Best Looking Slug on the Block

You have to admit...as slugs go he's a beaut.  And he has some equally good looking friends.

Budapest Honvéd FC Game

Budapest Honvéd is a local Hungarian League team, which back in the day was a really big deal.  Legendary soccer player Ferenc Puskás (the Pele of Hungary) played for them.  (He led Hungary to a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics and the World Cup final in 1954 before defecting to Spain and playing for Real Madrid).  These days Hungarian soccer is, let's just say, "rebuilding", as evidenced by our lack of getting into the World Cup this year.  Anyway, we won VIP tickets at the AISB International Festival silent auction.  There was only one home game left in the season, but luckily we were available.  Nicholas and Tom had been to a match earlier in the year with some school friends and had a great time.  When they went, the stands were packed (it was somehow an important match in the Hungarian soccer league??).  At this match, which was a meaningless end of season match, there was NOBODY there.  Honestly it was a little sad.  The "VIP"-ness was also not what I was expecting.  I've become way too spoiled with Cardinals luxury boxes.  :)  On the plus side (not really), the box and the suite with the food were staffed with many very, very short-skirted women.  Lovely.  It was fun to see (the match...not the short-skirted women) but probably not worth the price we paid.  And Charlotte was not necessarily enthralled by live soccer, so it was not so fun having to deal with a restless 6 year old.  Next time?  We'll just send the boys!

Munchkinland!

Nicholas was a munchkin soldier in the 3rd grade production of Munchkinland.  (The whole performance is available here if you're interested!).  Drama is part of the 3rd-5th curriculum, so all 70 of the 3rd grade students participated in the musical.  We have been hearing the songs for weeks at home.  We were ready to see the performance!

Tom was traveling, but Charlotte and I had perfect seats up front with a classmate, Evelyn, whose brother was also in the play.

There was a square stage in the middle of the room, with the action taking place on all four sides.  It was a great way to use the MPR space and give all the families a way to be close to the action.

A proud sister...

and a proud Drama teacher, Mr. Done.

We look forward to the 4th grade show next year!

Emerson Budapest Company Picnic

Tom decided it would be nice for all the people in his office to get together with their families.  He (or should I say his fantastic assistant, Kati!) organized a fun event at a park up in the Buda Hills.  I supplied dessert, using precious American imports to make chocolate chip cookies, brownies and Rice Krispy treats.  For whatever reason I had tons of cookies left over, but the brownies and Rice Krispy treats were devoured.  In a country where they don't sell marshmallows, the Rice Krispy treats were pretty novel.  A lot of the children weren't into them, but the adults scarfed them down!

It was a group affair to make a huge pot of amazing goulas.  It hung over the fire via a metal tripod and cooked for hours.  We also had various grilled meats and vegetables.  Some of the guys got me to drink palinka, a Hungarian liqueur.  There was both homemade and purchased palinka there.  The plain homemade stuff pretty much tasted like jet fuel, but the honey flavored one I tried was quite tasty.

We brought our pop-up soccer goals, soccer balls, bocce set and American footballs.  The kids, despite language differences, played so nicely together. Nicholas didn't stop moving for the 4 hours that we were there, and even got some of the Emerson guys to pass around a football with him.

This sweet woman, Beata, worked with Charlotte on her Hungarian.  They'd take turns drawing pictures of animals, fruits and colors, then write the Hungarian name beneath.  

Charlotte was a little shy around all the strangers, but Beata got her to warm up.

It was great fun, and everyone enjoyed themselves.  I was especially happy to put faces to names, and meet the families of the people Tom works with.  There will be more family events in the future, I'm sure!

It's Out! - Tooth #3 for Charlotte

She made it back to Budapest, then the next day...out it came.

I wasn't there when her brother pushed her, and I didn't get any details.  She was pretty much just excited about having lost the tooth.  She carefully wrote her note with "fancy letters".

A 200 forint coin (about 1 US dollar) is the gift from the Tooth Fairy here.

There's no tooth coming in, so the hole may be with us a while!

Slovenia - Labor Day 2014 - Day 4 - Ljubljana

We woke up to a gorgeous day, glad that we saved our castle visit for today.  Love the view out our window!

Cutest manhole cover ever.  Somehow the dragon looks more cute than fierce!

On our way to the castle, we passed by St. Nicholas' Cathedral, which has been built, destroyed and rebuilt many times since the 1200's:

Huge bronze doors were added in 1996 to celebrate the visit of Pope John Paul II.

Before heading up to the castle, we stopped for a quick bite to eat.  We sat outside, and watched when exactly at noon, some figures came out of the clock tower across the street and announced it was noon.

Charlotte's front tooth is hanging by a thread.  We kept thinking it would fall out and be taken by the Tooth Mouse, which according the the man who ran our hotel is what takes all teeth lost in Slovenia.

A single funicular built in 2006 takes visitors to the top of Castle Hill.  Up we went.

Tom was fascinated by a canon...

with a rifled interior.

We climbed up a spiral staircase to the top of the tower

There's that dragon again...

We tried for a family pic.  This was the best of the bunch.

There were lots of places to explore.  We found an old cell block.  In several periods, the castle was used as a prison.  Not so cushy...

The Ljubljana Marshes Wheel (actually a replica).  Discovered in 2002, it is over 5000 years old.  The oldest wooden wheel ever discovered.

The museum has a fascinating history of Slovenia.  If we'd been without kids, we could have really taken some time in it.  I can't remember why this phone was included...but I think it's the first rotary phone my kids have ever seen.

A bust of Tito, the man who kept Yugoslavia together in the decades prior to his death.

And now...another total fail on my part as photographer.  We took the coolest guided "Time Machine" tour of the castle.  A tour guide led our little group around to 6 different spots, where we were met by actors in costume who spoke to us about what life was like in the castle during their time there.  It was great, and perfect for the kids.  Do I have ANY pictures of the actors?  No.  :(  I think I was too engaged in the whole thing to think about it!

On our first stop, we met a Roman guard and a priestess, living in the area when it was part of the Roman city of Emona.  They showed us a well from that time, that was worked over the years using men walking in a wheel.  Basically a hamster wheel for people.  Our guide told us the men would be blindfolded so as not to get motion sickness.  The Roman well was lost for a time, but rediscovered during one of the periods when the castle was a prison...which meant ample labor to keep it running.

Our next stop was outside the castle walls where we met St. George the Dragon Slayer.  He told us all about his exploits, and killing the dragon which had taken over the castle.

While "George" was repeating the story in Slovene for the rest of our group, our guide gave us extra information.  At this stop he told us two things I didn't know.  First, as the castle was rebuilt over the course of time, one thing they used were old headstones.  Already cut and ready to go.  There's one there on the left edge of the front wall halfway down.

The other thing he told us was that moats are only filled with water in Hollywood movies.  The purpose of the moat was to stop a group of attackers from reaching your walls with a battering ram.  Just a dry moat accomplishes this by making the attackers lose all momentum and no longer have the right angle to use the ram.  Interesting...  

The large opening on the tower above was for horses, the smaller one to its left was for people.  The drawbridge would have connected there.  The triangular window at the top was for archers defending the castle.

Several more stops included a soldier and nun from the Napoleonic period, an Hapsburg Emperor and his wife, and a woman being held as a political prisoner.  She had dared insult a politician.

Inside the chapel of St George, which is decorated with some religious symbols, but mostly with crests from wealthy noble families.

Our last presenter was the famous mayor of Ljubljana who managed to buy back the castle in 1905 so it is now owned by the city.

At that point we realized we had spent hours and hours at the castle.  It really was the best tour and experience of any castle we've been too.  Highly recommend!

Finally some sun!  We walked back to the center of town for one last peek before we left for home.

This shows two of the three parts of the Triple Bridge.  

Gelato for the road.

And with that we said goodbye to Ljubljana.

And headed for home.  Slovenia wasn't even on our radar, and now it's one of our favorite places we've visited.  We'll be back!