The long promised Tata post

"Ez az!" basically means "Yeah!" My students yell it all the time. I couldn't resist this photo op.

A few weeks ago Lyla and I headed to Tata to visit our friend Carla. Our morning started with the seal and parrot show, so we headed to the train (at a sprint) with high spirits. The one hour trip was amazingly brief, and we arrived to the suitably sketchy train station with no problems. After a few small detours, caused by our stupidly trying to find our own way, we met up with Carla and were taken to her lovely flat. There, she fed us tortellini soup (it made me think of you, Mom), and we watched movies while we caught up. Also present was Boo, her lovely kitty, whom we played with until the poor thing could barely take any more, and passed out on the couch, able to only barely swat at the toys we shoved in her face.

Poor Boo, tired out.

We then toured the town, which is beautiful. The main draw of the town is a huge lake in the center of it, overlooked by castles, churches, and Carla's very impressive school.

the lake



All the trees in Hungary are covered in mistletoe. Perhaps this is why they make out so much. Regardless, it led to a beautiful photo against the blue sky!

When we went to the castle, we discovered a large number of Hungarians dressed either as monks, medieval warriors, Turks, or nuns. After a decent amount of investigation, and being kicked out of a cellar, we decided that we were crashing a private party. What the party was celebrating, or why there were fake monks menacing us with eery demands of "Girls... repent your sins!" while offering pogacsa.... we will never know. I think it is better that way.

What are they waiting around for?


lanyokkkkk......

Then: Langos! Yes, three Americans attempted to make langos without the responsible supervision of a single Hungarian. The results were mixed, but not bad. The taste was right, and delicious, but they were sadly flat and thick, not light and fluffy. For a first try, though... no shame.

Yummy!

Settling onto the couch to eat our langos, we discovered that Turner Classic Movies was showing The Dirty Dozen. So we watched that, and drank some wine, and therefore did not head out for the only disco in the town, Pikanto, until 11 PM. There, we shook what our mommas gave us until closing time, when we suddenly discovered a bevy of American servicemen, stationed in Tata, of all places. Having not seen other Americans in months, they were thrilled by our presence, and the party continued on.

Sunday was left for eating delicious egg casserole, watching silly movies, and again sprinting to the train home. It was lovely... thanks Carla!