Kokai Meister Adventures: 2008.12.31.

It is nice to travel. Expecially, if you have friends welcoming you at the end of the road.

Our plan achieved both by enjoying the hospitality of Judit & Robert in Budapest and getting pampered by the facilities of their current home.

A receptionist in the entrance hall.
Living room with view on the Danube, its bridges and the Castle area of the City.
A fitness room and pool with jacuzzi on the first floor.
The kids loved it! Their parents too.

On the 31st we wandered around the City. There was no snow but still it was very cold. Unpleasantly cold.

After visiting the Parlament we decided to warm ourselves up.
So we went to the famous "Rétesház" (Strudel-House) nearby.
http://www.reteshaz.com/

Strudel preparation is a tradition and art.
It is a tradition that has been preserved for centuries and also art, as only great masters can prepare them perfectly.
Hungarian records on strudels date back even to the 15th century. At the outset, this delicacy, regarded as a Hungaricum used to be a festive meal.

It was often served on christening feasts, weddings, New Year’s Days and at Easters. No wonder, as strudels are always prepared from excellent wheat.

This cake prepared from top quality ingredients and numerous fillings, by careful housewives’ skilful hands tastes heavenly.

The house itself is furnished and decorated like a Museum.
We spent lots of time looking at pictures and objects, tools on exhibition, showing how people used to live, work and prepare their food.

To their delight the kids discovered that even the sinks in the bathrooms were specially designed to display century old items.

The sinks had a perfectly transparent glass cover under which personal items of the past were arranged - typical accessory for men in the Gents' and women accessories in the Ladies' Room.

As the clock hit midnight, we all expected beautiful fireworks over the City but it didn't come. Most of the rockets were shot privately at different locations.

Probably, it was a sign of Hungary's tight budget due to the global financial crises.

Daniel and Julia ended 2008 with a success - they made it to midnight.

The two little ones - Annie and Alex joined them only in the morning of 2009.

Next stop - Györ. Finally.
Imagine it is the 24th of December. You do not feel good. You can tell, you are going to be sick. But just in case, you wait a day because you still hope you can save the trip to the doctor. On the 25th you feel worse. It is a holiday of course. Your doctor is away. So on the 26th you go to the emergency station. The doctor is about 80 years old. Hardly understands what you say and you don't understand anything what he says. The medicine he prescribes does not sound good. Even the pharmacist at the drugstore shakes his head. He thinks it doesn't match to your symptoms. So you don't take it. You wait until the 29th when your doctor is back again. This is what happened to Nagyi.