Tablet keyboard

so i finallz got a kezboard for mz tablet...ah   hungarian lazout...z abd y are reversed, have to get used to it

First experiences in Udvarhely

In the corridor next to my room stands a hand loom that is about 100 years old.  It is the source for the tapestry.

Many larger houses have a central fireplace that is tied in to the gas central heating system (here in the inn it is hot water, i am pretty sure).  They seem to believe firmly in stocking up on firewood.

 Historical preservation. These gates are traditional, some over 150 years old.  This is an outdoor museum about 4 miles north of town.  Last Satuday Dönci (13 yr old son of owner) and I biked there, about 300 ft. rise in elevation. Just to the north is a natural spring that has been diverted into a column with water spigots.  In the course of about 10 minutes ten or so people showed up, some on bicycle, to fill up plastic bottles and take the water home

 Detail from one of the gates.  This is the panel over the people gate, the big wide opening is for wagons and cattle.

Showing  date finished.   March (may?) 9, 1869.

Udvarhey, quick first few photos

This fence really struck me at first glance.  I have since seen a couple more like it, but this one is in the best shape and has a gate to match.

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So on the bus to get here from Marosvár (aka Tirgu Mures) we made a pit stop in Szovata, a resort town/village about 35miles north of here.   I got a coffee, then came back to the bus.  The woman in the photo asked me for a couple of lei /about 60cent/  i said yes, but only if i can take a photo of you and your dress.  She agreed, so I fished out my walet to get two one-lei bills, and she immediately spotted the 5-lei bill that I inadvertently pulled with the others and grabbed it before i knew what was going on.  Let that be a lesson to me. What kind of lesson, I dont know, but I am pretty sure there is one to be found.  Anyway, the pic turned out pretty good, so I really can't complain too much. And it is a good story as well.

 Picture on the wall in my bedroom. Typical local handicraft, rather frozen in time. But the inn presents itself as a "country/traditional" establishment, so it goes with the overall theme.

Local cultural center, mainly auditorium plus a few offices. The letters under the pediment read Casa di Cultura / Művelődésiház

Orthodox church about 400 yards from where I am staying, on route to downtown.  Big, but I honestly think it is totally empty. I have yet to see a single sign of life there, no billboad with times of services, etc. The goldish windows are solid, icons painted on them. The pic was at sunset, hence the glowing. The one in the middle behind the flag (n.b. ROMANIAN orthodox church! Romaian flag) is plain glass.  I also liked the fence around the property.

 So before asking the question or giving the answer I am going to give a translation of the text on the front of the white church in the above photo.  "Az egy isten tisteletére" = To the honor of the one God.  Every one of the churches  that belong to this particular faith tradition has a similar inscription, the key word being EGY = one, sole.  This part of the world was particularly involved in the Reformation, the result being that a shift took place toward the more tolerant position that allowed for freedom of conscience, the main proponents of this being Hungarian Unitarians.



Below is the interior of the local franciscan parish, a delightful place of not too heavy baroque. I went to Sunday mass a week ago, got there 10 min early, standing room only.  Music was mostly gregorian chant, but no choir and weak audience participation.  Words are powerpointed onto a screen, no hymnals. Certainly no 4 part harmony. This is also a no wine stick out your tongue region. I guessed I could do without the wine (doctrine of concomitance), but I stuck out my hands and it seemed not to be too much of a problem.

 So one other thing besides fences is gates. Big, carved, wooden.  The one below has a Beware of Dog sign that totally ruins it, but i took the pic anyway because this gate is the best one in the immediate neighborhood.  The next two are pics of a different gate , just showing details.

Another gate, this one of metal, with a traditional sun motiv.  In cities with minority Hungarian populations, some shops have signs with this sun symbol and the word "tessék", which essentially means "please go ahead"--  in this case, please go ahead and speak Hungarian in this shop if you would like to.

Visiting Segesvár. aka Sässburg. aka Sigisoara

1Vlad's house

2. Fortified German church at very top of the hill

3 main square as seen from covered stairway leading up to fortified church

4 Base of the hill looking toward the clock tower

5 Heading down the hill, view of city toward the north

 Went by train, which left Udvarhely at 5:45 AM!  Cobblestone streets were A. steep B. icy C. dangerous.  Food was problematic, had upset everything for 24 hrs.  I think it was just overloaded with lard.   Oh.. Train trip of about 35 miles took one hour and forty minutes.  But i do think I will return once it warms up, probsably mid april.  Lots of good photo ops.  Will add more pics later once i figure out how to upload them.

Kolozsvár to Udvarhely

Kolozsvár .............


I had a pretty decent time in Kolozsvár (otherwise Cluj-Napoca). Train ride was uneventful, a bit of difficulty getting to where i wanted to go (no good info about public transport), but got to the place finally, a 2br apt which i was to share with Nico, a student who was renting br#2. I had a decent sized room, shared kitchen and bath. It was in the exact middle of town, from my window i could see city hall directly across the street.

Photos....
1. City hall from my window
2 part of old city wall.
3 where i stayed, my bedrrom was about 8th window from corner,two levels up from streez
4 interior of st michael's church (genuine gothic)
5. Restrained art nouveau building....

...............

Through internet search i had made contact with a us ex-pat, we met for coffee, he and a canadian who is teaching at the Reformed Church seminary. The teacher is also a musician, and he suggestef i go to the production of Elidir d'amore, being put on that eve at the Hungarian opera house. I know it will be in italian with magyar titles, so i try to find an italian hungarian libretto online, of course there isnt any, so just wind up studying the italian.............


Head off towards opera after a few hours wandering about the city, "enjoying" a lunch of tepid pureed spinach with fried egg and tough canadian baconish patty, also tepid to cool. It was nourishing, cost only $4. ..



.........Found the Magyar opera, bought my ticket (row 6, 6 seats left of center aisle), then went to a nearby restaurant. Scrumptious fish filet (pike?), very good beer, tasty salad and potatoes. But had to rush--opera started 6:30.....


Get settled. Public announcement, i understand: tenor. Mexico. Lopez. So i conclude: last minute substitute............


Act one... Very engaging cast, Adina is good, Nemorino seems a bit hesitant, but that is in character. One extra touch in this production, the Medicine man has an assistant//done up as a comedia d'arte mime in facepaint. I liked the concept, it made more sense as the quack reveals his thoughts, since he sings to his assistant, not just in a soliloqy..........

Act 1 is over, retire to foyer, find Brian, the Canadian, who knows several of the singers personally, and who fills me in on the fact that the tenor was drafted at last minute, lucky for them he knows the part. He is doing DonJose tomorrow in Carmen at the Romanian operahouse.........

All ends happily, very good job by all, and i suggest to Brian that we get a beer or something. The foyer cafe remains open, we go and are joined by Leput a fine performance (his given name), who is finishing amastets onnuclear physics and who also plays the organ (which is how Brian knows him). We chat, then the Adina comes by, Brian is a good acquaintance, we chat with herand then the baritone who was charming, handsome. Energetic, and who sang quite well. He is off to sing Onyegin somewhere, doing it all phoneticaly. Then we got to chat with the tenor, who put in a fine performance overall and whose "furtiva lagrima" was dead on. .... ...

Next morning, friday, i decide i will find the busstation and make sure about next day's trip. Cannot figure out how to get theteby bus, take one partway, seems wrong, get off, catch same number going opposite direction, but this is definitely wrong, get off, ask directions, ultimately get to train station and walk the 500 metets or so on to the bus station. To find out no tickets are sold in advance, you show up and pay the driver in cash, no credit card!.... Ok, have to live with that, but am tired and hungry and go int a nearby restaurant, where as soon as i enter i am greeted in english. I ask how the young man knows i am a foreigner. Is it the shoes? He just knows. Maybe it is because i dont greet everyone when i enter (dont know the phrases).... Good lunch with a $1.50 tuborg beer. Really tired, take taxi back which costs $3 instead of 60cent bus. Worth it.
.............

Have wifi back at apartment, Lehel has onvited me to join him for Carmen, which i do, he gets his student ticket (balcony) for 5 lei($1.60), mine costs twice as much for the seat next to him. Performance is heavy on costumes and dancing, a bit stodgy in the way the singers sre choreographed (except for catfight scene between Carmen's fellow workers at the cigarette factory), the bullfighter was only so-so, but carmen, don jose, and michaela were excellent. There is a third male role, a smuggler, who was quite good, i wished he could havebeen the toreador ( who was too pudgy for the role).....................

Next blog wont have pictures, it will cover the conversaton with
Lehel at dinner after the opera............

A few days later.… no it wont, other than to say that i covered some areas that he had not thought about very much, primarily because this part of the world is very pious, conservative, traditional, etc etc.  I brought up some issues that he might run into if he goes to Germany or even Budapest for grad school in physics.  Good conversation. But not for this blog.