Hungary trip, days 1-3

I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but here are some highlights from our trip:

Day 1: Arrive in Hungary late Monday afternoon (after having our connecting flight reservations cancelled in Chicago because our layover was too short, and getting moved to a later flight). Explore the streets around the Kelleti palyudvar (Eastern train station), have dinner in the station in a faded old restaurant that still somehow testifies to the glamour and grandeur of late 19th century Hungary, on the eve of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Train to Sopron stops for two hours on the track. Arrive at our destination at 11 pm somewhat frantic because the nice little pension where we were staying closes at 10. But our gracious host, having gotten my last minute email, waited up for us and everything was fine.


Day 2: Feeling absurdly proud of myself for managing to navigate the bus system with my rusty Hungarian: an hour long bus that stops twice in every  hamlet finally brings us to this: Eszterhaza (initially a hunting lodge owned by the Eszterhazy family, later upgraded into what is sometimes called "The Hungarian Versailles" in the 18th century.)

Haydn composed here--the Eszterhazy prince (Miklos) who enlarged the place invited the entire Hapsburg court, and empress Maria Theresa, to stay for weeks on end: they'd have balls and concerts and plays in the puppet theater.

Dan took pictures of the china for Bubby--this is Hungarian-made Herend porcelain: the spiky flower was designed for the Eszterhazy family.

We spent the afternoon wandering around Sopron, inspecting the medieval center of town and the fire tower.

Day Three:
Boarded an early morning train to Vienna. Crammed as much of the Hapsburgs into one day as we could stand, starting with Schonbrunn palace, then the Imperial Residence in the heart of Vienna, the Royal Treasure chamber, and the Imperial furniture museum. (Note: I'm glad we started with Eszterhaza. It's central to my novel, but I might have been disappointed if we saw Schonbrunn first). We couldn't take pictures inside the estate, so you get the palace and the grounds.

Hofburg imperial palace: on the right (facing) were the imperial apartments; on the left is the famed Spanish Riding school. 

Some of the treasures: the imperial coronation regalia.

Dan was fascinated by a group of men trying to move a piano out of one of these Baroque palaces.

 For dinner that evening, we wandered through Prater Park (a sort of Hyde park equivalent in down town Vienna, but with a crazy, colorful theme park on one corner of the park. You just pay for rides, so it was free to walk through all of it and take in the magnificence, like this "mountain" covered in dinosaurs.).

May Days

Our first real week of summer:

How was it? Busy, like always.

I managed to survive my first Sunday as primary president. One counselor and my secretary were still teaching their classes because we didn't have substitutes yet, the other counselor subbed for the primary choristor. I conducted *and* did sharing time because there was no one else. And then Evelyn got sick(er) midway through the lesson and had to lie down in the back of the room because no one could take her home (Dan had to teach elder's quorum). But we made it, and this week was much better.

As soon as we got out of church (hence the no post last week), we drove up north to my parents to join my siblings on memorial day for a barbeque/swim party at my brother Jared's house. The relatively chilly day didn't deter Andrew from the pool, though I didn't swim and Dan took Oliver driving so Oliver would nap.

And Evelyn? Well, she'd been feverish on and off all weekend, complaining that her throat hurt (and then saying she was fine). Monday morning, she said her neck hurt--not just her throat--and she was holding her head funny. My paranoid mom brain jumped immediately to meningitis, and while I knew it wasn't likely, I wanted to rule it out. So we went to the local Instacare (where I've been nearly as often as to our own doctor's office--my kids like to get sick on weekends at grandma's house).

It wasn't meningitis. But it *was* strep, and I was told to keep her away from other kids for 24 hours after she started the antibiotics. So Evelyn (poor kid) stayed with grandpa while the rest of us went to Jared's, and then met up with Sarah at Chik-fil-a before Sarah had to go to work.

We got back Tuesday and Dan *finally* had a chance to mow our lawn. I know it was killing him: it hadn't been mowed for nearly three weeks because of our trip and then near-constant rain. It's no longer growing waist-high in the backyard, so it looks much better.

The rest of the week was spent with mostly normal stuff: chores, settling into a summer routine, going to the park, swimming at the pool.

And the crowning event was Aunt Nellie's birthday party, where they rented out the entire aquatic center. We had a wonderful time hanging out with Dan's extended family, and the kids loved having crowds of cousins (mostly second) to run around with. Oliver initially started with the slide in the toddler area, but as soon as he went down the big slide, that's all he did the rest of the night. As soon as he got out, he said, "I wanna go down da big slide!" and repeated that refrain intermittently as his short legs took him back to the stairs, up, and down again. Since he was little, he had to wear a life jacket and have a parent go with him, but nothing seemed to dim his enthusiasm (somewhat to his parents' dismay, since that meant we went down the slide more than we would have otherwise!). But we got to talk to Nellie and Uncle Jim and see Jennie's beautiful new(ish) baby and admire how much all the other kids have grown.

Here's to family--they're pretty wonderful things.

globetrotting

Most of you who follow this blog know why we haven't posted for two weeks: two Sundays ago, we were sitting in an airport in Chicago waiting for a connecting flight to take us to Munich, and then to Budapest. (I'm just paranoid enough that I don't like posting about big trips before or during the trips: why advertise that we're away?)

Last Sunday, we sat in a stake center in Tihany ter, in Budapest, listening to a stake conference mostly in Hungarian (the outgoing missionary couple and mission president spoke English and were translated).

In short, I dragged Dan on his first European vacation (not to be confused with the film of the same name). I told him last year that if my book ever sold, I wanted to go back to Hungary to visit some of the places in my novel. The book sold, we flew to Hungary. It was lovely and exhausting all at once. (When I get the pictures from Dan's iphone--because of course, I forgot the battery recharger for the camera--I will post more details).

We got back late Wednesday night; Thursday, I plunged into a 3-day writing conference. Thursday afternoon I led a critique session for five + hours; Friday and Saturday I spent 8+ hours in sessions learning more about writing. If you think I've now moved past exhaustion: you're right. Sometimes (just sometimes) I overestimate how much I can do. Jet lag didn't really hit until Friday afternoon, though.

In the meantime, Dan and the kids went to the aquarium and hung out with Sarah, so they weren't completely neglected.

Last night, we slept in our own bed for the first time in two weeks. It was heaven.

And this morning I got sustained as primary president.

My brain and heart are officially wrung dry. (That's my formal apology for this short post when we clearly have so much to tell: you'll have to wait till my wits have recovered).