It was a whirlwind trip for him, just six nights. We packed a heck of a lot into the trip though and we had a wonderful time. After spending a day relaxing here in Munich, we headed north and east. We had some problems getting out of Munich...that dreaded word "STAU". That means traffic jam. And it took us almost two hours to get to the Munich Airport! It got better after that but we spent the whole day on congested autobahns and running into interesting situations...like trying to be back on the autobahn after tanking up and finding the on-ramp was just closed. No warning, no nothing. So we had to go 12 kilometers in the wrong direction just to get back on!
Our first stop was Cousin Elizabeth. She is 87 years old and lives in a senior home just south of Dresden. She is completely clear and shows no signs of slowing down!
Her apartment is tiny and there wasn't really a way to get a picture without shooting it directly into brightness of the window. Her sons and one of her daughter in-laws were there as well. We had a great visit and then headed on to Seifhennersdorf where the get together was.
Saturday morning we decided to go "country hopping". At this place in Germany, we could easily drive in the Czech Republic and in Poland. We had a blast...and we were only gone 3 hours! The above pictures is the Czech Republic. It pretty much all looked like this...as did Poland.
The get-together was incredible. The Hungarians made the gulasch and brought the wine. I guess that should go without saying! The gulasch was made in a huge kettle outside and took hours. The meat was deer, wild boar and who knows what else. I didn't ask.
This type of Hungarian gulasch is like a soup. Oh...did I mention that they use alot of spices? Like hot pepper paprika. In my youth, I was know to eat really hot things....mostly because I'd take a "dare" and eat the stuff to get out of doing the dishes or something. But at this point in my life, hot and spicy aren't really on my menu too much.
But THIS.....well, this is definitely to my liking! Family members...please click to enlarge....check out the sausage on the left-hand plate in the back!!!! Yes....we ALL know what that is!!!!! Oh, and note the little round red pepper sort of in the middle of the left-hand plate. There was an old Hungarian lady that popped those things in her mouth like they were popcorn!! And no....it isn't a little tomato....it's a red-hot pepper!!
I have lots of pictures of the get together that I won't show here. For those who want copies of them, Mom and Dad have a set or you can get a set from me. We had a great time. See how happy Dad is? He's sitting beside his cousin Heinrich. His cousin Mathias was also there. Yeah, I know...it's like they didn't have many names back then! ha ha This was a get-together of Hungarians in Udvari today and the Germans that were deported in 1946-1948. Yes, we have lots of stories but one I would like to share......
A 2nd cousin of Dad's came up to us and started talking about how Dad and he were deported in the same cattle train wagon. And it was an adventure and Dad was his hero for what he did. I was looking at the guy with sort of a blank expression, having no idea what Dad did. And this guy (yes, I think his name was Mathias) asked in astonishment if my Dad had never told him the story. The story was that this guy was about 3 years old and Dad, being 12 years old, lifted him up so he could get some fresh air from the little slit of a window in the cattle car! Dad doesn't remember it at all. The guy was 3....his memories are his own. Dad was 12 and has a completely different set of memories.
OK...on to the next exciting part....my QUILT. It is done! I got it back!! It is completely totally awesome and I can't believe it's mine!!
Peggy Sheehan, the lady who quilted it for me did an awesome job. The quilting is low key because the top has enough going on all by itself. The "Mrs. Foote Dirndl Material" for the back is absolutely perfect. The edges are awesome. (Sister Susan...you get what was left of it. In thanks for providing most of the top material!)
Isn't it great?!
And the size is perfect!! Yes, it's pretty heavy but I am not using it for a blanket but a bedspread. Even hubby was totally blown away with it.
And Abby? Well, it was always HER quilt and she is very happy to have it back. In fact...can you guess where her favorite place to sleep the day away is?? I've posted a slideshow on my photoblog The Camera Lenz showing more pictures of the finished product.
Thanks for bearing with me through this long post. It's an important post though for my family!
