Lillafured Day 1 (Tuesday May 26, 2009)

Lillafured Day 1 (Tuesday May 26, 2009)

We are now in a small town of Lillafured, Hungary about a 4 hour drive North-West from Budapest. We are in an old hotel that is a spa in the foothills of some mountains. It took us almost 7 hours to get here since we made few stops to see things on the way to Lillafured. Martin and Corrine Hirsch did not make the rest of the trip with us, but went on to Austria to have a vacation by themselves. We said goodbye to them in the lobby of the hotel in Budapest. Our guides, Professor Tibor and Mary, made the trip with us. The driver of the bus was a student in the college. The primary stop we made, on the way to Lillafured, was in Miskolc Hungary, Hungary. Budapest is a city of about 2 million people and Miskolc is the second largest city and has 200,000 people. Most of the rest of Hungary is rural and made up of small towns and villages. Most of the drive that we took to Lillafured was through rolling hills of farm land. Hungary was never been allowed to have heavy industry by the many occupiers of Hungary, so cities never formed other than the capital city, Budapest, and Miskolc, which had iron ore.

We stopped at a communication tower that overlooks Miskolc and could see all of Miskolc from the tower.

Later we drove into Miskolc and saw an old 1841 synagogue that amazingly still stands after Nazi and Communist occupation. It was the central synagogue of Miskolc. Miskolc had, previous to WWII, several smaller synagogues but they were all destroyed. The Miskolc synagogue is much smaller than the large one we saw in Budapest, but was designed by the same architect and has a similar design. The congregation draws from a wide area near Miskolc and has 500 families. Unfortunately the Synagogue was in poor shape inside, since they do not have sufficient funds to maintain it. They did paint the outside of the synagogue. On the outside of the synagogue was a monument to WWI synagogue members who were killed and we saw many German Jewish last names we recognized such Klein, Gruen, Weiss, Stern and Hirsch. In the hallway inside was also a plaque of people who has died from 1840-1940 and had the name Hercfeld (without the letter z). Peter Herczfeld did not think this was a relation, but his father was raised in Miskolc and he planned to try to track his roots there at a later time. We had pizza for lunch in an outdoor restaurant across the street from the Synagogue.

The head of the synagogue gave us an historical update of the Synagogue and had lunch with us. He told us that they have occasional weddings there and his daughter would soon be married in the synagogue. He also told us that the oldest Torah the temple had was over 2,000 years old and the newest one was 16 years old. They had a minion every day for services, but met in a smaller room and not the main sanctuary. They did fill the main sanctuary for high holidays. The upstairs balcony area was not used since the structure was too week. For Orthodox services the women sat in the wings of the sanctuary. For Newlog (Reform) services this was not required. We left a small donation to the Synagogue.

From Miskolc we drove nearby to a large spa and swim area. We spent some time swimming and relaxing in the hot pool areas. There was also an indoor cave that connected pool areas and many of the group explored the cave. There were many others swimming and having fun in this large complex of indoor and outdoor pools. It had a interesting coed place to change clothes. There were small changing rooms and then one large set of common coed lockers. The lock on the lockers was designed so that you put a coin in, you could remove the key and when you returned the key the coin was returned.

We ended up in Lillafured and our hotel. The hotel is a good size hotel that is used as a spa, but the pool area is under reconstruction. The hotel has some nice stain glass windows and paintings depicting the kings of Hungary. The dinner that comes with the room was cafeteria style with meats, fish and chicken along with fruits and vegetables. The outside lawn area was very nice with shrubs and flowers. Fortunately there is Internet service, so I could update this blog. We plan on being here for 3 nights and then go back to Budapest.

Budapest Day 4 (Monday May 25, 2009)

Budapest Day 4 (Monday May 25, 2009)

Today we went to see the Hungarian Parliament building and also visited the Castle District.

The Hungarian Parliament was in session so we saw the room where the House of Lords used to meet. Hungary has a unicameral parliament with only the House of Commons. The beautiful House of Lords deliberation room is only used for special occasions. In the lobby outside the House of Lords meeting room was a numbered stand for legislators to put their cigars before going into the room. They had to remember their number to pick up the correct cigar when they left the room. Today no smoking is allowed. We were also told that in the early days the room was cooled in the summer by putting blocks of ice underneath the building in small doors and then the cool air was circulated through the chambers with vents in the floor. We were not able to see the similar House of Commons room since it was in session.

We went later to the Castle district. This district was destroyed during WWII and had to be rebuilt. It was decided to use stone from the original buildings whenever possible and inter-mix the old stone with new stone. The buildings had a distinctive look.

We had lunch at a very nice pastry shop in the Castle district. We also rested at a Hilton Hotel in this district which had as part of the hotel the remnants of former Dominican Convent. There are remains of the old cloisters where the monks used to walk around a small garden and pray.

We also visited an old Matthias church that was built originally in the 1200s. During WWII they removed and hid the stain glass windows and but them back after the war. The building also had to be restored after the war. It is under renovation today. In 1309 Charles Robert of Anjou was crowned King here. In 1867 the Emperor of Austria, Franz Josef I was crowned and Hungarian musician Franz List composed the Coronation Mass for the event. We also saw the nearby Fisherman Bastion, a fairy-tale castle built in 1876 and has fantastic views of the Pest side of the Danube River. One can see the Parliament building, the new Budapest city along with the old city.

Near the church and Fisherman Bastion is a statue of a bronze horse. The word spread that touching the horses testicles would bring good luck, so the only part of the horse that is not tarnished is this part of the horse.

In the evening we went to another very nice restaurant, Kispipa, for dinner and afterwards walked over to see Peter Herczfeld’s high school.

We stopped briefly at the fancy New York café and looked again at the popular Vaci Street with all its shops and cafes. We then took the subway to see the Danube River at night with all the city lights on and the chain bridge lights were on. It was a clear night with a cool breeze and a new moon rising.

One comment is the acceleration of the buses and trams and the speed of the subway escalators. The buses and trams accelerate and decelerate very fast. If one is not holding on to something, once one gets into the bus or tram, it is easy to get thrown about. We had several people in our group fall into people’s laps or almost loose control and fall to the back of the bus or tram when it accelerates from a stop. The subway escalators are about twice as fast as those in the United States, one had to jump on and jump off the escalators.

Budapest Day 3 (Sunday May 24, 2009)

Budapest Day 3 (Sunday May 24, 2009)

Today we went on our first official tour of Budapest and Hungary as a group. The tour started in the morning at 10:00 a.m. with Peter Herczfeld conducting the tour. The Hirsch cousins, spouses and Aunt Doris Moss went by public bus to see the Magit Island and lunch at Gerbaud pastry restaurant. Jackie and I had gone to the same places the past two days, but it was nice to see some highlights that we had missed and to be with our family. In the afternoon, Mary Bercelli joined us and began her part of the tour. We met her at Hero’s Square where there are statues of all the famous Hungarian kings. Mary gave us a detail history of all the kings and with it the turmoil in history of Hungary. Hungary being in the center of all the invaders from the East and the West was in constant change, but benefited from a melding of many different cultures. Hungary was combined with other countries at times and divided into separate countries at other times. Recently it was invaded by Germany and then Russia at the end of World War II.

We saw the biggest Jewish Synagogue in Europe in Budapest. This beautiful building was sparred by the Germans and Russians. In an outside courtyard is a metal tree dedicated to Paul Wallenberg with each leaf on the tree with the name of one of the Hungarian Jews that were killed during the German occupation of Hungary. Peter Herczfeld’s father’s name was on one leaf, but we were not able to find the leaf on this trip. On top of the Temple is a tablet with the 10 commandments. The Temple inside appears similar to a beautiful large European cathedral.

We also drove by an apartment complex where Peter Herczfeld had lived with this family and an elementary school that he had attended.

We then boarded a rented blue bus and went about 40 miles out into the countryside. Along the way we picked up Mary’s husband, Tibor, her daughter and granddaughter. Mary’s granddaughter is a dress designer and arrived in high fashion with an outfit she had designed.

We saw on the trip the ruins of an old church in a hilltop field with very thick walls that also protected it from outside invaders and several old villages.

We made it to our destination which was a horse ranch and restaurant. We were greeted by a man on a horse and the 3 piece musical group playing Hungarian music. We were treated to a wonderful horse show, which showed off horsemanship skills and which ended up with sister, Lillian, riding bareback around the track. After the horse show we had a tour of the wine cellar and a lovely Hungarian dinner. After dinner we were treated to Hungarian dancers. They got Gordon and some others to try to dance and perform with them. It was lots of fun. The bus took us back to our hotel at 10:00 p.m.. We were all tired and happy after a 12 hour tour, feasting and dancing.

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.

Budapest Hungary (Friday, May 22, 2009)

Budapest Hungary (Friday, May 22, 2009)

We arrived safely in Budapest after getting up at 3:30 a.m., get a 4:30 a.m. taxi to the Tel Aviv airport. We arrived at 5:00 a.m. at the airport and had to go through several security checks. We were concerned about making our 7:05 a.m. El Al flight, but we made it with much time to spare.

Four hours later and 1 hour earlier time zone we arrived at the Budapest airport, went through customs and took a shared mini-cab to hotel, Helia. Budapest is a city with lots of character, but is significantly older than Tel Aviv and Haifa in appearance and seemingly in need of more repairs. The roads that the taxi took were very narrow and we nearly hit some parked cars and had to come to a complete stop when a car or truck ahead stopped on the single lane roads. We can look out of our Helia hotel room at the beautiful Danu River with the boats traveling up and down the river.

The currency is called the Hungarian Forint (HUF) and one gets around 176 HUF for each US dollar. So $10.00 is 1,760 HUFs and $50.00 is 8,827 HUFs. I feel like I am using play money when I look at prices in the thousand of HUFs for a taxi ride. I have 5,000 HUF bill in my wallet. Jackie and I took the Budapest subway to a tourist shopping area called Vici street and went to the famous Gerbeaud Pastry Shop for some pastries. We walked down Vici Street after having some pastries and then took the subway back to the hotel. It allowed us to get some confidence in getting around Budapest with the strange street names (Dozsa Gyogy Ut., Deak Fereno Ut.), a subway system that was new to us and to find our way after getting off the subway. We also purchased a Budapest card at the airport that gives us discounts on some things for three days including free rides on the subway.

We looked around the hotel spa area and ran into my cousin Gordon Hirsch who came in a day before us. He asked to use my laptop computer to write an e-mail. He and his wife, Lou, came by to use the computer and we plan on going to dinner together tonight.

After dinner we checked to see if Gordon’s older brother, Steven Hirsch, had arrived. They had not arrived, but then we saw Steven and Linda Hirsch coming into the hotel and just arriving from Washington DC. Linda was checking in and is not on the photo.

We are expecting other Hirsch in, my sister and my aunt, Doris Moss, to be arriving in the next 24 hours.

Tel Aviv Day 2 (May 21, 2009)

Tel Aviv Day 2 (May 21, 2009)

This morning we had a very nice breakfast at the Dan Panorama hotel in Tel Aviv. The spread was similar but bigger that we had in the previous Dan Panorama hotels in Jerusalem and Haifa. New additions included, crepes, hand made omelets, waffles and pancakes. It was interesting that all the hotels had lots of bread and rolls, lox, cream cheese, jam, cheeses but no bagels?

At noon Jochanan Moses, a grandson of Adolf Moses, picked us up at our hotel and drove us to his house. At his house we met his English wife, Marilyn Moses. Johanan is a retired flight engineer with El Al Airlines and a former pilot for the Israeli Air Force. He said he flew fighter jets in many of the Israeli wars. Also for the lunch was Johanan’s cousin, Shlomo Moses and his wife, Hava Moses. Shlomo Moses is still working as an electrical contractor for businesses. Marilyn Moses made a very nice lunch with our first Israeli bagels, German meats and cheeses and Moses favorite Chocolates for dessert. We had lots of discussion of the Moses and German traits that were common and of the family genealogy. I got some updates for my genealogy tree, which I will update when I return to California. Marilyn Moses is camera shy, so she is not shown in the photo. I also showed them photos of the family in the United States and we exchanged e-mail addresses and phone information. We also found out the Shlomo and Hava Moses have a daughter, Yael Ben-Natan, son-in-law, Nimrod Ben-Natan and four grandchildren living in, of all places, Cupertino, California, which is where we live. We got contact information and plan to contact them when we return home. Shlomo and Hava have visited Cupertino several times, and remarked about the grocery stores, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joes, where we shop as well. It is a small world as one would say.

Johanan and Marilyn Moses have a very nice home in an exclusive area of Tel Aviv. Many ambassadors to Israel live in their neighborhood. They were very hospitable and we had a very nice visit with relatives that I had not met and they learned some of the extent of the family in the United States.




In the late afternoon Jackie went to get a massage at the hotel Massage Studio.

In the evening we went to the Manta Ray restaurant for a light dinner overlooking the sunset on the Mediterranean Sea. On the way to the restaurant we heard what sounded like a small explosion in the distance. Most people on the street stopped as we did to look around. We did not see anything so we continued on to the restaurant, but it was a reminder that although we were in this beautiful resort area, we were also in Israel.

We needed to pack and get ready for out 7:05 a.m. flight and people have told us to be at the airport 2-3 hours before the flight in order to get through the tough security, so we will get up at 3:30 a.m. and we have a taxi waiting for us at 4:30 a.m...

This ends our wonderful stay in Israel. The people in Israel were very nice and friendly. It was easy to get around the country. Most people we met spoke English which made it easy to communicate and get information. Tomorrow morning we fly to Budapest for the next part of our journey.

Tel Aviv (Wednesday, May 20, 2009)

We took a last early morning walk in Haifa before leaving for Tel Aviv. We saw a restaurant that we could pronounce the Hebrew letters as well as the English.

We had initially planned to go back to Jerusalem after Haifa, but decided to change our plans and spend 2 days in Tel Aviv. We hope to meet some more relatives tomorrow, on Thursday, in Tel Aviv.

We are now in Israel’s largest city Tel Aviv. We took a bus from Haifa and it took about 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to Tel Aviv. The Dan Panorama hotel in Tel Aviv is the biggest of the hotels that we stayed at in Israel and is located near the beach. We feel like we are on the Israeli Riviera and not in a big city. People are sunning themselves on the beach and in the hotel swimming pools. We are wearing sunblock and walking in the shade to avoid the sun on this 85 degree day with a cool sea breeze occasionally coming off the Mediterranean Sea.

I found a store in Tel Aviv that provided Internet services and got the blog updated. The Internet service at the hotel in Haifa had some problems and I did not find a store with Internet service, so I was a day late in getting the blog updated. Jackie got her hair washed at a beauty parlor while I was getting the blog updated.

Later we walked south to the beach area called Jaffa. It is an area with beaches and small shops and restaurants that look like a resort area in many of the US beaches, without the boardwalk. There were streets with small rug merchants. We also planned to have dinner in Jaffe, but most of the restaurants were of the type to take out sandwiches to take to the beach or small restaurants that did not look nice enough for dinner. As we walked back towards the hotel we found a very nice sea food restaurant right on the beach, Manta Ray. The food was very good and we got to sit outside and watch the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea. We thought of the sun, now directly over the United States, where it is 7-10 hours earlier or about 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

We also could see many new large buildings being constructed in Tel Aviv to the East of us and away from the beaches. It seems that Tel Aviv is still rapidly growing. We were told that the world-wide recession has not affected Israel and there is still construction and property prices are increasing.

We are seeing far less security and troops in Haifa and Tel Aviv than we did in Jerusalem. We did have to go trough metal detectors and have our baggage searched at the bus station and at museums. We did see soldiers get on and off the bus at bus stops on our trip from Haifa to Tel Aviv, but we do not see soldiers at major street intersections or on the streets as we did in Jerusalem.

We have one more day in Tel Aviv and then we go on to Budapest.