7/28/10, Wednesday - Contributed by Danni Leifer

Early last week, Amin and I arrived in Hungary. On Tuesday, July 20, we went to Vienna, Austria, and we returned to Budapest two days later. On Friday, we met up with Jessy and she took us to the Great Market Hall. She had to be back at her apartment at 4PM to catch the shuttle that would take her to the airport to meet Corie (arriving from Turkey).


While Jessy headed back to her apartment, Amin and I went to the West End mall and then back to our hotel, the Queen's Court. Jessy texted us at 5PM to let us know that Corie's plane would be landing in 20 minutes, around 6PM she texted us again to inform us that Corie was with her, and finally at 7PM to tell us that they were both at Jessy's apartment. After Corie got settled, they headed over to our hotel.


It was very exciting to see Corie after 4 weeks! I noticed right away that she looked tan and thin. :) She had lots of presents for me (and my turtles); some Turkish Delight (candy), a few blue and white items to match my house, and turtle memorabilia from almost every place she'd visited.

After we caught up a bit, we headed out to dinner, which my dad generously paid for, at a restaurant near the Oktogon area of Budapest and Jessy's friend Jackie met us there. Amin and I shared a pizza, Jessy got a pizza of her own, and Corie and Jackie each got something called a sandwich with cranberries and blueberry sauce, but it really wasn't a sandwich since it didn't have any bread. After dinner, Jackie left, and the four of us went to a very old, well-known restaurant called Gerbeaud where we got ice cream sundaes (Amin got a piece of cake).

Following dessert, we explored the city a bit and took lots of pictures by the Danube and the St. Stephen's Basilica. We stopped for a minute to watch a street performer man who played classical music on water glasses.Since we were missing our other quarter (Aimee), Corie suggested we take some pictures and leave a space for Aimee so we could Photoshop her in later.

The next morning, Saturday the 24th, Amin and I met Corie and Jessy at Jessy's apartment at noon. We had plans to meet a penpal (email pal, actually) of mine that I started corresponding with about five years ago, but had never met in person. We took the metro and tram to the Cog-Wheel Railway Station where Lajos was waiting for us.

After introductions, Lajos explained that it was only a 15 minute trip to his village, Budakeszi, but we'd be taking a longer, more touristy route. We took the old and bumpy, but scenic, Cog-Wheel Railway to the top of the mountain. From there we got on the Children's Railway, a train operated by 10-14 year-old Hungarian children (Lajos referred to it as child labor).

We got off the train near Budakeszi and walked into Lajos's village. We saw a monument to the man who wrote the Hungarian National Anthem and lived in Budakeszi for awhile, the local post office, and an old steam engine. On the way to Lajos's apartment building we walked through the peaceful town and saw lots of cute houses and fruit trees.

When we got to Lajos's house, the first thing I noticed were the leather jewels. Five years ago, my purchase on Lajos's website leatherjewels.com, is how we first became acquainted. Now I was getting to tour the 'factory'! We spent a lot of time pawing through the merchandise before we finally decided which pieces we wanted. Lajos didn't want to take any money, but Amin left him some, anyway, although it still probably wasn't enough for all the things we got!


While we were 'shopping', Lajos was preparing some food for us. A few years ago he had sent me a recipe for potato pasta and Corie and I made it; it was good but we didn't know if it turned out correctly. Apparently, it didn't. Lajos's potato pasta tasted much better (and spicier) than ours! He had also provided us with a raspberry drink - originally it was concentrated in a bottle and then he put it in a glass. Then he put some water in a canister and when he sprayed the water into the glass, it was carbonated because the canister had acted kind of like a whipped cream can.

We told Lajos about the man we'd seen playing classical music on water glasses the previous night and he informed us that the man used to play on glass jars before he saved up enough money to buy the glasses. While we were eating, Lajos showed us all the different kinds of paprikas he had and he also brought out three different Hungarian wines for us to try. Before we left, Lajos gave me a couple of gifts: a can of pork and beans and a can of goose breast (also with beans so Jessy called it Goose and Beans) because we had discussed it in one of our many emails. He was such a great host!


After dinner, Lajos walked us to the bus station (we passed a Trabant, an old East-German car on the way) and Amin, Corie, Jessy, and I took the bus back into Budapest. We chatted with my Mom on Jessy's cell phone and walked around the city some more. We discovered a little jazz fest going on that had some crafts and food. We bought and shared a cinnamon donut-like thing that Jessy and I had eaten earlier in the week. After some more exploring, we headed back to our hotel where we hung out for a bit. Amin said his goodbyes, since he was leaving at 4AM the next morning and Corie and Jessy headed back to Jessy's apartment.


The airport shuttle was scheduled to pick me up the next morning, Saturday the 25th, at 10AM. It was really nice of Corie and Jessy to venture out in the rain to stop by at 9AM with breakfast. I ate my croissant and cookie, packed up my stuff, and said goodbye at 10AM. :( It was a very dreary, depressing day (the only one we'd had all week). When I called Jessy from the airport a little while later, she and Corie had gone back to bed! I know Corie's having a great time, but selfishly, I'll be glad when she's back home in 2 weeks. (Jessy will be back in 3 days!)