Family Outing (from Kim)

Earlier in the week, Aaron and I decide to take the boys to Debrecen on Thursday.  It’s only 20 miles from Hajd….  Aaron emailed Adam who said that we could easily take a bus and gave us a list of things to visit.  Seems easy enough.

We get the boys ready this morning and head to the bus station located by the Aqua Palace.  We find the information desk clerk who speaks a little English and tells us where to wait and that we pay the fare to the bus driver.  There are maybe 20 other people waiting for the bus.  The bus pulls up and the bus driver is somewhat friendly.  The boys are really excited and Drew, who’s sitting with Aaron, keeps looking at Aaron with a big grin on his face. 

It takes about 30 minutes to get to Debrecen because the driver is going maybe 45 mph.

We arrive at the crowded bus station and Aaron goes inside to ask how to get to the Forum - an indoor mall for which we’ve seen numerous billboards and advertisements, so we’re thinking it will be really cool.  Aaron tried talking to 3 different clerks and none could speak English but one finally pointed him to an information booth, but there wasn’t anyone working there.  He decides to walk around and see if he can figure anything out.  He’s gone about a minute when I notice a lady walk inside the information booth.  I go in to ask her.  First off, no, she doesn’t speak English and she rolls her eyes when I ask.  Then I ask if anyone does and she gives a loud sigh and says something to her colleague who laughs and then shakes her head to me.  I pull out a pamphlet for the Forum and ask her how we get there.  She rolls her eyes again and pulls out her cell phone.  She has a short conversation and then comes out from her little room and motions for me to follow her.  Aaron is back so I leave the boys with him and follow her.  She takes me about a block away to a city bus stop and points to 3 different bus schedules.  The whole time she’s still talking in rapid fire Hungarian.  I tell her that I understand (even though I don’t) and we head back inside.  Aaron is by a city map and asks her where we are and where is the Forum.  She points everything out and we figure we can get there on our own.  We leave with the boys and start walking down the block.  After about 100 feet, we see a sign that says the Forum is 700 m away and we figure we can walk there.

We finally make it to the Forum and it’s not that great.  The most interesting thing was the water fountain that had about 30 water spouts that sprayed in various patterns.  If only there had been music it could have been the Bellagio J.

We left to find something to eat.  We saw a McDonalds and figured we could get the boys Happy Meals before finding a little café.  Gus has been asking about McDonalds so we thought that would make him happy.  We got the boys each a cheeseburger Happy Meal which came in the neatest little plastic cases.  Those cases will sure come in handy!  Each one got a Coke – no ice of course.  They are very much against ice in drinks over here. 

They were happy after eating and we took off walking again.  We found one of the main streets and walked around looking for a place to eat.  Most of them didn’t look kid friendly or had goose pate or lamb knuckles on the menu.  We saw the museum we wanted to go in, but decided to eat first.  We finally found a Belgian Pub.  Yes, a Belgian pub in Hungary.  It was about 1:15 so there weren’t many people in there.  The waiter knew a little English.  He brought the kids some paper and colored pencils. 

Deri Museum

After eating, we headed back to the Deri Museum.  As we walked up, we noticed that a door that had been standing open earlier was now shut.  We walked up and noticed the sign that read Nov. 1 – Mar. 31 hours were 10am – 1 pm.  We missed it by an hour.  As we turned and walked away, I glanced back and saw a lady come out of the door.  Aaron tried to talk to her but she didn’t even stop, just said something in Hungarian and pointed over shoulder at the hours sign.  Hungarian hospitality at its finest!

Not Staged - actual lady in background; Aaron's initial reaction

We decided to walk around and look at the different shops.  I am still amazed at the shops here.  The shops are - shoe, clothing, book or bakeries.  You can pretty much walk along and they will be in that order – just one after another.  And they are teeny little stores.  If all 4 of us walk in a shop, it’s too crowded and I just want to quickly get out of there.  One cool thing – every once in a while, there will be an opening/walkway and if you go in, there are more shops and bakeries.  I sometimes feel like Alice falling through the rabbit hole into another world.

Cool postal truck I saw - it's a Mercedes!

At 3, we decided to head back to the bus station.  We got the 4pm bus to Hajd.  Pretty good day, the boys were tired when we got back but the Happy Meal boxes kept them occupied for more than an hour before supper.