Hungary Trip Part 2

Budapest train station

One amazing experience was standing on the 8th floor hotel balcony on August 20th, Foundation Day of Hungary. The oldest and one of the most important days celebrated in Hungary, we enjoyed watching the fireworks over the river.  WOW! 

And although we may have missed out on a few of the low ones behind tree tops, we did not need to fight traffic before heading to bed. 

The food at the hotel was great! Not spicy so good for me. We were able to try many different dishes at breakfasts and suppers. There was so much good food that we generally did not eat lunch. 

We also tried the thermal baths connected to the hotel. 

I think that Fritz was the only one of us to try all: steam room, sauna, and small cool pool next to it, different warm to hot pools, the hot steamy aroma room, and a place to walk on rounded river stones with cool water up to your ankles. 

Saturday morning I was the only one to see Eli off for his return trip as he had to catch a 3:15 a.m. shuttle to the airport but he had other GP folks to chat with during the ride.

We left after grabbing a fast breakfast, reversing our train rides back to Vienna, Austria. We stored our 3 bigger carry-ons at the airport and caught a train to the city center. 

We are very thankful for the kind folks who helped us figure out how the trains work...unlike some of our teammates we did not get a shoulder shrug when asking for help.

As our flight did not leave until Saturday night we visited St. Stephen's Cathedral and even went on the catacomb tour [no photo's allowed].  

After so much walking we chose not to walk up the cathedral tower. 

A bit of lunch, shopping, and people watching before we returned to the airport.

As we know SPAR supermarkets from Africa, we were surprised to find the stores in Europe.

However, once you learn that it originated in the Netherlands it makes sense that it is found in South and southern Africa due to the Dutch influence. 

Lusaka, downtown in the distance

We overnighted in Lusaka on Sunday night, did some shopping Monday morning and headed back to Jembo ready to sleep in our own beds. 

We took lots of pictures but if you are wondering where the photos of the conference are we really didn't take many, as some of our teammates live and work in higher security countries so photos are not a good idea. 

Since returning in history Fritz and I read about Vienna, Hungary, and the Habsburgs.

Now we are preparing for a visit from my [Kris'] mom, brother-Todd and sister-in-law Beth.

More family time and adventures to come. 

The trees and gardens did OK during our absence but things do appear dryer and dustier.

Water for watering is also limited again but we are thankful for electricity only being off a few hours per day or less.

We hear some areas are down to 4 hours of electricity per day.

Cory purchased 5 different types of mango trees while we were in Lusaka and at least four are new in Zambia and highly esteemed varieties in India.

The Jacaranda trees are starting to bloom which for us is one of the first signs of spring and hopes of the rainy season to come. 

We arrived back to find a sunbird nest built on our front porch laundry line. 

Will see if they stay with the increase of activity or not.