Kaposvar

I almost typed "guten morgen", but that's German--not Hungarian. I don't even know how to say "good morning" yet! Jeff is the only one who has posted on our blog so far, (he does it while I'm asleep) but he's at work; hope my post will be almost as entertaining as his. FYI, Jeff posted the pictures and captions.

We've been in Kaposvar for a week and a half. It's not as crazy as Budapest, which is what I prefer. We're sick of eating bread, meat, and cheese, and buying bottled water. But how can we complain? We have a nice car, live in a nice hotel, and just found a little apartment we will be moving into within the next week. Our church building is around the corner, the grocery store down the street, and in between is an old brick street with surrounding churches that chime every once in awhile.

Center Street 

Church in the middle of town

Lemon tree in our hotel hallway

We've just been chilling in the hotel and doing things here and there for the company Jeff's working for. We sleep at crazy hours--still haven't gotten through our jetlag. Can't stay awake all day, can't sleep throughout the night.  But we went back to Budapest the other day to return a rental car and that kept us awake because we got to tour Parliament before we went home! It's an amazing building built in the Gothic style. It isn't old like the Buda castle we went to earlier, but it is definitely majestic. Sorry the pictures don't do it justice. 

We heard that here in Europe, if repairs or restoration work is being done on buildings, they don't have to pay taxes on them. That's why there's always scaffolding and tools everywhere around the building, but no workers:)

While we were waiting for the English tour of Parliament to begin, we went to a little cafe across the street. It was raining a lot and we mostly went in there for shelter. But the cafe was covered in plastic and it had heaters, blankets, and hot chocolate inside. We played "Ticket to ride" on our co-worker's iPad while we waited. Eventually (that same night) Jeff downloaded it onto his phone and we play it whenever we can't sleep...and sometimes a lot more...

This is an old castle wall in the city of Pecz (pronounced something like "page"). When we returned our rental car to Budapest, we took the scenic route and drove through some little villages and passed by this place. On the way here, through the villages, we saw farmers still using horses out in the fields. It was fun to see that and drive past vineyards and old churches and what not.

The main part of the "castle" in Pecz, Hungary

The Parliament building

Main Hall

Cute Josie

Rotunda

This display is in the middle of the Rotunda and the crown shown is almost 1,000 years old and over 50 kings wore it.  There is also a sword under the pillow that I don't really know the history of, but I'm pretty sure the tour guide said something about it being as old as the crown.

This parliament room seats over 300 political leaders and is where they vote on bills and what not and whatever else Hungarian leaders do. One cool thing about this room is that it has had heating and A/C for  over 100 years. They used to get a huge ice block in the basement that let cold air into the vents and into the parliament room.

Outside

Inside

Josie taking a picture of me taking a picture of Parliament