Firenze!! (Florence)

Pictures bottom to top: 4 of cemetary; 3 of gypsy camp; Raba River; Kitty's luncheon; Krizsta's Dad; Krizsta, Kitty and Sandor at Kitty's Confirmation

Before I tell you about our day in Florence, I'll finish up our stay in Rabapatona.

Deszo and his daughter took us to the Raba River and while there we spotted a gypsy camp nearby. I took a few pics of this for you to see. Gypsies have always fascinated and scared me because my mother used to talk about them. In fact, when I was being bad she would say "You act like a gypsy!" Deszo said that some of them are quite rich, but you'd never know it to look at them or the way they live!

Sunday, our last day with my family, was a wonderful day. We were up fairly early and, of course, had breakfast. It was very good...Erzsi cooked eggs for Wayne and he loved it! We did some packing, then dressed for the lunch, hosted by Sandor and Krizsta, in honor of Kitty's confirmation. It was held at a restaurant in Gyor. The food was delicious and plentiful!! For dessert, there were 2 cakes. One was decorated with marzipan and the other was in the shape of a cross. Everyone presented Kitty with gifts. Krizsta's Mom and Dad joined us for lunch, and we fell in love with them! Her Dad looked just like Mr. Jackson Brumfield! We now know where Krizsta gets her joking and craziness from! After lunch, we headed back to Erzsi's to change clothes and go to the church for Kitty's confirmation. The church was beautiful! Kitty was beautiful! She wore the cross necklace that Wayne and I had given her, and she told us later that the priest commented on how beautiful it was. Erzsi is Kitty's Godmother so she sat up front with Kitty, along with Sandor and Krizsta. We sat with Erzsebet, who patted and hugged us throughout the ceremony, and cried off and on. Timi was there to interpret for us. Big Easy, Tibor, and Andi sat behind us. Erzsebet kept getting on to Big Easy for talking!! She is so precious! The boys lovingly tease her a lot, but she is very serious and scolds them as if they were 6 year olds. Krizsta's parents sat with us also. The ceremony was pretty long and of course we couldn't understand a word (not sure if it was in Latin or Hungarian or a mix of both!!), but it was beautiful. I dropped off to sleep a couple of times...tired, big lunch, wine...I was hoping Erzsebet would think I was praying or meditating and not scold ME! Later, she told Erzsi that I was very reverent during the ceremony! Thank you God for protecting me from the wrath of Erzsebet! After the ceremony, we all said our goodbyes...not a pretty site! It was very sad for everyone to think that we probably won't see Erzsebet again, and probably not some of the others also. Erzsi says she won't fly. Maybe Sandor and Krizsta will come to the U.S., and maybe some of the younger ones. Big Easy says he is going to come on New Years so he can celebrate in Hungary, fly to America, and celebrate again!! They insisted on driving us to Sopron instead of us taking the train, so all except Erzsebet went to Sopron. Tibor and Andi left the church to take Erzsebet home, and when we passed her house, she was standing at her front gate waving to us. So sad for both Wayne and me!! We got to our hotel in Sopron about 9 PM. We didn't waste any time crashing. We were exhausted from our week in Rabapatona, both physically and emotionally. I'm sure Erzsi was exhausted too!

I forgot to post that we visited the cemetary in Rabapatona. After our visit, we felt pretty ashamed of our custom of taking flowers to the graves of our deceased family members on special occasions. The Hungarian people visit the cemetary at least every other day! It is almost a social gathering place. No silk flowers to be seen. All fresh flowers in vases, and some planted. Absolutely beautiful. Like visiting a flower shop. Erzsebet goes to the cemetary every other day. She pushes her bicycle with the basket full of flowers. They clean, water (there is a pump and watering cans every so often in the cemetary), arrange the fresh flowers, pray, and visit with the other people who are there doing the same thing. Their deceased are not embalmed the way ours are. They are buried in wooden caskets. After 25 years, another person can be buried in the same grave. Their name is added to the headstone. It was fascinating to hear about this custom, and I didn't want to keep asking too many questions, so I'm still not fully clear on some things about their funerals, etc. I believe the deceased is taken to a small building at the cemetary. The family visits the deceased maybe the next day. A ceremony is held in the chapel at the cemetary and at the gravesite. Dezso Szabo designed and was in charge of the building of the chapel, I believe. I'll try to post some pictures of the cemetary so you can see what I'm talking about. It was very confusing to try to write down names and dates of my family members buried in the cemetary. So many have the same name! I did my best, but didn't have time and was too confused to try to take pics for some of my genealogy friends in the U.S. You have to be there with someone who knows the family so they can show you which ones are your family members.

We have enjoyed Florence a lot. It was very relaxing, and we didn't rush around trying to see everything. We decided not to make the day trip to Pisa, Sienna and San G. We are just too tired. We visited the Duomo, which is, again, HUGE and beautiful. Probably one of the most beautiful we've seen in Europe. From there we walked to see the Medici Palace. Then we visited the Galleria Academia, where the statue of David is on display. AMAZING!! Sculted from one massive piece of marble when Michaelangelo was 29 years old. We sat and talked to 2 young girls who are in Europe studying art history. They were drawing the statue of David and were most impressive! We talked about how nudity in Michaelangelo's day was a sign of purity, not profanity. David is holding the sling and has a stone in his hand, but these are not meant to be the focus of the sculpture. The statue was sculpted to be placed on the top of a church, therefore the hands and head are large and a bit out of perspective with the rest of the body. but the people loved it so much they wanted it kept where it could be seen better, so it was never placed on the top of the church. They identified with the statue because the people of Florence were surrounded by enemies(Goliath in David's case) and through the help of God (which David had) and using their wisdom (as David did) they were not destroyed. The statue of David is the highlight of the gallery, but there are many other beautiful statues and paintings to see in the Academia. We really enjoyed this and stayed quite a while here.

There was a big market in one of the squares, so we browsed and bought a few more gifts. I even bought myself a cashmere scarf/shawl!! Hot or not, you see very few Italian women without some type of scarf either around their neck, shoulders, waist, or tied to their purse. Very fashionable!! We had a late lunch/early supper, and headed back to the hotel. I had to write down gifts bought for the last few days so I'll be ready for customs, and pack. We leave Florence around noon tomorrow, and will arrive in Milan about 2:30. From the train station in Milan we will take a bus to the airport. Our hotel is near the airport, and they will pick us up there. It will be early to bed because we will have to get up around 3:30-4 AM on Monday morning to head back to the airport for an early flight to London Heathrow (not looking forward to that flight change!) then on to Houston and customs before flying in to New Orleans around 7 PM (with the 7 hour time change). Mechelle and Scott will pick us up. I can hardly wait to see them (and everyone else when we get to Franklinton)!

This vacation has been absolutely wonderful! We are so blessed to be able to have done this. Seeing all these beautiful cities and countries, experiencing the people (even the rude ones!) and especially getting to meet and spend a short week with my family has truly been a dream come true, and something we will never forget!

This will probably be my last blog from Europe. Thanks to all that followed us. I will get the 2000 pictures printed ASAP and would love to share with everyone! Love you all, and see you soon.