We had a multi-zone conference in Budapest on the 4th of December. Bruce and I decided to stay overnight to see the Christmas market in downtown Pest. Thursday, after the zone conference, we and the Thompsons went by Metro over to Pest. It was freezing cold and a little snowy but beautiful. The market was so much fun to see.
This was another "summerfest" type market but everything had to be traditional Hungarian. And the food vendors had just loads of wonderful smelling food. (The Baughman's were going to take us out to dinner later, so we resisted the temptation to have a meal.)
They do a lot of decorating of Gingerbread. Should have taken a close up of these cookies but they are so much fun. They surely got an A+ in their Wilton Decorating Course.
Obviously an internet image, but I wanted to show you how ornate they make them.
Lots of interesting pottery
And the Hungarians have a lot of very traditional Christmas Cookies and sweets. We saw a lot of dried fruits that looked really nummy.
If there was anyway in the world I could have done it, I would have brought this home for Kyla
But my favorite thing about Christmas is that they make Kürtöskalács, a wonderful christmas Bread. They wrap strips of bread around a form. . .
And then they cook it over the coals, drip it with honey and nuts or cinnamon. It is just wonderful.
After strolling the fair for a while we went out to see the Christmas Lights of Budapest.
We found a Hungarian friend. . .
The Thompsons left us to take the train back to Sopron but Bruce and I had decided to stay overnight at the mission home and go shopping in the morning.
Well, morning dawned gray and very snowy. We braved our way to the Nagy Piac, or the big farmers market. It is all indoors, so, except for the cold walk from the Metro exit over, it wasn't too bad. The Piac is just a great experience: fruits and vegetables as well as pigs feet, pigs noses and pigs ears.
I was in the market for my Hungarian Nativity set. We finally found the vendor, and because I am not willing to bargain, (just can't bring myself to do it), and because I speak English I paid twice what I should have done. But then Bruce discovered he had left the Visa Card at the mission home. (They told us that the vendors would not take Visa. They did. And we didn't have enough cash). So my wonderful spouse walked all the way back to the Metro, went back to the mission home and retrieved our card and then returned to the Piac. It took him a good hour to do it. But I have my nativity.
These are Youtube links about the Christmas market. They are fun to watch.
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