We went to Palic (PAULich) today, slightly to the east of Subotica, to visit the zoo. This is a way different animal than the Oregon Zoo (pun intended). Cages are often very small and you can often get a lot closer to cages and pens than you would think is safe.
According to Zia, during the war the government abandoned the zoo. After several days the local populace broke in and started feeding the animals scraps (keep in mind that during the war food was scarce, so this was quite a hardship). Most of the animals were kept alive these donations. Now that things have settled down there are plans for renovations and improvements.
From there we walked over to the lake. The hotel where Vera and Peter first met is there, a great big 100 year old building from a more gilded age, when the wealthy would take "the cure" by the lake. From there we headed for home, via the downtown square in Subotica so that Jaden could have "Kitchen" Nuggets. You know, McDonald’s are a lot better if you can sit outside and look at a great historic square while you eat there (and they have beer in Europe!).
*****
This evening we went to the 75th birthday party of Pityu-Basci, an old friend of Peter and Vera. The schnapps course included the afore mentioned "Quince Schnapps." As a warning to you, dear readers, this is what it taste like. The nose is rubbing alcohol, with hints of paint thinner. At this point you find yourself thinking "Oh, this is not going to be good." If only you had listened, but, courtesy calls, so... On the front of the mouth one gets hints of fruit, mostly cherry - not so bad. Rolling it across the tongue you swallow and feel the huge alcohol thing. Whew, not so bad...
You remember those cartoons, where the guy drinks the stuff and sighs contentedly - then a beat - then smoke clouds come out the ears, face changes several shades of red, fire on the tongue, etc. That is kid stuff compared to this stuff. First your tongue and throat start burning. Then you feel the hair on your sinuses catch on fire, your stomach is churning, and O the alcohol... I am not sure what the percent alcohol this stuff it, but the scale probably needs to run into the millions. They should give you a shirt after you have it, "I survived the Quince." Of course manners - honored guest from America and all - required that I drink 3 shots of this death potion within a half an hour of arriving. Wrecked before the evening even began...
Dinner, a variety of salads and meats, followed by dancing to a live band. The classic bar band, a Cassio Keyboard (first time I have ever seen anyone use the one finger left hand chord feature on a gig), accordion and violin.
Zia, as she sometimes does when folk music from Hungary is played, was overcome with homesickness. After being here for a couple of weeks and being fortunate enough to see what life is like in her hometown, I can still only imagine how hard it must have been on her to give this all up, her life, her people, her culture, her home, and move to America. I don’t know that I would have been strong enough to do it.
*****
I suppose that this would be the place to talk about smoking in Europe. At least where we are at the moment, there is no such thing as a "smoke-free" area. Trust me when I say that your bar gig days did not prepare you for this. I can remember some pretty smoky places, but things were so dense with smoke at one point in the evening I literally could not see the other side of the room. As a result, I did not get to enjoy as much of the evening as I might have liked.
Pityu-Basci - a vibrant and energetic 75 - was sincerely touched by our visit, and honored that we had come. It was a magical evening.
We left around 1:00 to bring Jaden home for bed. Peter and Vera walked home sometime after 3:30 - now we know who the party animals are.
Dave
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