3 city tour

i had a 5 day weekend. friday (may 1) was a national holiday, so no school. then sat and sun. then monday, tuesday, and half of wednesday was the final exam for the seniors and i didn't have to go and supervise them like the other teachers did. muahahah. ergo, 5 day weekend.

i live here:
i wanted to leave my city and travel within hungary because if ever anyone comes to visit me here, they surely won't want to see different hungarian cities. so i'll do that on my own. plus, it's good practice for using the language. i pulled up a map online, perused a few city websites, found some places to stay in each city, and got on a train - with my dog.

first stop: Székesfehérvár (SAY-kesh-feh-hair-var)
it translates to something like "white castle with the chair/seat" but i think it should be called "town of creepy statues" or something.

here is the city center

a modern statue i'm sure hungarians hatecreepiest thing there

ok, it's a toss-up between these two

i'm sure this was cool at one time

a clock made of flowers

second stop: Vác (vats)

my favorite city in hungary (so far)

cutest city center ever

i ate lunch at a cute little sidewalk cafe. pea soup to start...

followed by bacon wrapped chicken, mashed potatoes, and a big grilled slice of cheese

in the city center there was a tourist information center. one of the brochures there suggested a walking tour. i went to 8 of the 10 places it recommended. here they are:

cathedral

the park of the danube bend

some cafe on the walk

"the sharpened tower"

the archway ("the stone gate")

the synagogue - very cool

statue of the holy trinityinside one of the many churches - can you imagine going to church and looking at this?

inside a different church

evening over the danube

along the riverwalk

some bishop who founded the city has a legend about finding a dear with a candle in its horns, so they erected this statue in his honor. i don't see any candles either.

final stop: Cegléd (tseg-laid) i had to change trains here anyway, so i decided to get out and look around for a few hours. a nice street to walk, ride a bike, or drive
the church statue at the end of the street
the lame city center statue
cathedral
lunch - "hamburger" and pineapple with ginger ale (that would be shredded cabbage on there)
this guy reminded me of grease. slicked back hair, short jeans... a fanny pack
your guess is as good as mine
a pretty church view (liz, i totally thought of lori when i was looking at all these churches)
xander enjoyed himself, too. i think i even wore him out one day because he kept trying to climb up my legs so i would hold him instead of make him walk. lazy bum. oh well, back to life.