Into Hungary We Go!

Vienna is only 2.5 hours from Budapest and we had a window of time to fill between checking out of one apartment and in to the next so we stopped at a city exactly halfway between called Györ.  We found a parking lot and Chopper had to go find Forint to pay for it. Hungary isn't on the Euro and the Forint is one of those crazy currencies where 1000 Forint equals about 4 dollars.

First stop -- pirate playground! The kids started playing with some Hungarian kids and I could hear them say "I only speak English!"  It still amazes me that we live in a situation where my kids have learned that that's a necessary phrase but it also amazes me that it doesn't matter and the kids played together and had a great time anyway.

Things that are universal: 

kindness

kids

money (everyone takes money even if you can't speak the language!!)

Anyway then we went looking for lunch and found a tourist information center! They gave us a map of the city with a highlighted tour in English that turned out to be interesting and fun and the perfect way to spend the time we had.

The town was full of statues!  This boatman commemorates the last major flood. Györ is on the Danube - so are Vienna and Budapest and Regensberg in Germany.  We basically followed the Danube over spring break.  You have to be careful with this statue though - he's pretty much naked.

This soda water siphon is for a local priest and teacher who patented the industrial production of carbonated water. He also was the first to combine wine and the carbonated water creating the spritzer!  Ironically in this day and age I didn't know that carbonated water occurs naturally!

 

We also found the Ark of the Covenant!  I guess it was removed from the warehouse . . . It's a weird story though - in 1729 a soldier was accused of bigamy and hid in a monastery. The soldiers trying to get him blockaded the building and he decided to escape during a procession disguised as an altar boy but he was recognized. The soldier's giving chase knocked the sacrament from the priest's hands in the pursuit and the statue was raised basically as THEIR punishment from their pay.

 

This is our receipt from McDonalds -- looks crazy but its about $19 which is actually the cheapest we've ever eaten at a McDonalds ever. We did a little antiques shopping that included the purchase of some tiny books in Hungarian and, oh yeah, a tea cup! We also have a new favorite place for gelato - too bad it's 6 hours away.