Post Number 235 - Slovakia and Hungary

June 1 - We ate a good, large breakfast. Other meals were not a part of the package, and Barbara and I always made the most of the situation, almost always eating enough breakfast to last most of the day. We had a little free time, so we walked to a downtown market. We shopped awhile, or rather Barbara did. I don't shop. It was raining hard when we needed to head back, and of course we left our raincoats at the hotel, and didn't even have cover for the camera. We managed to scrape together a few euros and enough Polish money to get a girl with a glorified golf cart to drive us back.
We loaded on the bus and headed to Schlinder's factory, of "Schlinder's List." He will always be one of my  heroes, for saving so many Jewish people. But the building was tall yet narrow, thickly packed with tour groups, I could not understand the guide well. It grew more and more tightly packed.  About half way through, a woman came running up to our guide, panic in her eyes, screaming, "How  do you get out of here?" I wanted to follow her. I didn't get much out of that visit, but that in no way diminished the greatness of Mr. Schindler.
Today is a three country day. Breakfast in Poland, Slovakia for lunch, Hungary for Dinner.
Slovakia takes the prize for church attendance, anywhere in the world that we've seen. It's Sunday morning, and every church we saw, and there were many, were packed full, with many standing out front. The grave yards, usually near by, were totally covered with flowers. I guess they win that prize, too. The country was never independent until 1993, very poor until three years ago. Now they are learning quickly how to work the tourism, and there is a lot. Killings and Kidnappings got rid of ex communist officials, and now they build Volvo busses, Samsonite luggage, and Kia cars.
As we near Hungary, we're seeing more and more Gypsies. Hungary has the largest synagogue in Eastern Europe. They have their very own language, and if you're not Hungarian, for the most part, you don't speak it.  The first Tarzan, Johnny Weismuller, as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor and Tony Curtis, are all from this country. It's also home to Rubic's cube. My oldest grandson, Christian, who happens to have one of the best minds in the Gillum family in some time, is a Rubic's cube fanatic, and masters each one in seconds. The ex KGB building is grey, of course. Portraits of the Buddapest residents tortured and killed in that building decorate the front.
A very young Frenchman once came to Buddapest  to visit, fell in love, and decided to stay a little longer. He had great skill, and landed the job building one of their beautiful bridges, along with a building or two, then eventually went back to Paris and built a  very famous tower. Yes, that's right. The Eiffel Tower. Our guide in Buddapest was the best speaker/teacher I've ever listened to. Anywhere. His name was Poprocsi/Arpad. They always put the last name first in Buddapest. He spoke with just the right mixture of humor, interesting facts, and voice tone. He had it all. Though it was a cold, rainy day, I was not the only person who said, "I could listen to him all day." The Danube River flows right through the city, and we took a dinner cruise on it that night. It was rising, and the next day it was flooding. The worst in many years.
Peste is the south  side of the river on which the common people live; On the north slide you find Budda, (no connection,) where the beautiful people live. You know, the kind of people who's body language tells you, "I'm not interested in you at all. Don't talk to me - leave me alone." I did.
We ate at a Gypsie restaurant one night. The food was good. The Musicians were great. The dancers were spectacular. All the dancing and music was very high energy. Now I'm not a drinker. Never been drunk in my life. But somehow, amid all that fun, with the Aussies in our group, who had quickly became good friends of mine, becoming loud and active quickly, and Betty, setting next to me, got very wild, even though she was eighty something, just set the "perfect storm" stage, not to mention the gypsie dancers. I found myself drinking a glass of wine (some say it was two; Barbara says three.) Barbara said I sang way too loud, was too active, and clapped my hands way too much and too loud. I have dim memories of dancing with one of those beautiful Gypsie women. Or maybe it was just that she came over and sang to me, and I wanted to dance with her. I'm just not sure. Oh, well. I just turned 69. If not now, then when? At least, I now know if I ever became a drunk, I would be a happy one. Buddapest is now my favorite city in Eastern Europe.
Hungarians are of Mongolian descent, coming from Asia in 896 AD, after pretty well conquering everybody there. But once in Europe, things were different. Their king at the time, King Stephen, was a smart man. He began to realize; all the other godless mongols around them were being killed off quickly. Largely, I guess because they were godless. He told his people they must become Catholic, most of them did, and survived. Later, his people killed King Stephen for his efforts. Time to move on to Prague and Austria.