We let Matt and Emily choose what we did on our last day in Budapest – visit number 3 to the Zoo!  It was a lot colder than when we had been before and the animals were really active.  Obviously it was a lot less crowded as well.  Children in Budapest went back to school at the begining of September.  Mike had never been to the zoo, so at least it was a unique experience for him!  We had fun anyway. As with each of our other visits, we managed a close encounter with the animals. This time it was with the giraffe.  This little guy (I refer to his age, not his size!) was quite interested in the mop on top of Matt’s head.  We think he may have been looking for lunch!!  He did a couple of running laps of the enclosure as well.  Very entertaining.

We walked home down Andrassy Blvd. one last time on our way home.  It was especially cool as the street was closed to motor traffic (we never did find out why) so we were able to walk right down the middle of the street!  As you can see from the zoo pictures, the kids were wearing sweaters.  It is definitely time for us to head back to New Zealand – before the snows arrive!

First, let me correct the last entry – Pecs is pronounced Paych.  It is in the part of Hungary called Southern Transdanubia; southwest of Budapest.  It is the home to Hungary’s oldest University (founded in 1367) and has been named a European Capital of Culture for 2010.  It was a really pretty city – way smaller than anywhere we had been so far on the trip.  The picture on the left is of the former Pasha Gazi Kassim Mosque.  It was built in the 1500’s during the Turkish occupation of Hungary.  It is the largest building still standing from that era.  When the Turks were expelled, the Catholic Church repossessed it and it is now called the  Inner Town Parish Church, but is still referred to as the Mosque Church.    If you look closely at the picture, you can see a man playing the bagpipes on a stage in the foreground.  We arrived in Pecs at the beginning of the Heritage Festival.  It is a 10 day festival that celebrates the unique composition of the region.  There were performers from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia doing musical performances, dances, plays, puppet shows and lots of other stuff.  We saw the Bence Boka and Friends Early Music Concert on Friday evening.  They were very cool and performed in a beautiful wooded section of the Barbican Castle.  As for the guy on the bagpipes, he was part of the Tambura players and Bagpipers from Croatia.  I have to admit, bagpipes are way more diverse than I thought!

On Saturday, we went to the Zsolnay Porcelain Museum.  The Zsolnay factory in Pecs was founded in 1853 and besides making lots of beautiful decorative pieces, they made lots of architectural tiles for buildings all over Hungary.  One of the most famous is the Matyas Church in the Castle District of Budapest.  The ducks and wishing well Matt and Emily are standing next to was part of the Zsolnay exhibit at one of the Worlds Fairs (sorry, can’t remember if it was Brussels or Milan). 

Another thing that Pecs is famous for is that it has been named a Unesco World Heritage Site.  Underneath the city is a labyrinth of Roman burial chambers, tombs and graves dating from 350 AD.  They have done an amazing job recovering the ruins which were only discovered about 50 years ago.  Here is Emily looking down on what is called the Jug Mausoleum.  Its name comes from a painting of a wine jug surrounded by grapevines that is on the wall.  It was incredible to think that all of the ruins (so far 16 chambers and several hundred graves) were just sitting metres beneath the streets of Pecs!

We had a great visit to Pecs.  It was well worth the trip!  Now to tick off the last couple of things on our list before we head home to New Zealand!

Here is a beautiful picture of the Parliament Building.  Emily took this a while back when we were on our way back from St. Andre by boat.  As you can see, it is right along the Duna.  I can’t tell you anything about the inside (except what I have read in the tour books) because after standing in line for an hour in the cold drizzle, a guard came out and said all of the ticket were gone for the day and that we would have to come back another day.   He suggested we arrive at 8am to ensure our place in line.  I don’t think we are going to make it.  What he didn’t mention was that tour agencies buy the ticket en masse each morning so they can include the Parliament as part of their day tour packages.  He also didn’t mention that all tours are cancelled when the Parliament is in session and that you need to check that on a day to day basis on the website.  It is ok.  We have seen tons of other things.

For our last weekend in Hungary we have decided to go to Pecs (pronounced Pech).  It is a couple of hours south of here and has a huge history.  It has Roman ruins and a huge Turkish Mosque that is now a church.  It is supposed to be very cool.  Watch this space and we’ll let you know!

Maybe it is because I just finished reading The Lollypop Shoes, the sequel to Chocolat, where the main character feels she is blown by the wind, or maybe it is because the weather changed so quickly here, but we can tell it is almost time to go.

We had our last Hungarian lesson yesterday with Moni.  We took this picture last week when it was still summer – today we are wearing jeans and sweaters!  Moni made a card game for the kids with pictures of things and places that are very Hungarian.  You have to match the picture with the correct Hungarian words.  It took a while, but we did it.  We also reviewed the names for animals and some basic conversational bits.  She was lots of fun and I will miss our sessions as much as the kids!

Gary has also left us after a very quick visit.  On his full day in Budapest we went to the Fine Arts Museum in Hosok Tere and then took the metro to Vorosmarty Ter for lunch.  It was so chilly that we opted to sit inside – a first for us in Hungary!  We have sent him home with a Hungarian Cookbook so he could recreate his culinary experience here!  I must admit, Hungarian cuisine is suited to a cooler climate – lots of soups and stews.  He is off to Italy now.  More good food!

When reviewing the blog, I realized I hadn’t put a picture of our street on.  Here is a picture of O Utca taken from our downstairs balcony.  You can’t see the castle from this level, but that tall spire at the end of the street is St. Istivan Church.  This view is to the South, toward the river.  The street only extents a half of a block in the other direction and then ends at Jokai Utca.  It is a quite street in spite of the fact that it is so centrally located.  We have loved being here.  It is walking distance to almost everything including the museums, shops and restaurants. 

We have made a list of the things we want to do before we leave.  Today we are going to the Parliament.  It is cold and overcast so we are hoping the line for tickets will be short.  The Parliament is the largest building in Budapest (maybe even Hungary, I will check that for you).  It is a beautiful building and houses the crown of St. Istivan – probably the symbol of the Hungarian people.

Gary arrived safely yesterday afternoon.  He snuck in a quick trip to Budapest to visit us before his meetings in Italy this week.  We are very grateful – it is great to see him.  We took him on the “Swiatek introduction to Budapest” walking tour (the one Mike took us on the day we arrived and the same one we took MaryAnn on when she arrived!).  We went past St. Istivan Cathedral, over the Chain Bridge and up to the Castle District.  This picture was taken on one of the 3 bridges that crosses the cable car line that goes up to the Castle District.  The line was very long so we walked up rather instead of taking the cable car.

We then wandered through the castle district and took the tram home from Moskva Ter.  Dinner last night was at Mensa, a really good restaurant in Liszt Ferenc Ter.  We ate outside near a heater as it seems Summer has ended in Budapest!  Today’s high is 15C and tomorrows high. . . 10C!  Yikes!

For those of you who were concerned that Matt and Emily were missing school, I just want to reassure you that they have learned heaps on this trip.  We took a fantastic book with us to Greece and they have been studying different types of art and learning the terms that go with them.  We thought we would share some of that with you along with pictures we have taken exhibiting each term.

Columns:  Here is Matt in at the Parthenon in front of an example of Doric columns.  They are the simplest of columns with nothing fancy at the top.  The next type of column is Ionic.  They are characterized by a scroll design at the top.  The third type is Corinthian (not to be confused with rich leather hahaha!).  They are much more ornate with leafy patterns at flourishes at the top  Here is a picture of Mike and Matt with an example of a Corinthian column.  It was at the Agora in Athens.

Pediment:  the triangular gable on the top of a building.  It usually has sculptures in it.  Here is a picture of the the Pediment from the Parthenon.  You can see the relief sculpture of the horse really clearly.  It is amazing to realize that these treasures were built 2500 years ago and are still standing today!

Caryatids:  These are sculptures of women that act as columns in a building.  You can see them in the Erechtheion at the Acropolis. 

There are lots of other terms that we can include in our lesson, but I am running out of time.  I have to go pack so we can have a last leisurely lunch on Santorini before catching the ferry back to Pireaus this evening.  We head back to Budapest tomorrow.  I will do at least one more posting about our visit to Greece - there was so much intersting stuff!

Yesterday after throwing the cat out of the villa (ok, placing him gently) we headed to Agios Georgios, a black sand beach on the other side of the island.  I am not a huge beach fan, but I have to say this was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to.  The sand was actually very small black pebbles, the water was crystal clear and the perfect temperature.  We camped out for the day at the Sea Side beach club where there were lounge chairs, umbrellas and waiters to bring water and cold drinks!  Matt and Emily had their goggles with them so were able to see the fish swimming around, although Mike and I could see them from above the water! Nobody wanted to get out of the water, but we finally made our way home for the evening ritual of watching the sun set over the Agean Sea.

We headed to Skaros Taverna in Imerovigli for dinner.  There is a walkway along the cliff side that used to be the main road many years ago.  It runs from one end of the island to the other.  Today we are going to walk along it to Fira, the main town on Santorini. 

Anyway, back to dinner – we had the most beautiful fresh fish, something we haven’t had much of in Hungary.  The waiter assured us it had been caught that day and we had no reason to doubt her!  Mike and I even learned how to bone the fish as it was grilled whole.  I also must add that Santorini makes some very nice wines.  Predominantly white, but we had a rose last night.  Yum.

Finally, an update to yesterday’s story about the cat, now named Mrs. Tinkles by Emily.  She was back this morning sleeping at the foot of Matt’s bed!  The kids took some more photos of her and when she had enough, we watched her leap to the window sill and go out the way she obviously has been coming in!  The kids think it is hysterical; Mike and I are still a little wary of it all.  Maybe this will cure the kids of wanting a cat, but I doubt it.  Koufax would not like it.

I was just sleeping in my bed like any other morning and then Emily woke me up.  I felt tiny little feet on my back.  I thought it was Emily and then I looked up and . . . there was an orange cat sleeping on my back!  Emily said that it had been sleeping by my feet and then I moved so it started crawling around me.  Most of the cats on Santorini, and Greece actually, are strays.  The window of the villa was open and we think it must have jumped in. 

We have seen lots of other animals on the island like dogs and other cats and a donkey.  Mom said you used to be able to ride the donkies up the cliffs from the port.

Santorinin is a partly sunken volcano which is all cliffy on the inside and on the outside there are mostly beaches.  We are going to a black sand and a red sand beach today.  We think we are going to take the bus.  We are about to have breakfast.  I don’t know what is for breakfast but I hope it is yummy.    Matt

No better way to get to the Greek islands than by boat!  What a wonderful way to spend the morning.  The new high speed boats take only 4 hours to get from Athens to Santorini.  Amazing, considering the last time I went it took twice as long!  The kids were great and fortunately it was uneventful (the kids were dosed on dramamine before we ever left port!).

For those who don’t know about Santorini, the island is a partially sunken volcano.  There is is the main part of the island which is semicircular and then a detached part of the island as well as center island of lava.  The inside part of the island is very steep as is evidenced by the picture of the winding road we travelled up by minivan! 

This is a picture of our hotel – Remezzo Villas and some slackers hanging out on the wall in front.  It is exactly like you would expect it to look – whitewashed with blue windows and doors and a pool!  Matt and Emily spent the better part of the afternoon in the pool.  Emily returned later in the evening for another dip as well!  We had a great lunch in Imerovigli, the town we are staying in.  Matt had a seafood salad which was served in a huge clam shell.  Because it was late when we had lunch, we stopped at a grocery store to buy bread, wine, olives and olive oil for dinner.  Matt made friends with the shop owner who was originally from Oregon.  She dumped out her entire cash register so he could look for Euro coins from different countries!  He found ones from Luxembourg and Ireland as well as 1,2 and 5 eurocent coins from Greece.  She promised to keep a keen eye out over the next couple of days for other coins and we promised to stop in again for more wine!

Finally, we ended the day by watching the sun set over the caldera (submerged part of the island).  It was really beautiful.