With our map of Lake Balaton, too few Hungarian phrases, and plenty of snacks, we headed to the train station. Our small town of Balatonfenyves has a population of less than 2,000 so, naturally, the station had very little activity when we arrived. We thought it was closed.
After checking several buildings, walking around the tracks, and checking train times, we decided to walk across the street to the tourist information center for some help.
A very kind lady, who spoke English 😊, seemed very surprised when we told her the ticket booth was closed. She offered to help us. She brought out her keys, locked the tourist center, walked with us across the street to the train station, showed us to the ticket booth (which was in fact, open), showed us the sign (they are open every day from 3AM to 11PM), then helped us buy our tickets. Talk about going above and beyond! This was especially helpful because at one of the stops on the way to Keszthely, the train separates - the front several cars go to one city, and the back 2 (where we needed to be) would head on to Keszthely. Without this kind lady, there is no way we would have understood what we needed to do. It worked out wonderfully.
We do not know if Tomas has ever been on a train, but by the level of his excitement I would guess he probably has not.
Both Tomas and Caleb are great travelers. This being our first real outing with the boys by ourselves, I was a bit nervous. By the end of the day I was convinced they needed this adventure as much as we did. Everything went so well.
While the slow pace of our little village is nice. We really enjoyed the life in this bigger town. While walking to the city center, we stopped by a bakery.
Two of the eight persons in line offered to help us order. One lady translated all of the items for us and invited us to an English group they have in the city. She told us there are quite a few British retirees who now live in Keszthely and was very interested in why we were in the area. Another kind individual who crossed our path.
We walked through the beautiful main street passing many shops and restaurants. There was a concert and many bikers, so much activity.
We arrived at the breath-taking Festetics Palace. We walked through the beautiful gardens, visited the bird habitat, toured the inside of the palace, and visited the carriage museum.
After a good meal, we headed back. Caleb even told Angel, "That was fun. We should do it again."
A successful - and much needed - Friday Adventure!
Saturday, September 22
Today we are recovering. The weather has changed. This morning was very windy (reminded me of tropical storm type gusts) and the temperature has dropped quite a bit.
The boys took a long nap this afternoon and are playing "stick fight" in the yard with Angel. We are about to walk for some langos and to the store to buy milk.
We have plans to make a bonfire in the evening.
Since most shops and activities are closed on Sunday we are planning to take a nature train ride tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will be just as successful as our Keszthely Adventure. 😊
The langos were delicious! Again, Angel's German has come in very handy.
The bonfire - more like bonitofire - was enjoyed only by the parental unit. We started it a bit too late for the boys, maybe another night.
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