Veszprém Visit

We have just returned from a wonderful weekend in Veszprém with the family of Balázs and Dori Kovács. We left on Saturday morning, meeting Dori and her boy friend Zoli at their flat in downtown Pest. We then went by car to Veszprém, actually changing our route because of the blowing and drifting snow. At noon we were at Tony and Anikó Kovács' home, enjoying a delicious meal of homemade wild boar stew shot and cooked by Tony. We had a great time renewing our relationship begun last spring, when we went to their wine cellar at Balaton with Jodi and Ben.



After lunch we drove to Herend to tour the Herend Porcelain museum. We had our own private tour, actually watching the craftswomen creating and painting the porcelain pieces. This porcelain is quite intricate and fine, and has been used in many royal and "rich and famous" dining" rooms.






After the tour and museum visit we enjoyed our free cups of coffee in the museum dining room, drinking from fine Herend cups. Then we drove back to Veszprém and walked around the old town. It was extremely cold and windy, as it was about 5:00 P.M. at that point. We saw many of the historical buildings in the old town, including one that still has World War I cannon balls still embedded in the exterior walls.




The phone booth does NOT date back to the 1000's...



but Gisela's arm bone does! This is displayed in the Szent Mihály church. Gisela was the wife of Szent István, the first king of Hungary. He was crowned king of Hungary in 1000, and Gisela is also known as having founded a cathedral here in Veszprém. We found this rather interesting, because István's right hand is on display at the Saint Stephen's church here in Budapest.



As the sun was setting we walked to the "end" of the hill to the panorama, looking over more of the old town, with the Bakony hills in the distance.





At the panorama, we posed next to statues of King István and Gisela. The wind at that point was bone-chilling. We walked back through the town to a wonderful restaurant, where hot wine and delicious soup warmed us up again.



Today we had breakfast, then accompanied Balázs and Dori and Anikó to their church. Lunch was soup, wild boar stew (very delicious), and palacsinta for dessert. We left for home at 3:00 with Zoli and Dori.

We really feel blessed that we can have this family here in Hungary, and we know that they really care for us too! We have already made plans for a return visit in May, when we will help celebrate Gisela's name day!

Cindy was particularly enamored with the soap holder in the upstairs bathroom. A magnet is pushed into the bar of soap, and then has a holder to which it attaches.Dori told her that it is very old (the holder, not the soap) and was originally from Germany...an ingenious idea!