, too!
Mikey and Sheridan also set the bedroom up for us: nice silk sheets, candles, aromatherapy burner, ready for some intimate time with the Angel... That lasted till the morning. But before that we went out to dinner. There is a neat little restaurant that we frequent when we can down the street where we had a fabulous dinner... and then we ran home, or rather I was running, pushing the Angel's wheelchair, having a blast, being carefree and happy. |
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| Vacation Day 2 |
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| 02:16pm 11/08/2004 |
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The Angels decided he wanted to be a tourist for today, so we decided to hop a semi accessible train. As we were waiting the Nostalgia train pulled up. As it was heading to our destination, Tapolca, I thought it would be great fun to take it. My biggest concern was the accessibility issue, which was solved by a makeshift ramp and some strong guys who helped lifting Derek onto the train.
The train is probably Hungary's oldest still functioning train from around 1900, complete with first, second and third class carriages. The train runs along the North Shore of the Balaton and stops at most every village. It is a scenic route and riders get a chance to drive the steam engine for a little fee for a few hundred feet. I had the opportunity to do just that and I had a blast!
Arriving in Tapolca we got to ride a carriage to a horse show were skilled horsemen proved that a horse in harmony with its rider can do pretty much anything. It was awesome. Derek got to pet the horses, which was a totally awesome thing. He is totally terrified by horses. So to make up for the horses I took him to the cave lake for a short row boat ride, which we both enjoyed immensely. Peeking in to the school museum we headed back to the train and went to the picturesque town of Badacsony--the historic wine region where we discovered that entrance fees to the lido were but a fraction of what we'd pay in Vonyarcvashegy, so we decided to come back some other time, but now, enjoying the fact that I wasn't driving we hopped one of the local taxis going to the wine cellars. Now these taxis are really jeeps. It was a very adventorous experience, and it could only be beaten by the excellent wine we got to sample at one of the many cellars.
Getting back down to the tourist part of the village we stopped by a nice cozy restaurant and had an excellent fish dinner. having had enough of riding the train we decided to take the boat to Keszthely and then figure out how to get home from there. We got lucky--we met an Irish couple, Sean and Sarah, who were renting a house just a few blocks away from us in Vonyarcvashegy... They offered us a ride.
Let me quote Derek... "And then we had some wine and cold cuts and pastry and then made love to burn some calories." |
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| Vacation Day 3 |
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| 02:17pm 11/08/2004 |
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Breakfast with Sarah and sean in the garden.
Sarah drives to Badacsony--she does not like wine.
Got in the lake--got Derek on floating device.
Cold water, warm rain.
Sunscreen.
Lángos: dough spread out and fried in hot oil.
Garlic, sour cream, cheese.
Ice cream, crépes.
Building sand castles.
Bumper cars and buying silly things.
Derek on a pony.
Dinner at an open air place.
Driving home.
A movie, snacks, nuts, wine.
Making love. |
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