Budapest Day 2 (Saturday, May 23, 2009)

Budapest Day 2 (Saturday, May 23, 2009)

We had breakfast in the morning, met Gordon and Lou and Steven and Linda as we were leaving the breakfast area of the hotel. We again had a large selection of food for our breakfast, but not quite as many things as we had in Tel Aviv, but adequate for a very full meal to start the day.

Jackie and I had decided to go visit the Budapest Synagogue and Jewish museum, but as we left we realized it was the Sabbath day and read that it was closed. We quickly changed our plans and decided to see the Margit Island on the Danube River. We took a bus to near the lower end of the Island and walked over the Margit Bridge to the Margit Island. The views from the bridge of Budapest were very nice. One could see many tour boats docked on the river looking to the North and many interesting buildings looking south. We walked part way up the island, saw an interesting statue and very nice wooded areas and then continued further by bus when we got tired. We got off the bus near the north end of the island and explored the beautiful Grand Hotel and other places on the island.

We returned by bus to the Danubius Helia Hotel by early afternoon and I took a short nap. Jackie went to work out at the spa in the hotel. It seems that my body clock still thinks it is in California.

Later in the afternoon we found out that my sister Lillian and Peter Herczfeld had arrived and we went to meet them at the spa and hot pool. While at the spa we also met my aunt Doris Moss from Bethesda, Maryland and my cousins Martin and Corrine Hirsch from Boston. We are only missing Susanne Baker, who came in later but was too tired to join us for dinner.

As the sun set the Danube River took on a shimmering glow.

We were all picked up at the hotel in three cars by Tibor and Mary Bercelli and their daughter. They drove us from our hotel on the Pest side of the Danube River to their home on the Buda side of the river. Budapest is a merger of two cities Buda and Pest after they built several bridges over the river to connect the two cities. Mary and Tibor claim the Buda side is nicer and has more trees. Tibor is a physics professor in Budapest who specializes in microwave engineering. Tibor is semi-retired, but still does research, gives talks at conferences and still does some teaching. This is the same field as my brother-in-law, Peter Herczfeld, who is a Professor in physics at Drexel University. Since they were both Hungarian at met at conferences they have become close friends. They will also be our guide and Mary made most of the arrangements for the next week in Hungary for all the Hirsch cousins and my aunt Doris.

Mary Bercelli made a Hungarian dinner for all 11 of us and 4 of her family in her home. It was an amazing meal with 4 courses. The first course had small samples of Hungarian specialties, the second course had ground beef wrapped in cabbage, the third course was a layered casserole and a salad and sour cherries in a cream sauce and the fourth course was a layer cake like a kuggel cake with noodles, cream, raisins and severed with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. I was full after the first two courses, but we enjoyed all four. Mary had to have prepared several days in advance for this big meal for 15 people. In addition there were lots of dishes to clean up afterward. Everyone was talking with many conversations going on. Afterward the Tibors drove us back to our hotel in three cars. Those that had flown in that day were very tired and those that had been here for a few days were tired. It had been a beautiful day with 75 degree sunny Hungarian weather.