Restorative Waters: Old Fashioned Roman Baths

Budapest is built above hot mineral springs.  In the time of the Roman occupation of this territory, buildings were heated by running the water through pipes under the floors.  Today, a way to enjoy this wonderful part of God's creation is at the old hot baths.  After thinking through the time we had in Budapest before we were to board the Viking Embla and set off to deeper within the old Soviet held territory, we decided that the ideal time would be our last morning would be the ideal time. 

After we packed and checked out, a taxi whisked us quickly through the streets to the magnificent old structure which housed the many indoor pools, steam room, sauna, and surrounded the huge outdoor pools where we joined others of all ages in a 28C degree  pool which was about ten times bigger than

our pool at home.  In the center was fast moving water forced out which kept you in motion.  Around that were other jets in the bottom which would erupt at regular times.  After a good soak in the cool morning air, we went to the indoors where we enjoyed a variety of different temperatures of about eight other pools of various sizes.  Our men spent a little time in the steam room, also

Cathedrals, Statues, Market, and Landmarks: Day 2 Budapest

 Legend is that Budapest was originally founded over two thousand or so years ago when a people from the Urals of East Asia followed a bird to the perfect place to live.

  When the bird stopped, the pilgrims stopped and that is why Budapest (pronounced Buda Pesht) is where it now located.  A bird, to commemorate the event is atop spire of the Cathedral of St. Matthias up on Castle Hill above the colorful tile roof.  This was only one of many of the beautiful, historical places we visited today.  When our tour around the two parts of the city, Buda and Pest, was over at lunch time, we felt we had a clearer idea of just how diverse and beautiful the old city is, plus we had enjoyed our views of the Danube river

which flows between the two parts connected by many lovely bridges built down through the centuries.

We drove down the Hungarian equivalent of the Champs de Elysses, saw statues of the heroes from St. Stephen, the uprising of 1848 and 1956, the majestic parliament building,

one of the two tallest buildings in the city, a train station designed by Eiffel, and visited the majestic cathedral up on Castle Rock which still has its original stained glass windows because someone had the forethought to remove them and place them in protective crates at the beginning of World War II.

We saw the largest synagogue in Europe, and the square commemorating the earliest heroes of the country.

My head is buzzing trying to keep all the places straight!

On the way back to the hotel, we saw the young people who are participating in a world wide swimming competition starting today lining up on the street to practice their opening march with all of the flags of the nations.  A lot is going on in this city of two million people!

In the afternoon we walked past the station designed and built by Gustave Eiffel to catch the Hop on Hop off bus to the large Central Market Hall.  As we circled around the city, we saw many of the places we had seen in the morning as we enjoyed the view atop our double decker bus.

Covered markets are found in each of the districts of the city, but this is the oldest and largest.  It did not disappoint with items ranging from fresh meats to lovely handcrafted needlework.  Klep found a cap to protect his head from the bright sunshine.

We were fascinated by the variety of items in the multistoried old building.

To finish off our day, we took a taxi to a traditional Hungarian restaurant, Firkasz Kavehaz Etteriem where we enjoyed food using the national vegetable of Hungary, paprika.  We Americans think of paprika  as a spice, but it is a spice or seasoning which comes from a vegetable and is actually much higher in vitamin C than orange juice.  Needless to say, we dined well and enjoyed our entertainment, a piano player who switched over to the accordion to serenade us with the Blue Danube Waltz among other old romantic favorites.

Our sore feet and tired legs were happy to ride back to the hotel.  We rest up tonight for our final day in Budapest tomorrow.  After all, this city is built over hot springs and it is time for us to enjoy the restorative powers of one of them!

Hello, Hungary!

In the early morning, as light streams around the edge of the drapes I hear the early morning city traffic in the streets of Budapest, Hungary as Klep continues to sleep.  It is not quite seven a.m. Here and where most of our friends are, it is the middle of the night.  We arrived here about eighteen hours after we left Orlando International Monday afternoon.  We were blessed with good travels, plenty of exercise finding flights in Boston and Paris, quick customs in Paris, and the young greeter who took us from baggage claim to our van which whisked us through the urban sprawl into the old city.

We were travel weary and sleep deprived, but Klep and Rob had already researched a place for dinner across the street diagonally from our hotel.  Whining and petulant, I shed my travel clothes, quickly showered, and went!

Those with quick eyes and good spirits found us an underpass and we were soon in front of our destination.

One of the real delights about traveling for us is trying places that are not something we would find at home.  Otherwise, we might as well stay home and go to the Fish Net.

We discovered that the proprietors were not comfortable with English, but another customer in the small establishment was.  Although there were tables in front of the restaurant, we chose to dine in and were in the upstairs with an old set of stairs with as old burnished  bannister, smooth to the touch to aid me as I climbed. The walls of the room were white plaster, a good background for the folk art and large wooden beams crossed the ceiling.  Tables were covered with checked oilcloth.

While Rob dashed up the streets to obtain Florins, the local currency, we read the menu and made a list which he added to.  We dined sumptuously on fresh fish, homemade bread, fresh pickled vegetables, and creamy salad.

 

The Hungary Fries (they were too special for us not to make a distinction!) were worth the walk all by themselves! 

Strolling up the street after dinner we regretted not having room for gelato or the Hungarian version of it as we spotted a place with lots and lots of different flavors.  Klep vows that it will be one of his meals before we leave the city.

Good sleep is a wonderful restorative!  We look forward to what today brings.

Pretrip

If my three-quarters of a century of this earth has taught me anything, it has taught me to enjoy where I am when I am there.  We have just celebrated my birthday and the day was lovely.  God gave me a July day that would rival the greatest of the classics from when painters actually painted scenes of nature instead of feelings, emotions, and reactions.  The colors in the creation are their most brilliant when the sun is hot and the rains are plentiful.

I have also learned that part of joy in life is being productive.  I relished the fact that the day had some activity, commonly referred to as work..  Normally, I would tell you that I abhor housework, but sometimes bringing order out of chaos and mopping the floor are just what I need.  God gave us work because we need it.  I have also learned that chaos has a way of reinventing itself; today I can enjoy more ordering!

I have learned that joy comes from unexpected communications whether by greeting cards, letters,  text messages, Facebook posts, or telephone calls.  It really is good, as the ad once touted, to "reach out and touch someone."

I have also learned that one of the most satisfying activities is sitting around the table, unhurried, with people you love who love you and just sharing knowing you do not have to explain yourself of be overly careful about what you say.  Where there is real love there is safety.

So, I have relished yesterday as I will relish today which must be full of various activities. Over the last half century since Klep and I met, we have learned many things together.  One is that it is great to plan and work together for things. Anticipation enhances pleasure.  We are now anticipating a wonderful experience as we head into our next adventure in which we will celebrate our birthdays for the year and the fiftieth anniversary of our dating year.  Our Puritan ethic requires that when we do something extraordinarily expensive that we justify it.  Actually, the celebration issue is simply smoke screen.  We are going on our great adventure because it is something we have dreamed about doing for years and we can do it now.  We have had the plans worked out now for months and have been clicking off obligations that needed to be completed before departure.

Another thing we have learned is that if things are not done when you can do them, there may never be another chance.  God has blessed us that we can still go and still want to go. Regret is a bitter drink.

So today we pack and begin the final countdown to travel.  One of the things to do for me was to reconnect to the blog where we will share photos and observations. I am notorious about forgetting passwords and such things.  That, at least, is now worked out!

After all, these years have taught me that those who do not plan, plan to fail.  I have been hiding Klep's clothes for a week so that they would be ready to put into the luggage.  Otherwise I will be taking them out of the dryer and stuffing them into a bag as we walk out the door!

Now where is that checklist and what did we do with the new passports.  Klep, where did you put the camera chargers?!

Big Shoals

Hamilton County is bordered on three sides by rivers and an additional river runs through it.  The Suwannee is the eastern and southern borders and the Withlacochee forms the western limits dividing us from neighboring Madison County.

The largest whitewater in Florida is located on the Eastern border dividing us from Columbia County.  Today we set out to see the Big Shoals located in a state park.  The day was uncommonly warm for February at 83 degrees.  We followed the signs off highway 41 in White Springs.  A little before four p.m. we turned onto the recently scraped dirt road leading to the park, traveling a little over a mile to the park and parking area.

We walked down to the river and heard no whitewater.  In fact, the Suwannee was calm with little current.  As we started up the path, a family  returning from the shoals, told us it was about a fifteen minute walk.

We wound through the path (I neglected reading the sign showing the distance!) and passed under old live oaks and through palmettos seeing an occasional spring bloom here and there.  The day was still with little breeze under the partly cloudy sky.  The path had an occasional root and changed elevations fairly frequently.

We pressed on.  Twenty five minutes into the walk, we heard the whitewater.  Five minutes later, we saw the falls.

The website describes the shoals, “Big Shoals State Park features the largest whitewater rapids in Florida. Limestone bluffs, towering 80 feet above the banks of the Suwannee River, afford outstanding vistas not found anywhere else in Florida. When the water level on the Suwannee River is between 59 and 61 feet above mean sea level, the Big Shoals rapids earn a Class III Whitewater classification, attracting thrill-seeking canoe and kayak enthusiasts.”

I’ll take their word for it.  It was pretty, but we were already regretting not having water with us.

As we neared the end of our hike back to the car, I sat, leaning against the rough bark of an old oak tree, hot and thirsty.  As I rested, I wondered  if I never made it back to the car if there were any bears in the woods.  Klep walked ahead and met me just before I got back to the parking lot with bottled water.  He is a very good man!

We felt really good as we celebrated our success in the air conditioned car as we headed toward the setting sun and home on the other side of the county.

Swamp to Sapelo Island

We breakfasted at the hotel, exchanging pleasantries with two couples headed down to South Florida from points north, grateful that we were headed just a few miles east to Sapelo Island, off the coast near Darien, Georgia.

As we awaited the departure of the ferry, we listened to workers for the University of Georgia marine research facility discuss the upcoming super bowl, we enjoyed the sights of the muted winter color of the marshes and the glassy surface of the water at low tide.  I had forgotten no see ums, one of the plagues of most coastal regions in early morning and late afternoons when the winds are calm, but I got a reintroduction to them.  The miniscule creatures were thick and menacing, temporarily robbing us of the serenity of the scene.

Underway at 8:30, the trip took only twenty minutes.  We were greeted by our tour for the day, J.R.,

who quickly incorporated us into a larger group of eight which contained a couple returning to the island who had lived there for years.  We enjoyed the extra insight we got from their remarks as we toured the fifteen mile by four mile wide island.  Europeans first arrived on the island in the fifteen hundreds and have been there ever since with the island going from plantation to timbering to a rich man's private possession, and now to an educational research facility.  During the plantation years, the ancestors  of the inhabitants of Hog Hammock were brought here as slaves.  Some of their culture is still seen on the island with some of the women still weaving the grass baskets which are an art form of the Gullah culture.

The island has many stands of ancient live oaks, many types of pine trees, and is reminiscent the coastal areas of the southeaster United States before they were over built and over developed.

Since there are few inhabitants on the island, 43 currently with five school children, there are few vehicles about.  The tourists who come to rent the available houses or to stay at the Reynolds mansion, get

around in golf carts.  Riding around the island is a bumpy affair over small narrow roads.  Unfortunately because of the natural beauty of the island, some of the long time residents have sold property to people to build vacation and a few rental places.  The Bird Houses are an example of this, houses on stilts which look out over the marshes to the distant ocean.  In the seventies an acre of land sold for twenty-five thousand dollars.  Now an acre brings about three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.  J.R. stopped for a few minutes at the one store on the island which he laughingly called the Sapelo Wal Mart.

Many of the cottages in Hog Hammock were brightly colored; most had screened in porches which also serve as sleeping porches through the summer season.  Behavior Cemetery dates back to slave times.  One of the Baptist Churches on the island was built with lumber which washed ashore after a bad storm.  The people of the church had been praying for money enough to build a church when this happened.

Many of the buildings used by the University of Georgia were built by R.J. Reynolds who would fly down for weekends in his DC 3 and land on the air strip on the island.  He built a large fountain for one of his wives and when she complained about something, he detonated a stick of dynamite in it.  The fountain still stood, but the windows in all the surrounding buildings were broken out.  He said obviously the fountain was meant to stay.  The wife, he divorced.

The island has many birds including the wood stork which I saw when walking on the boardwalk to the pergola built deep in the woods in what was planned as a garden.

Some of the more familiar large birds were sharing a midmorning confab in a tall tree by one of the estuaries.

Toward the southern end of the island is a mansion which was last restored by R.J. Reynolds and now is used as a hotel.

After entering the front through the deep columned porch, we came to the music room with a white grand piano.  Next to the piano set a cannon.  We wondered if perhaps it was to encourage the piano players as they performed.  We picked up our lunches here, and headed to the nearby beach for lunch.

The waves were gently lapping the shore of the almost deserted beach as a slight breeze blew in off the water.

Our last stop before heading back to the ferry and the mainland was the lighthouse which was built in 1820 .  The lighthouse has been damaged in several storms through the years but recently went through a renovation and stands today as a reminder of all the history it has seen down through the almost two hundred years their on the coast of Georgia. It is still an operational lighthouse.

 We enjoyed the sight of a few more birds as we sat atop the ferry returning to the mainland, feeling the wind blow and the warm sun beaming down.

We spent some time in the Sapelo Island Visitor's Center, set our course toward home, and watched the clouds build in the western sky.

It was good to get away; it was good to be home.

Running Away to the Swamp

January has come and gone. With the tenth anniversary of Klep's retirement, we decided it was time to run away from Mosquito Gardens and the lengthy to do list.  We didn't want to run far.  After the heavy fog of the last few mornings, we were afraid we would have a difficult traveling morning, but the day dawned as near perfect as any February day could be.  We decided to head toward the Atlantic Ocean with our first stop the real swamp, not that football field down in Gainesville.  We saw more real gators than I had ever seen in my life.

We made our first stop the Okefenokee, the Land of the Trembling Earth.  After a quick lunch

under the picnic shelter of the National Wildlife Refuge, we boarded the boat with some authentic flat land foreigners from up north and headed down the canal built by Henry Jackson in an effort to drain the swamp in the 1890's.  Fortunately he died before the last seven miles were built and his effort became known as Jackson's folly.

Our boat captain Steve

kept up an informative narrative as we slowly traveled over the tannic waters through cypress, pines, and finally old stand hardwoods dripping with Spanish moss all along enjoying the gators,

big gators, little gators, mama gators,

and daddy gators, all sunning along the banks of the canal, gators swimming bank to bank,

turtles (soft shell, snapping and gator) cavorting on driftwood and in the water, and warblers singing in the trees.

We passed kayakers dipping their oars in

the water and gliding along being pretty much ignored by the gators before we turned into Chessers' Prairie where we saw both great blue herons and white ibis. The water on the prairie was only about three feet deep over very deep deposits of peat.

After we turned and proceeded back to the dock, we passed a tree with a large bard owl out viewing the goings on.

We took a leisurely drive through the refuge, stopping briefly at the old homestead before we set the GPS for Darien and an early supper.

We enjoyed crab stew and oyster po'boys at Mud Cat Charlies and called it a day.