Mom and Dad came to stay with Dale and Amy. Steve and I left home about 8:00 pm. Our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam left on time and was uneventful. We ate dinner. I slept. Steve watched a movie, The Avengers. Seven hours later, Saturday morning we landed in Amsterdam. It seemed a short trip compared to flying to Tokyo.

We need not have worried about our short 50-minute layover in Amsterdam. The necessary gate was close by and the flight delayed due to airspace restrictions related to the NATO conflict in Yugoslavia. We took off about an hour late and landed in Budapest less than two hours later. We had another meal in flight. Boarded a minibus from the airport to our hotel, the Intercontinental. The driver was going 100 km/hr on narrow two lane roads. He slowed to 90 when it started getting more congested. Our hotel is on the flat Pest side of the Duna River (the Danube). Looking across to the hilly Buda side is lovely. Waiting for us in our room is a fruit basket and bread and cheese from Johanna. We ate a little, watched some soccer on TV, freshened up and went for a walk along the river to the Elizabeth Bridge. We walked back a couple blocks inland through the Vaci shopping district. It was warm, overcast, and even a little misty. They are further along into spring than we are at home. The tulips are done blooming here and the lilacs are out. Pansies are everywhere. Back at the hotel we went swimming. We made a meal of our bread, cheese and fruit and went to bed.

We slept in until about 8:00 am, then went down to the wonderful breakfast buffet included with our room. We booked a bus tour of the city. We were to be picked up at our hotel, but streets were closed because of a marathon, so we had to walk to another hotel. Our guide did dual duty in English and German. Another bus was for French- and Italian-speakers. It was overcast but bright and warm. We went by the American Embassy, Parliament, across the Margaret Bridge and to the Castle District where we walked around. We saw the Royal Castle, Matthias Church (even going inside during a church service), and the Fishermans’ Bastion (where we paid an additional fee to go up and get a lovely view of the river). Then drove to the Citadel to see the Freedom Monument and also get more views of the river and city. We went to Heroes’ Square and were prevented from getting back on the bus when a horde of runners came by. We went by the Opera and St. Stephen’s Basilica and were dropped off at our hotel. We rested in the room a bit, then took off walking to St. Stephen’s Basilica and by the Parliament building. It began to rain and we tried to wait it out in a subway terminal building, but finally gave up and just walked back in the rain. When the rain quit we set off walking again. Our hotel is quite conveniently located. We walked through the shopping district again. My watch stopped working and rather than try to get a new battery, I just bought a new watch from a street vendor. I picked out a cool Adidas watch that will be a souvenir for Dale when we get home. We ate dinner at another hotel restaurant, Matya’s Panzio. We had a wonderful meal to the sounds of a quartet. Our authentic Hungarian cuisine included goulash soup and pike-perch from Lake Balaton for Steve. I had the asparagus soup and chicken paprika. We walked back to our hotel and past it, part way across the Chain Bridge to enjoy the view of the city all lit up.

Slept in until 8:00 am again and had another great breakfast. Then we walked across the Chain Bridge and along the river to the waterfall at the Gellert Monument, at the Elizabeth Bridge, below the Liberation Monument at the Citadel. We climbed many stairs and had a lovely view. Gellert was a Benedictine Abbott invited by Hungary’s King Stephen to tutor his son, Imre, and convert Magyars to Christianity. Eight years after Stephen’s death, he was thrown down the hill to his death at this site during a pagan rebellion in 1046. We walked across the Elizabeth Bridge and on to the Marketplace, a very bustling place this Monday morning. Then we walked back to the Intercontinental, checked out, and took a taxi to the Western Train Station. We immediately ran into John Grant and Cedric Powell and were introduced to Alexander Naumkin from Moscow. We visited with them in a McDonald’s at the train station until time to board the train. The train left promptly at 1:00 pm and arrived at our station, Hajduszoboszlo, about two minutes early at 3:13 pm. Hans-Jorg Mathieu and Ryuichi Shimizu were in our train car. Everyone getting off the train was here for the conference. Laszlo Kover, the local organizer, was there to greet us. After a half hour bus trip we were at our hotel at Epona Riding Village in Hortobagy National Park. It is the first national park, founded in 1973, and is 630 square kilometers. The terrain is extraordinarily flat and featureless. The puszta has been poetically described as "where land and sky meet." Half of the bird species of Europe have been seen here. Our room is on the first floor right across from a large and lovely indoor pool. I spent some time at registration planning the companions program. There are only four of us, including Susan, my friend from the first IUVSTA conference in St. Pierre de Chartreuse, Jean Matthew, also from the U.K. as is Susan, and Sachiko Nagatomi, on her honeymoon from Japan. Tomorrow’s excursion to Eger has been cancelled due to the costliness of such a small group, but we will go motor boating instead. We had time for a swim before the Welcome and Dinner. I am recognizing lots of people from France and meeting some new ones. The service and food is wonderful. It has been a very wet spring with more rain than usual and the puszta is less a prairie and more of a swamp right now. But it is very green and beautiful. Before going to bed we called home. Amy was the only one there. Charley had gone to pick up Dale at track practice. They are six hours behind us here. Grandma and Grandpa had come and gone. Jenny had come and gone. Charley and Linda were staying with the kids tonight. Grandma and Grandpa would be returning tomorrow and Dale would be leaving on his class trip to Toronto. All is well.

We set the alarm for seven but were up earlier. I went to breakfast with Steve and then when he went to meetings I went swimming. I read by the pool for awhile, then met the other companions for our motor boating trip. We walked a short way to a bridge over the river and underneath the four of us and another German couple climbed into a small flat boat with seats along both sides. Our driver spoke German. We travelled through a marsh that could have been St. John’s Marsh at home with cattails, bull rushes, coot, and mallards. Our boat driver excitedly pointed out mallards to us. When I excitedly pointed out a stork flying by he said, "Oh, that is only a stork!" We went under the famous Nine Hole Bridge and by town. The bridge was built in 1827-33 and is one of the longest stone bridges in Hungary. Half an hour out we turned around and came back. We spent some time at the bridge listening to and watching frogs. The noise was incredible. We returned in time for lunch only to find the morning session had gone over a little bit. We waited in the lobby until we eventually realized the meeting had broken up for lunch and they were not waiting for us. Not only did our husbands not get us for lunch, they left without even acknowledging us either. Oh well! Steve knows he doesn’t have to worry about me. Jean and I went for a walk in the afternoon. We went over to the stables to see the horses. They are tall and beautiful and very well cared for. We walked on further and came across a pottery shop, continued on and explored a cemetery, where we rescued a beautiful and colorful finch caught up in some line. Found out later it is called a Goldfinch, but it is not like ours at home. It had a bright red face. We crossed the railroad tracks and followed them in to the train station in Hortobagy. We saw storks nesting on utility poles. The sun came out and it was quite warm. When we got back I met Jean in the pool. Swam in the big pool, lounged in the little pool that was very warm, and checked out the sauna. Just as I was about to leave Steve came in from his session. So I stayed and swam with him before dinner. After dinner Steve had another meeting, taking part in a panel discussion. I went to the restaurant and had a drink with Sue. She gave me a picture of the two of us and Beverly Ramaker at St. Pierre de Chartreuse four years ago. I then went back to the room to catch up on my journal. Steve came after his meeting and got me to go have a beer with a group of people. Finally to bed.

We were up before our 6:30 am alarm. Actually it was light very early and also very noisy with the chirping of birds and frogs. Jean and I and the German couple met our guide, Fater Imre Gyorgy, at 7:00 am for our birdwatching tour. Imre did very well in English and German. We drove a short way to the fish ponds and hiked along the railroad tracks there. The surrounding wetlands are a very important area for migratory birds. They stay there for a month to eat and rest before continuing on their way. We all had field glasses and Imre also had a 25x telescope. Among the species we saw were: crow, crested lark, skylark, white stork (there are 4-5,000 breeding pairs in Hungary), Savi’s warbler, marsh harrier, cormorant, pygmy cormorant, magpie (and nest), purple heron (common only in this area), squacco heron, mallard, spoonbill (250 breeding pairs, largest population in middle Europe), sedge warbler, pochard, yellow-legged gull, cuckoo, golden oriole (Imre’s first sighting this year), great white egret, little egret, greylag goose (and broken egg), avocet, spotted sandpiper, pied wagtail, bearded tit (carrying nesting material), reed bunting, flycatcher, night heron, willow warbler, pied flycatcher, lesser whitethroat, tree sparrow, red-footed falcon, and whooper. We also heard a green woodpecker, bittern, and nightingale and saw the nest of the penduline tit. We had lovely weather and a great time seeing birds in abundant numbers. We walked as far as an observation deck we had to climb up on, then made our way back to the car. We were gone for three hours. Back at the hotel we met Sue and had a bite of breakfast. Sue and I went swimming and then soaked in the warm pool. Steve and I had lunch together, then I went off to tour Debrecen with Sue, Jean, Sachiko, and our guide Andrea. Debrecen is the second largest city of Hungary, 40 kilometers away. Hortobagy is on the route from Budapest to Debrecen and there are many wayside inns along the way. We visited Kossuth Lajos University and walked inside to see the beautiful courtyard and large library. Andrea studied here. Then we visited the Calvinist Reform College including the oratory where Parliament met when necessary to leave Pest. The library there was recently refurbished and was an uncharacteristically bright turquoise. It is the largest library of the Reformed Church with half a million volumes and over 200 translations of the Bible. Although Hungary is predominantly Catholic, the majority of Debrecen is Reformed. We went to the Calvinist Great Church also. It is very large, but very austere, dominated by a great organ. At the Deri Museum we viewed the three massive (4m x 6m) canvases of Mihaly Munkacsy’s Christ Trilogy: Christ Before Pilate (1881), Ecce Homo (1894), and Golgotha (1884). They had never been seen together even by the artist until united here for this show in 1995. In 2000 they will be split up again. Then we headed back to Hortobagy. The four of us had a cold drink and with some difficulty convinced the waiters to bring us leftover sweets from the afternoon conference break. Susan, Sachiko, and I walked over to see the horses and baby stork in nest nearby. It made a great racket of "clack, clack, clack" when its parent returned. I saw Steve for dinner, then he returned to the evening session of meetings. It was a very long day for him. I went back to the room to catch up on my journal and read. Steve returned around nine and we went outside for a walk. He joined others to socialize and I went back to the room exhausted. It was a long day for me too.

Steve and I went swimming at 7:00 am, then to breakfast. I walked beyond the stables toward the puszta through the mud. It was very foggy, but cleared and warmed up. Saw lots of small, twittering birds and one very large rabbit. My progress was hindered by unpassable water. Met up with Sue, Sachiko, and Jean to walk into town. We went over the bridge and along the shortcut. We walked through a residential neighborhood, small houses, small dirt yards fenced in, most with a dog. We found a small open air market and bought some small souvenir embroidered pieces and glass pendants. Walked past a market, vegetable stand, and the train station. Had difficulty finding the other short cut back from there, but a kind workman interrupted his lunch to show us the way. We thought we would be late for lunch, but returned to find the conference still in session. They broke shortly after and we had lunch. The afternoon excursion was by bus to a winery in Tokaj with all the conference attendees getting a break to see some of the countryside. We travelled back to Debrecen, then north, to this mountain or hill in the middle of the plain. The population of Tokaj is 5300. The volcanic soil, sunny climate, and protective mountain shield make the area perfect for winemaking. We tasted six different wines. The first three were from three different kinds of grapes. The last three were made with the late harvested aszu grapes of high sugar content. All of the wines were quite sweet. We bought two bottles to bring back. The countryside was beautiful, lush, and green. Andrea was once again our guide and she has never seen a spring so green. We didn’t return until 8:00 pm so the dinner banquet was late. It was wonderful though, with lots more wine, this time from the south of Hungary (Bull’s Blood). There were a few short speeches and lots of wonderful food. The food is usually quite bland, much of it mashed and piped beautifully. The portions are huge. Salad tonight was mashed potato with horseradish piped and rolled in a ham slice. Sliced cucumbers, mild yellow pepper rings, and tomato wedges are a frequent garnish. They use lots of sauces. The meat is not always indentifiable. One night we had goose. The desserts were unusual. We had a sweetened mashed sweet potato (I am guessing) concoction extruded spaghetti-like over whipping cream. It was all presented beautifully and very tasty even if we could not always tell what it was.

We were up early and went swimming again before breakfast. Steve finished packing and went off to meetings. I walked over to the stables and down to buy pottery. Packed it up, stored our luggage, and checked out. Met up with my three friends and went back to the pottery shop with them. Then we walked on down the street and saw horses being hitched to a cart and head to the info booth. We decided to follow them and see if it was a puszta trip we could join. Met up with them coming back with tourists and yes, they did have room for Jean and I. They didn’t speak English however. But that was okay. We went along for the ride and saw the puszta, where we spent 1.5 bumpy, rough, muddy hours. It was fun. Saw the Racka sheep, Hungarian grey cattle, water buffaloes, and Mangalica (curly haired) pigs. Hungarian cowboys gave demonstrations on horseback. One road with a total of five horses, standing on two. Another man had his horse lie down and stood on it to show how well-trained they are. The large group of horses out grazing were just so beautiful. Out in the middle of the puszta, we were seeing life as it has been for many ages, when a telephone rang, and a Hungarian tourist carried on a conversation for ten minutes. It really is hard to escape technology. Sue met us when we returned. We bought a few more souvenirs at an outdoor stand and the tack shop. Then it was time for a great lunch of chicken paprika. The meeting has ended. We walked down to the bridge to listen to and watch frogs for awhile. We boarded the bus for Hajduszoboszlo Station, the train to Budapest, and a taxi to the Intercontinental Hotel. Our room is on the seventh floor and even nicer than the previous one, but still no view of the Duna. We walked across the Chain Bridge and took the rail to the Castle District at the top of the hill. It was not a great view going up, but it did save a lot of time and effort. We walked around the area and enjoyed the evening view. We bought some paprika and took the rail back down. We walked along the river past our hotel and stopped at an outdoor café for soup and a salad. Then back to the hotel to book a minibus to the airport.

We got up early and enjoyed one more of the great buffet breakfasts. We went out walking again. It was a beautiful day and many people were out preparing for large crowds for the Mayday celebration today. Too bad we have to leave. I have enjoyed all I have seen of Hungary: the people, the cities, the culture, the countryside.