Gyöngyös

Okay, a few things to wrap up from yesterday that I forgot to write. First of all, when we got to the spa the front desk lady looked us over and very straight faced, kind of Russian-like says “How old is the child?” I knew no one under 14 was allowed at the spa because I read all the rules and was like, yay, we all made it! 

So we tell her Delaney is 14 and she very seriously says, “we’ll need some proof, any id, anything.” And Matt said he guessed he’d go get her passport and then she repeated herself and we were like, got it.

So when he comes back in, that lady is busy so we go to the next lady and she looks at D’s passport and she’s like, great, and then first lady tells her something and second lady looks us over and says, can I see her passport one more time. 🙄 And that is the story of the hardline security at a day spa in Budapest.

I understand their rules but lady #1 was a little ridiculous and it always feels good when you are following the rules and that gets proven. And then all day I was saying stuff like “where’s the child?” and when she would get silly “child, you must calm down,” and “someone needs to watch that child,” and I made myself laugh each time and I’m very funny. 

The other thing about the spa was the towel situation. Since we were between airbnbs we didn’t have access to any towels, and the spa doesn’t rent out towels, they only sell them. We need another random beach towel like we need a hole in the head, especially a €20 one, so we got one to share. 🤣 Because also we can be exceptionally cheap when we want to be. Would it have been more comfortable if we all had towels? Yes. Especially when we had to walk through the lobby several times to get from the Turkish bath to the wellness baths and when sitting in the sauna. Am I glad I’m not traveling home with 5 blue Rudas Spa beach towels? Also yes. Pick your yes, you know?

Also, a late contribution from Matt - last nights lovely dinner.

This morning Matt and Frankie went on an early walk. ❤️

On our way out of town we stopped at the best Lidl! They had everything and we were like kids in a candy store, or teens and adults in a foreign Lidl, as the case may be. It also was packed, maybe for Easter shopping? The parking lot was a disaster and one poor older woman crunched her bumper twice trying to pull out while someone else was trying to pull in. 

We headed northeast to the real land of my ancestors. My great grandma, who passed away at the age of 24 leaving behind three children, was born here in Gyongyos 135 years ago. I still kind of can’t believe we’re here. It feels like holy land to me. 

Our first stop was the Gyongyos scenic train. We weren’t sure on the times because why would you post that, but we got lucky and got there 15 minutes before its next departure. 

My lovely uncle (😉) offered to take our picture and kind of kindly laughed at/with us the whole time he took our tickets and dealt with us. It seems the further into the country we go the less English speakers we encounter. 

It’s a cute slow drain that delivered us to Matra 

We had no clue where we were going really, just there for the adventure. 

Locks of love. 

They had cute little shopping shacks and I spied a souvie I liked, so I took a picture so see if I’d still like it after our walk. Spoiler - I did. 

Matra is very pretty and a cute little resort town. 

We stayed till the train came back and then made our way back. 

Matt and I sat outside and it was lovely. 

Matt really wanted to get a haircut in our little town but apparently things close early on Easter Saturday. How cool would it have been to get a haircut at Rayside?

Did not realize there was a reflection. 🤣

Delaney volunteered as tribute for this shot as we walked the cute downtown. 

To the best of my knowledge and what is on family search, this is the church where my great grandma was christened. 

Amazing. 

I thought about her all day and how she would have loved getting to know her granddaughters, great grandchildren, great-greats, and now great-great-greats. 

The monument to WW2 casualties contain several family names. 

We were surprised at the size of this little town. I thought it would be smaller. 

Tulips abound!

Next adventure was go-carting. They were cracking up putting on the balaclavas and helmets. 

This man’s ready for action!

I spent so much souvenir shopping that I volunteered to be the photographer. 

#ready

Chuckleberry. 

I walked the whole track taking pictures and videos. 

And the girls were not impressed with my efforts and didn’t want any. 🤷‍♀️

Everyone had fun though, except Delaney who went so slow they had her pull over several times to let people pass (it was only our 4 on the track). 

Adi is lucky number 3 (for her June 3rd birthday).

We were all laughing the whole time. 

Except Delaney. 🤣 In her defense, she’s got the least experience driving and also maybe still some residual bike crash trauma? 

Frankie got the fastest lap, but she only beat Adi by 1 second. They gave us a printout. 

Anyway, it was a fun activity and I’m glad we stopped. 

They’re all #1 to me!

Even though Frankie pointed out she was the real #1. 

Just down the street from go carts I bought some fresh roadside strawberries and they are very tasty. 

🇭🇺 

Everyone loves our Airbnb here. The girls room has a soaking tub in the room and a sauna. 

The 2 rooms upstairs rent separately, but with our 5 people we needed both, so we have use of the whole house, but if we only rented one I think we’d have to share the downstairs. I’m a little unclear of how this place runs. 

But assuming we were able to use everything. 🤷‍♀️🤣

I love the stacked wood. So aesthetic. 

Matt and I have the “Summer Room,” with a large terrace. 

Our bathroom. 

We got all settled and then hit Lidl for Sunday sustenance. We were afraid grocery stores might go the way of the barbershops and close early so we went there before dinner. 

Fresh grocery store bakeries are where it’s at! Everything is so cheap and our favorite!

We each got breakfast lunch and dinner plus snackies and then went to find dinner. 

The first place said they were closed, then one of them said we could order, then the other one said they were closed again. So we went to place #2 and met Attilia as we waited for our food to go. Our last option was McDonald’s where we haven’t been once this whole trip. 🥇 Attilia told us all about his life and we talked for 30 minutes. He asked why we had come and I showed him my family search and he told us about how we could see the church records in their archives if we wanted to. He seemed very nice and then at the end he as we got our food he asked where we were staying. Matt gave him a vague answer and I was like, nice to meet you! And we left. But then I was just the teeniest bit on edge the rest of the night because what if one of the many employees and delivery people there followed us and were kind of American idiots out here, pretty defenseless. Anyways, it’s now 5:30am Sunday morning and we seemed to make it safely through the night, so all unease was for naught. 

We ate on the deck outside our room and it was a smidge chilly but beautiful. 

Looking down on our courtyard. 

The girls all said they wish we could stay here another night. 

Matt and I went for a post dinner, pre-sauna walk. 

This church is like 1/10th of a mile from our house. 

We didn’t think to turn the sauna on before scriptures and then it took forever to heat up so we gave up. Matt took a shower and it’s completely open to the bathroom so when he turned on the water I got a 2 second cold shower because the water came out the wand and we laughed for a good 2 minutes. 

Ruby and crew are at the beach visiting Zach and his wife and she’s a beach lover!

She’s a cold water hater, but that’s to be expected. 

Soaking in all the southern warmth they can before they head north!

Our best boys visited the Easter bunny and they look so grown up!

Lexi said when they first got there the bunny kept waving and covering Carter’s face and the worker had to come move his hand and they were cracking up. Love them!