Taking in the countryside

Two undertakings, back to back. Well, the former was not really an undertaking. It just involved biking to Baj (pronounced BOY) about 5 miles outside of Tata. It was an invitation to join Friedbert and Monika for Kaffee and Kuchen at their home, along with three other members of the choir from the earlier trip to Celldomölk. Misty and spritzy, but no downpour, so I was fortunate. Monika had baked Zwetschgenkuchen, using the recipe of Friedbert's mother. The conversation was mostly Hungarian, me catching enough words to know the topic of conversation, but not the gist. Then every ten minutes or so Monika would translate enough so that I was not totally in the dark.

Baj is a German settlement, you see the names on the war memorial in front of the church, and they are all Wagner, Schmidt, Herzog, etc. Friedbert also mentioned that their property, which measures something like 50 feet by 300 feet, is laid out in a fashion typical for the German settlers, with the house to the front and a mini-farm in the rear. Only he just has grass and three chickens, as opposed to the vineyard to his north and the corn/veggies to his south.

The house is charming, updated with new flooring and a modern Ikea-like kitchen setup that Friedbert did on his own (he has the tools in his workshed, the radial saw, the drill machine, etc etc), very bright and airy. It consists of Kitchen-Dining area, two generous bedrooms, a bath, and a small guest room. They also have a patio at back, and their view is to the hills immediately behind them, a very peaceful setting.

We ended the afternoon by singing. It started with a round of a Hungarian farewell song, then we reprised the Glory Halleluia of our 4 July trip, I demonstrated the proper tempo for the Hungarian Hymnus (should be done like a Bach chorale, not like the dirge that is performed indigenously) and we did various rounds... O wie wohl ist mir am Abend, Frere Jacques, Row row row your boat, and a Hungarian drinking song that says in essence i will drink till my teeth rot in my mouth and the grape seeds i swallow start to sprout in my stomach.

Sunday, yesterday, I did not blast off at 6 am like I had planned. Woke up at 2 and couldnt get back to sleep till 4, so i took the train at 8:30 instead. Which was fine. Rain had stopped and I had a dry bikeride to the station, got my tickets no problem, had only minor difficulty carrying the bike up and down two flights of stairs to get across the tracks to the platform, and enjoyed the trip across the countryside, past fields of corn and sunflowers till we made it to Györ, where at 9:30 people were still not really up or out, so the old city was pretty much empty but basking in strong sunshine, which I used to my advantage in taking photos.

THE OLD TOWN

GYÖR

So I biked around for an hour or so. No rush, just enjoying the city, the river, the ducks, the fishermen, the families starting out for strolls. I mosied back to the train station, locked up the bike along with another dozen or so parked in front, and headed for the bus station.