HONK: Hungary Day 9

It was a very restful Sunday.  We went to Stake Conference here in Hungary.  It was great!   We ate a small lunch and then rested/napped for a few hours. Then we went to dinner and got some delicious food at Huszar again.  On our way, I may have almost been run over by a car who honked VERY loudly and long at me for not noticing that I was getting run over by his fast driving.  GEEZ.  They honk a lot here.  Tonight we went and listened to the Hungarian Radio Children's Choir.  They were AMAZING. Hear for yourself in the video of the day.  They were definitely the best children's choir I have ever heard and will ever hear. WOW.    

At Huszar, he chose our meal for us and brought a family platter.
It was finom.

Here is our favorite waiter: "Thanks indeed."

Hungarian Radio Children's Choir

VIDEO OF THE DAY:

Beautiful Hungarian Sunset.

Day Trip to Vienna: Hungary Day 8

Today, we left Budapest and took a Day Trip to Vienna.

Leaving Hungary, we drove past some pretty, yellow, canola fields. 

AUSTRIA!!!

Willkommen in Wien!

St. Stephen's

WHAT?! No couples allowed?!

St. Peter's

Creepy cherub end piece on the pews.

Do we look like her?

When I turned the corner, I thought it was a statue of someone playing baseball.
Thanks for that Brett.  :)
Michael slaying the dragon, is now a baseball player.

Justice and Mercy

Pretending to be royalty.

"There's Moroni with wings!" -Dr. J

The Royal Library.
They say its like the one from Beauty and the Beast, but BIGGER.
Someday, I want a library this big as well.
"Do you think they'll have libraries in Heaven?" -Me
"YES!"-Bethany

Being Modern Art

"I'm awkward!"

Pilates in the middle of the street?  Why not!?

Treble Clef in the grass

Mozart

Favorite picture of the day: Dr. J and the pants table.

We gave a few forint to these street performers. 

Maybe they can hip-hop over to Hungary for some Goulash.

"That's the BYU team right there!"  -Dr. J

Sometimes, Bethany and I ALWAYS unintentionally order the same thing.

Gelato in Vienna.
Does it get much better?

The incinerating trash cans.
I may have been REALLY excited.

On our way to Schönbrunn.

"I LOVE NATURE!"

We may have gotten a little lost nevertheless,
WE FOUND IT!

HUGE and GORGEOUS and AMAZING!
This is just one side of it.

Pride and Prejudice anyone?

We couldn't miss our chance to do a little solfa singing on some steps in Austria: Sound of Music Style.

Wacky?

GORGEOUS.

Could you imagine this being your backyard?

It would be kind of ridiculous.

Oh just on a stroll through the gardens.

What a gorgeous place to get married.
We saw at least 3 different wedding parties today.

"The hills are alive with the sound of music." -Maria von Trapp
(I couldn't pass up this shot.)


It was a beautiful, fantastic, historical, tasty, enlightening, rainy, wonderful day.

Viszlát Metró!: Hungary Day 7

Today we returned first to the Kodaly Hungarian Choir School and then to the Hungarian Radio Children's Choir School.   At the Kodaly Hungarian Choir School, we listened in on the Men's Choir who were singing Gregorian Chant pieces.  It was SO BEAUTIFUL.   I want to enroll my future children in that school.  Brett, can you get a job in Hungary some how?  I'm only kidding... mostly.    It was a great day.

Later we went to Institute in Buda and ate waffles with everyone afterwards.  YUM.  Walking home, we ran into Bela and Boro!   She had never met us, but spotted us through the window of a store and knew we were the girls she's been trying to meet, just by how we were dressed and such.  Funny.  We stick out here so much.  Even when we're not talking.  We were all really excited to meet her finally and had a nice little chat on our walk back to the Metro where we said goodbye.

Starting tomorrow, we'll be traveling quite a lot so we're getting a rental car.  Coming home tonight, was our last trip on the Metro.  It was hard to say goodbye.   The metro was our good friend here in Budapest.  

We have a video of the day, but the other girls have it in the other room on their computer, so this video will have to suffice.  It was taken yesterday on Castle Hill.  Two men were playing some music and I thought they were fun!

One for Everyday!: Hungary Day 6

What a day!


This morning we began at the Kodaly Zoltan Hungarian Choir School and listened to a fabulous girls's choir conducted by Ferenc Szapson jr.  They were amazing.  We listened to them run through a song for the second time ever and they sang it better than most choirs I've ever heard after rehearsing for months.  I'm not exaggerating. It was very very very impressive.


Then after an excursion up to Castle Hill and a quick lunch there, we headed to the Leopold Mozart Music School [an After-School Conservatory].  Katalin Losonczy was our host and she was absolutely fabulous.  We finally saw a normal level classroom music lesson.  It great to watch the Kodaly method in the actual classroom.  We observed a few private lessons.  I watched a classical guitar lesson and a saxophone lesson.   The entire time I was in watching the saxophones, I could not stop thinking about Bailey and how long and well she had played it for me over skype a little while back.  I also couldn't get sexy sax man out of my head.   After the lessons, Christy and I headed over to another school with Katalin, where the children put on a Mini Recorder and Trumpet recital for Mother's Day and in honor of their American guests.  They translated EVERYTHING just for the two of us.  The teacher had the entire intro typed out and read it in English.  Then this adorable little boy was his translator for announcing the next piece and performer.   I felt like royalty.   Afterwards this cute boy  who was translating came up wearing his adorable blue bow tie to say thank you. Thinking he speaks English, we begin talking to him.  He then blushes and says... "Sorry I don't speak English."  And then stands there just looking at us while we just smile back and say the TEENY TINY Hungarian we know.   Then after a few moments of silence he would then repeat "I.... don't know English..." and just continue smiling at us.  It was so cute. Once we left he was yelling "Goodbye!  Goodbye!" in his endearing accent.  


Then we came home and had a nice rest.   When the sun set, we headed back out and took a river cruise on the Danube of Budapest.  It was absolutely gorgeous.   We have never been out so late in Hungary and a little slap happy when we were coming home.  I bet there were people very annoyed with us Americans.  It was fun nevertheless.  

On Castle Hill

With Katalin at the Leopard Mozart Music School

The Parliament Building view from the boat.

"There are 365 spires."
"One for EVERYDAY!"

Video of the Day 

Loopy Girls waiting for the Metro, only 4 stops until we're home:

Shout out to Brett: my handsome fiance.  99 days!!!
WE'RE OUT OF THE TRIPLE DIGITS.
Sorry that Skype is the best we have for two weeks. 
Szeretlek. 143.  

Pastry Revolución: Hungary Day 5

It was another long day and for some reason we were all VERY tired today.   This morning we went to the Hungarian Radio Choir School and observed a choir rehearsal of 5th-7th graders conducted by Gabby Thesz.  They were amazing!!!  They sang in tune and were able to sight read things most adults are unable to.   I was absolutely blown away and learned so much today.  We get to go back on Friday and I'm very excited.

We then headed to the Mammoth Shopping Center for lunch at a yummy Greek restauraunt.  Yum!

Afterwards, we observed two conducting classes and a choir rehearsal at the University of Budapest. Zsusanna Mindszenty was the professor for the classes and she was great.  It's a little bitter-sweet to be meeting all of these outstanding people and to make such great friends so quickly but then we have to leave them so fast as well.   

Before we left for Hungary, Dr. Jaccard had informed us of all the wonderful Pastry Shops we would be eating at every day when we got to Hungary.   Last night we realized, "HEY!  We haven't stopped at for a pastry yet!!"  I then declared if we didn't eat at a pastry shop tomorrow, I would begin a "Pastry Revolución!"   Luckily, we had our first Pastry after dinnner tonight and it was absolutely delicious.   Finom.

We didn't record a video today... so here's a quality video of the day from our pal, Carly Rae Jepsen:

Hello Lady: Hungary Day 4

Today was a long long day.  So this is going to be short.

We left for Castle Hill this morning and spent some more time at the Institute for musicology with Katalin.  We learned about children's games and it was awesome.  After that we rushed over to the Béla Bartók  Conservatory to observe two piano lessons and a Solfege & Harmony class.  Those kids were TALENTED.  Honestly, I feel like a shame now.  These 11th graders were doing things I can hardly do.  WOW.  We met Lencsi, a good friend of Dr. Jaccard's and an amazing teacher.  She took us to the Opera tonight to see Madame Butterfly.  It was superb.

Some great quotes for today:
"I want my hair to be as long as the River Danub!" -Katalin
"I feel myself like a goose... a boy goose."  -Katalin
"Hello ladies... Hello lady." -Waiter
"Thank you so much please." -Waiter

Side note- Our new favorite game is to hold onto the railing on the escalator all the way from the bottom to top without letting go.  It's really fun.