Ah, many fond memories! Thanks to bringababe for the tip!

The first example is the entrance to our building. There are two doors, which each take the same key. For over a year, the second door has stuck just enough so that it doesn’t lock, and can be just pushed open. While obviously a security issue, the crime in the neighborhood is so l0w (aside from my bike being stolen from right outside this very door) that most residents probably believed that the one outer door was enough. Recently, however, the inner door closes and locks as it should. But instead of being relieved that we are one glass door safer from burglary than we were before, our reactions have mostly been negative, along the lines of “whose stupid idea was it to fix the door? Now I have to unlock BOTH of them. That’s double the work! What a travesty!”

Another example has been the effort on the part of the mass transportation authority to field more ticket inspectors at all metro station entrances and many trams and buses, including the night “drunk” bus, and thus preventing the estimated 60% of riders who do not buy tickets to actually do so. Again, instead of people recognizing that more people actually paying for the rides will help improve the quality of service and (hopefully) eventually lower the ticket price, it seems like an affront: “what do you mean I HAVE to buy a ticket now? This has always been optional; I can’t believe they’re making us actually PAY to ride the subway!”

The next day, we found out this was the Singas Project. “Sin gas” is Spanish for “without pop” – meaning this was no teenie-bopper-friendly BS, but some soulful dance-jazz that we found ourselves immediately enamored with. Check out the below video (be patient with the crowd chatting at the beginning) and let me know if you want their album – I’d be happy to buy it and ship it to you, because I think they’re that cool.

Your host, the Def Selector.

We begin around 1:30pm, Hungary time, for the first meal with the family. Click the “more” tab and keep refreshing as I will try to update every 30 minutes or so. With pictures! Entries are from newest to oldest, so start at the bottom and work your way up.

10:24pm GMT +1: This concludes part one of Liveblogging Christmas. Stay tuned in just another 18 hours for part two of the series: Liveblogging Christmas Part II: America. This is Def Selector, signing off. Good night and good luck (sleeping on that huge stomach).

10:10pm GMT +1 Ákos calls relatives in Canada. It’s been years since they’ve seen each other. We are packing up our things and getting sleepy.

9:53pm GMT +1: The tube comes on again. In America we watch football, in Hungary they watch swimming.

9:13pm GMT +1: Guests leave. Quiet ensues. Moans due to full stomachs continue. 

9:09pm GMT +1: It’s snowing!

8:42pm GMT +1: Bizarrely, I weigh less than I did before dinner: 69.9kg before, 68.4kg after. I explain to the guests that despite constantly looking thinner every year, I’ve stayed almost the exact same weight for nearly 10 years. We’re entering the post-meal lull.

8:30pm GMT +1: And now it comes to this:

8:11pm GMT +1: The Rolling Stones 5-DVD concert set has been put on the tv. Start me up! 

7:56pm GMT +1: Dinner is consumed. Talk revolved around how delicious everything is, whether we will take a train from Vienna to Budapest upon our return or not, and how many children my sisters have. Plan is to look at pictures of Owen in J-tree and Abram in bed after dessert.

The BIG MEAL (#1) breakdown:

First course: “French Salad”. Vegetarian-friendliness rating, on a scale of 1-5: 2-3 = Hoo-ha that’s a lotta mayo. And eggs. BUT, there are vegetables such as corn, peas and carrots swimming around in there. I promise.

Second course: traditional fish (carp) soup. Vegetarian-friendliness rating, on a scale of 1-5: 2 = those fish were once swimming around freely, seeing things that only their weird beady eyes could see. But mmm are they yummy. Strong Steve added for spiciness.

Main course: Turkey, fried carp, potato-onion salad, rice, pork stuffed with plums. Vegetarian-friendliness rating, on a scale of 1-5: Turkey – 1 = Do. Not. Want. Potato-onion salad – 5 = Go Vegan! Rice – N/A = yo, rice is rice. Still yummy though! Pork stuffed with plums – 1 = Do. Not. Want. Oh my Jesus I am full.

Ákos makes the fish and pours the wine simultaneously. You don’t get this far without serious skills.

6:30pm GMT +1: Presents are exchanged, many laughs and kisses as well. 

6:15pm GMT +1: I get yelled at for liveblogging during present opening. I suffer for my art. 

6:00pm GMT +1: A glass of champagne is poured for all. Five minutes later, they take my music off again. Now it’s some corny “normal” Christmas songs. I’m just waiting for “An Irie Reggae Christmas, volume 3″ to come on. A bell rings and it’s time to open presents. To learn more about Christmas traditions, see this article, by our friend Michelle Enemark. 

5:50pm GMT +1: Shot #2: Shot of pálinka, plum brandy with honey, homemade by Ákos. They decide to put my music back on. I go along with this and put my watch back on, to better keep track of time. Hi Abby and Dad!

5:45pm GMT +1: Final guests arrive, the farmer cousin and his girlfriend (wife?). She used to have short, boyish hair, now it’s ear-length and dyed blonde dyed blonde with pink streaks, but the roots are showing hardcore. 

5:32pm GMT +1: Shot of pálinka, plum brandy with honey, homemade by Ákos. 

5:17pm GMT +1: Waiting for the guests to arrive, and finishing up making dinner. I sliced the bread. The Wolf sisters are barking and snapping at eachother over something I can’t understand. Oops, here are the guests! 

4:38pm GMT +1: Showered and dressed, the Christmas music is playing. I found a special mix CD for the occasion, but no one seems to like it. Maybe they’ll feel different in America, the land of the free and home of the copyright. 

4:05pm GMT +1: Return from run. Do 30 pushups and 60 sit-ups. I’m like Rambo, only pacifistic.

3:38pm GMT +1: Go for a run. Gotta prepare for the Christmas dinner to come.

3:01pm GMT + 1: Singing the Christmas song (in Hungarian). I hummed along and played music director.

G-money gets his present early. It’s a picture he took in New Zealand, where he backpacked around for a year.

The presents are under the tree. I’ve been told one of them is for me. 

2:15pm GMT +1: Lunch.

1st course: Cherry soup with soy milk. Vegetarian-friendliness rating, on a scale of 1-5: 5 = Go Vegan!

Main course: Cottage cheese strapacska (potato dumplings) with sour cream. Vegetarian-friendliness rating, on a scale of 1-5: 3 = no animals were harmed in the making of this cheese.

Dessert: Various cakes and strudels. Vegetarian-friendliness rating, on a scale of 1-5: 3 = who would put meat into such sweet delights?

1:37pm GMT +1: Sugi gets ready.

• …Miskolc is the settlement in Europe which has been inhabited for the longest time – more than 70,000 years
• … Miskolc is located is exquisite surroundings int he vally of the Szinva Stream at the foot of the Bükk Mountains
• …the very first Hungarian theatre to be housed in a stone building was the Miskolc National Theatre in 1823, which has since been turned into one of Central Europe’s state-of-the-art theatrical centres
• … is the only place where the entertainment district, the famous winehouses and cellars can be found on a hill (the Avas) int he heart of the city
• … the Biennial Graphic Arts Festival hosted by the Miskolc Gallery has been the most significant festival of its kind is Hungary or decades
• … the Miskolc Pisture Gallery has the richest collection of Hungarian paintings outside Budapest
• …Miskolc’s Hungarian Museum of the Orthodox Church displays unequalled treasures of Eastern Christianity
• …”Bartók+…” is the most successful opera-festival int he region, and at the same time it is also a showcase for Central and Eastern European opera companies
• …the most complete collection of hungaian mineals, containing 17.000 items, can be viewed int he Herman Otto Museum
• … University of Miskolc has the largest campus in Hungary
• … tha Cavebath in Miskolctapolca is the world’s only spa located with him a natural cave system
• … the Miskolc District of Diósgyőr has the only queen’s castle in Hungary
• … Miskolc has the largest historical waxworks in Central Europe
• … the longest forest railway runs is the Bükk Montains
• … it is the Wildlife Park of Miskolc where the wold’s first statue of Gerald Burrell has been erested
• … the Hotel Palota (’Palace Hotel’) wich lies on he bank of Lake Hamor, is the Hotel with the most beautiful location in the country
• … the Waterfall on the Szinva Stream is at 20 m, the highest in the country
• …the original iron furnace at Újmassa is the oldest monument of industrial history int he country, that is still operational
• … the trout farm next to Garadna in the vicinity of Miskolc is the only place, where the autochthonous swift truot is propagated and where you can why trout fresh from the ponds
• … the only man-made ice- climbing wall in Hungary lies in the Bükk Mountains
• … athe skiing- wonderland at Bánkút has the longest ski-runs in the country, and has snow for the longest lenght of time
• … Miskolc is the city of rock music. The first rock-festival in Hungary was had here in 1973.
• … only here has a monument to rescue teams been raised. The statue is of Miskolc’s word-famous search-and –rescue dog ’Mancs’ (Paw)
• … the local culinary specialiti, ’Kocsonya’ (Meat-jelly) wobbles best here, and Miskolc is the only place int he world, where a „Kocsonya” Festival and ’Kocsonya’ Ball is held
• … Miskolc has the most beautiful girls

Here’s a link to a text version of the presentation, with footnotes, sources, and more information. Stay tuned for part two, being revealed tomorrow at the Bardroom, and hopefully online soon for the world to see and be shocked!

We recently took a bicycle trip around Hungary’s Lake Balaton, the so-called “Hungarian Sea”, which I feel ashamed to even propagate here, as it is so far from being a “sea” that it’s not even funny. Nevertheless there is a great deal of lore and legend about the temperament of the lake, which, at an average depth of about 2.5 meters, is pretty much a puddle for the Jolly Green Giant.The pictures from the trip are HERE.

So, we started by taking a Thursday evening train from Budapest’s Déli train station to Siófok, on the south-eastern end of the lake and stayed at the Camping Ifjúság, rated at two stars (who even knew campsites got starred ratings?) but really deserving of none, as it was a) not really close to the water, but really close to some amusement park rides, b) infested by noisy brats and obnoxious German-speaking tourists, and c) located exactly between a railroad line (on which endless freights clacked and clanged all night long) and a busy roadway (on which endless motorized vehicles, apparently ignorant of a concept called “common decency” rode up and down all night long). We had packed:

1 tent, too big (sleeps 3 comfortably, 4 un-)
2 sleeping pads (pretty thin – one was actually an exercise mat)
1.5 blankets, which was about 1 blanket too few
1 towel
2 sets of clothing, one for riding, one for “kickin it”, plus bathing suits
necessary toiletries (I pre-filled three contact lens cases to avoid the weight of a whole bottle of solution)
1 headlamp
4 packages G.O.R.P., which went uneaten
bike lamps and reflective vests, the latter of which despite my scoffing actually came in handy, as some sections of the route were dark
reading materials (I’ve just finished Midnight’s Children, it’s excellent.) and sudoku
1 bandanna, red
1 pair biking gloves
2 plastic spoons
1 plastic straw, from a juice box, which remarkably came in handy as I managed to buy juice boxes with no straws attached
1 pair each flip-flops
1 Leatherman multi-tool (thanks Lynn and Pete!)
1 bicycle pump
1 tire repair kit
1 spare tire, for my bike only (we couldn’t find a proper one for E’s bike, and we had the repair kit, so…)

Our first night was spent rather sleeplessly, as the one blanket we’d brought was not enough to counter the dramatic drop in temperature we’d experienced, first between the city and the lake and also between day and night. There were also the aforementioned cars, trains and Germans to keep us company. We rose at 6:30, packed up and set off on the first leg of the trip, a 55km beeline down the southern coast of Lake Balaton to Fonyód. There is a bike route that circles the lake, made up of a combination of dedicated bike path (about 40% I’d say) and low-traffic roadway, mostly for residential traffic. This first section was mostly the latter, which was fine but a bit mundane, as we basically cruised past one vacation home after another, thankfully none so ostentatious as the ones my grandparents have watched spring up around them in Falmouth.

Perhaps due to the excitement of the first day and the perfectly level terrain, we made the trip in about 3 hours, with a half-hour break for breakfast at a supermarket. We ate bread rolls, processed cheese and coffee. We arrived at Napsugár Kemping és Üdülőfalu, this one rated 3 stars, set up our tent and went to lunch at a nearby family restaurant. I had a trout and a beer. We then promptly passed out on the “beach”, which in these parts means a grassy area by the water. For dinner we went into “town”, which is pretty trashy and touristy. A lot of the more major settlements and campgrounds around the lake a set up entirely to cater to the German-speaking tourists, and there were a lot of corny amusement parks and trinket stands, which I wanted to avoid as much as possible. Nevertheless we had dinner at one of the tourist places. At least they had Szalon Barna, which is a tasty brown beer from Pécs.

The weather was not as cold the second night, Friday, and we slept fine, arising at the same time but moving a little slower, as we began to feel the effects of being “in the saddle” for longer than we’re used to. This day turned out to be the longest stretch but the most pleasant, riding about 65-70km in 4.5 hours to Balatontomaj on the north-western end, near Badacsony. The 15-20km on each side of Keszthely were particularly pleasant, as the bike path was recently built and wound through some nice green and foresty areas generally away from the roads. Sometimes we were near train tracks, which was fine as well. At one point we noticed that there must have been a race along this section, as some loyal boyfriends, obviously attempted to out-do one another, had spray painted slogans on the path such as “tempo!” and “I love you Zsuzsi!” and “beer, wine, palinka, 100m!”

The campground at Tomaj was the best of the three, as it was not part of the larger BalatonTourist chain and was quieter, right on the water and had sufficient, but not excessive facilities. We came to get some exercise and be outside, not to ride bumper cars. We were pretty tired after this section, not only because it was longer than we had thought and the heat had gotten pretty strong by half-past noon, but also because we’d started into the hilly northern section of the lake.  The area is known for its vineyards, and in the nearby town of Badacsony there was a wine festival going on, which we stopped in at on the way to dinner, at another touristy place where we had a huge fish platter for two. The best part was the catfish fried in an almond-batter. During dinner the winds came up and were gusting quite hard. We made our way back to the tent, which we had to rescue a bit as it had nearly taken off in the wind (and we’d neglected to stake it properly), just in time, as it began to pour almost as soon as we’d zipped up the hatch. The tent pulled through fine and we slept like babies.

The final day was a challenge in several ways. First were the hills, which always seemed to go up and not so much down. Actually there were a few really nice spots to coast, and being up high gave us nice views of the sailboats out on the lake. We had to ride quite a ways before we found a convenience store from which to buy breakfast, today consisting of more bread rolls, cheese, chocolate milk from a bag, pepper and tomato. However, we were tired, and it was another long-ish day, about 60km. Also annoying was the fact that this was the most heavily developed part of the lake, which meant we had to slow down a lot to avoid people walking among the shops and restaurants and souvenir shops and so on. Some local entrepreneur had come up with the idiotic idea to rent pedal cars to kids, which undoubtedly made him or her lots of money but cost us lots of time avoiding the swerving and shrieking brats trying their first three point turns

There was a bit of drama in one of the larger settlements, as after stopping at a gas station to get more water, E realized she’d lost her hip pack. Luckily it was picked up by a very friendly German tourist (I guess they’re not ALL bad) who had waited patiently for 45 minutes until we arrived to claim it. We finished up the trip in Balatonalmádi, at the north western end of the lake, and spent the afternoon at a pay-beach until our 6:30 train back to Budapest.

Overall it was a great trip – a challenge but nothing beyond our abilities, and if we’d really pushed we probably could have done the whole thing in two days. But we wanted to enjoy the lakeside and get some relaxation with our activity, so we spent three. Maybe we’ll come back again in September when the weather cools down a bit (did I mention there was a record-setting heatwave right before we left?), but now we’re planning our next trip: a much more vacation-like 10 days in the Greek Islands.

Once again, the photo gallery for this trip is HERE.