A planned trip to Sűmeg was cancelled on acount of rain, and so Peter took us on a car tour around the vicinity of Kis-Balaton. Kis-Balaton (Kish-Balaton, or Little Balaton) is a wet land, and a protected wildlife refuge. It works as a cleaning system for the Zala River, filtering out the icky stuff before the water moves on to the big lake.
Our journey began, as usual, when leaving Keszthely in this direction, with a long pause at the round-a-bout at the edge of town. Peter pointed out a large open field and told us that they had found the remains of a largish Roman city in that field. They carefuly undug the entire city, listed and catelogued everything, and then buried it up again. They do that a lot here. I am glad someone is keeping record of what's there though.
From there to Sámelléck to buy gas. Sámelléck is where the comercial airport is located. It started life as a Soviet era Nuclear Missile site. Little by little it is being cleaned up and expended so that, at some point, large regional flights will be able to come here. Recycling at it's best. And if you are in a hurry, they can fly you out on a rocket!
Kis-Balaton is pretty and peaceful and possibly poisonous (not really - but it sounded good). Peter took us to a couple of places around the lake. The first, at first glance, is a really large stack of fire wood. As you get closer you find that, while, yes, it is fire wood, it is also a shelter that can be used as a bird blind. It seems some Swiss Boy Scouts got creative several years ago and started stacking their firewood to make this structure. It is completely sound, and does not have a nail in it. Pretty cool. The other spot was the ruin of an old church. This is (theoretically) the spot where Method and Ciril got together and knocked out all the differences between the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics back in the 800's or so. They also did some other cool stuff regarding teaching (anyone ever use a teaching method?) and things like that. There was a small chapel near by that we managed to sneak into before they closed. There was some amazing artwork and some columns dating back to at least the 1200's (sorry, my Hungarian is not that good).
We returned home for some German hazing from my in-laws. Peter and I "enjoyed" a refreshing Underberg. You can find this stuff at German markets in the States. It is supposed to help your health and digestion and all those other claims they make when they are trying to convince you that something you are not going to enjoy is really good for you. Well, suprise, it's not too bad. Lots of cloves and other herby things. I wouldn't go out of my way to get it, but it wasn't too bad.
For our beer drinking friends, here are a couple of more selections:
Paulaner Hefeweißbeir, Paulaner Brauerei (http://www.paulaner.de/), 5.5% by volume. Light cloudy brown color with a thick, cloudy white head. The nose is bananas and bubble gum (really). Nice effervecent bubbly taste, with lots of malt and yeast (that1s the bananas you were smelling) with just a hint of hops blending everything together, and then hanging around on the back of your throat. A world class Hef. Accept no substitutes - like the Widmer one you get down the street. They aren't the same. Really.
And less you think we are doing nothing but sitting around drinking world class suds, may I offer:
Zlatý Bažant (quickly dubbed "Slarty Barfast" by the Hitchikers Guide fan), brewed by contract by the Heinecken Brewery, but really a Slovokian beer, 5.0% by volume. Color is right for a pils, but the head dissapears quickly. I get a little hops in the aroma, but not much. There are malt and hops in the flavor profile, but they are not going broke on the ingredients. Think of it as water with a little bit of flavoring added for fun. Not our best beer here. Not even close.
×××××××
On a more serious note. We just found out that the National Guard unit that Z's son, Nico is assigned to has been called up for assignment to Iraq. Please keep him (as well as all the other men and women in the millitary) in your thoughts and prayers as he reports for this duty.
No comments:
Post a Comment