Aliens on Harley's!

Yesterday we got together with some friends, and road the bikes to Tri Cities.
I really wanted to ride also.
I figured:
Hey, I went on an airplane......
I wanted to go for a ride on the motorcycle!
Since my accident I am just not that comfortable riding.
It is fun.
It WAS HOT!
I had a blast.

This is Becky, Rick, me, Jon and his son Alan.

Here is Tom, his wife Becky, Rick and me.

Tom, Becky, Rick and I.

Tom is looking into getting some glasses for riding.

I think he looks like a bug sexy in them dar glasses!

Jon and Alan
(father and son)

Tom and Jon

Tom, hangin out on his porch.
This is Rick's hunting buddy
and very good friend.

This is Rick and I on the bike heading to Tri Cities.
Becky took this while going down the freeway.

I think those helmets make us look like Aliens on Harleys! LOL

Just giving you a break from my vacation stories.

The Hungarian Experience

The first thing we did the next day was to go see the Diana Dress's exhibit.
It was neat to see all the dress's in person. It was held in a museum and

inside the museum was this beautiful banister.
We were not allowed to take photos of the dress's.
They did not have any free fliers.
Most likely because the tour was held over another month.
It was suppose to end the last day of April
but got held over Till the end of May.
I know it was because it was waiting for me to show up!
So I could finally see her dress's.
The dress's I sew from my sewing machine for the 17"
Franklin Mint Princess Diana Doll.

We then went on a HOP ON HOP OFF Tour of Budapest.
It was really neat.
You got to see the town by bus, and if there was a place of interest,
you just hopped off.
Walked around.
Take pictures and
Hop on the next bus.

Inside the bus you got to listen to a recording of what you were seeing. I did not take notes, so I could not tell you what all that I saw.
I was so intrigued by all the beautiful building.
(Yes they had it in English.)

The sites and sounds of Budapest is like any other city.

This is Heros Square.
(More on that later.)

This is the Danube River.
Reminded me somewhat of the Columbia River in Oregon,
except there is a city on both side of the Danube.

This was one of the places we stopped off at. It looks like a sand castle.

One of the street signs.
I have no clue what it says or where it is directing traffic.

This was an open market up by the sand castle we stopped at.
I loved looking around at all the neat items.

My cowboy hat came from the open market.
I think they are trying to get westernized.
After I got my hat, I saw them all over the place.

Another day we went to Heroes Sqauare, and
across the street from there, we went and fed
the pigeons. A little bit of home.

I was more interested in taking pictures of them! LOL

Further on down the street they were having a children's celebration.
All kinds of tents set up selling items. It was neat.
They had some really neat things.
Of course I wanted to buy a lot, but I had to really keep myself in check.
I had to think of getting it all back home! LOL

Again it was held in a museum.

Some beautiful pottery.

Hand made stain glass animals made by children.

This is marzipan candies.
Notice:
Outside.
Uncovered.

No gloves.
What a free world!

Inside the museum it was geared for kids.
All kinds of toys for sale.
All kinds of things for the kids to do.

Then we toured the art section.
There was everything from
Quilts
Stained glass
Sculptures
Paintings.
This painting depicts the 3 most important things in life:
Birth.
Marriage.
Death.

In one of the children's sections, this guy was reading to the kids.
He looked so familiar I just had to take a picture of him.

Then on another day
we went to the Basilica.
This was awesome.
See the green dome in the middle?
We walked 2 different spiral stair cases to get to it.
Over 600 steps.

You could really get a view of Budapest from up top.

Roofs were brightly colored on some of the buildings.

Inside the art work was just breath taking.
There was a presence.
It was magical.
Very Serene.
Majestic.
Solemn

And now I was just beat!
It felt good to sit for a moment,
even though it was just for a picture!

I took so many photos and I really wanted to share them all
But.....
I would over load the system
and so I have to choose what to share.
I got to see so many things.
Constantly busy.
Entranced by the history
Awed by the buildings and the architecture.

More to come.............

What's for Breakfast in Europe?

Settling in didn't take to much time to adjust to.
For breakfast we ate:
Bread (every meal)
Cheese's, usually a white cheese. Salty or not.
Tomatoes.
White Peppers which are a very bland version of the green peppers.
and Salami's of all kinds.
Occasionally we even had LIVER PATTE!
As a kid, I knew it as: liverwurst.
(I even brought home some GOOSE LIVER PATTE. Ummm good!)
Don't go YUCK, it was actually pretty good. You spread it on bread like butter.

I enjoyed all the food. It was all very good. Even healthy.
I did not see overly obese people over there, like there is here in the states.

Here is the kitchen. ALL Kitchens had TILE floors.
It was nice. Cool for me. Cold for them. LOL

This is the room where I slept.

The front/living room.

The neighborhood.

Outside of house.

Driveway. Note: ALL YARDS in Hungary and in Romania, were fenced!
Always a 2-3 foot high concrete wall, and then fencing.
If I would of known, I would of made a picture diary of all the fences and gates,
as there were some pretty neat ones.

A sign in Hungarian.

An old car in the neighborhood. It is of German decent, and not made anymore.
I don't remember the name, but it sure was cute, and I really wanted it! LOL

A neighborhood shopping area.

Patricia here. The tracks behind her runs a tram you can get on that will take you into the city.

A resident cutie!

An open market. It was really neat. They had these all over town.

We then went into a grocery store, and I was so awed by everything, I started to take photos. I got three photos taken, and a lady comes up to me and starts rattling in Hungarian, and Patricia told me that I was not allowed to take photos in there. In part because she did not know who I was and that they have had competitive stores come to take photos. I understood, and glad I did get these, and she did not make me erase them from my camera.

The white peppers to the top of the red ones, is a main staple at breakfast. They were pretty good with a bit of salt on them.

Milk. Here is a whole new avenue for me. I drink a lot of milk anyway. But their milk come in these containers, and are on the shelves of the stores! NOT in the refrigerated areas! Then they are kept in the pantry at home. NOT in the refrigerator. It is not refrigerated until it is opened. This is because it is PASTEURIZED!~ LOL Well so is ours! LOL
It also tasted different. I am sure from what the cows eat, what ever that might be.
Took me a bit to get use to drinking warm milk. After it was refrigerated it was not to bad.

LAPTE is the Romanian word for MILK
I think the Hungarian word for Milk was: Tej
Don't ask me to Pronounce it!
The Hungarian Language is a very difficult language, and does not even represent anything I am familiar with. Patricia said it resembles German the closest.
Romanian resembles Spanish a bit, so at times during the last week, I was getting to where I could at least figure out the topic of the conversation.

Patricia's mom and grama said that I would know Romanian if I stayed another month! LOL
They did not know English so it was a game of charades in communications....LOL