What. me Hungary?
My nephew Darby got married in Hungary a week and a half ago. Of course I went. I only have one nephew. And besides, it was a chance to see Budapest. For starters, Hungary is mis-named. They shouldn't call the place Hungary, they should call it "Eat, you look thin!" The food was fabulous! And my nephew has married into a great family. He's got a great mother and father-in-law, warm, kind, and very loving. And his wife Agnes is tall, gorgeous and very, very sweet. She's sort of like Audrey Hepburn's sophisticated older sister. And she's completing her residency as a doctor. What's not to like?

Everyone from out of town was staying at the same small hotel. That included several of Darby's smoke jumper buddies, a group of Agnes's friends, all tall and blonde, and my brother Mike and his ex-wife (Darby's mom). The night I got there, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant a few minute's walk away from the hotel. Despite being tired enough to fall face-forward into my dinner, I enjoyed getting to know Agnes' wonderful family. The next day, we took a bus tour of Budapest. I generally don't do traditionally touristy things, but city bus tours are a useful way to orient yourself. We saw most of the city: Heroes square with its stunning bronze statues, the city park, Fisherman's Bastion and Matyas Cathedral, the Citadela. The only drawback was our tourguide's racist remarks about gypsies.

That night, Agnes and Darby took us to the Szechenyi Baths, located in the city park. It took a bit to figure out how everything works. You pay admittance, and then a nice lady assigns you a locker for your stuff, giving you a numbered metal tag. From the dressing rooms we went outside. There were three HUGE pools, two warm pools and a cooler pool for swimming. My favorite part was the whirlpool. Not a jacuzzi, mind, this was a big circle (maybe 25 feet in diameter??) with jets that push the water through the circle. The result is a lot like white water rafting, only warmer. Inside the whirlpool is something like a jacuzzi. From time to time, the whirlpool shuts off and the water is diverted to the jacuzzi, while the whirlpool water slows down. It was huge fun. I could have spent hours going round and round. Come to think of it, I did!

I'm told that there's a whole bunch more stuff inside, thermal pools and saunas and such, but I had so much fun whooshing around the whirlpool that I never made it that far.

-Next Rock: My Nephew's Tall Elegant Hungarian Wedding-