William Penn Life, 1976 (11. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1976-10-01 / 4. szám
(Continued from Page Two) Hotel Szabadság on Rákóczi ut in Pest. Again, thanks to the Home Office Staff's early preparation, the matter of getting the baggage on board the buses caused no problem at all. Each bus had an appointed Tour Guide who on the way from the airport to the respective hotels explained the various parts of Budapest we were traveling through. Upon our arrival at the hotel, we had our first experience in turning in our passports. In the Iron-curtain countries, each out of the country visitor must report his whereabouts to the police within twenty-four hours. As we turned in our passports at the hotel’s registration desk, we in turn were given a key to our room. Here we again had our first experience of elevators in hotels and motels in Europe, which have a small capacity and as a result it took quite a bit of time before we were up in our rooms. Throughout our stay in Hungary, we learned that the hotel and motel system is similar to ours, although the lavishness that we have in most of our hotels are not found in Hungarian hotels. The rooms, however, were clean and we soon found that it would be awhile before we became accustomed to their bathroom facilities, but in the spirit of the trip, it didn’t take us long to become like the natives. We did not have too much time to prepare for the evening’s welcoming dinner. All of the tour participants were welcomed to the dinner at the Hotel Szabadság. As we filed into the dining room we could hear the strings of an excellent gypsy orchestra welcoming us. We sat at beautifully set tables, before each of us was a glass pf brandy which was lifted when Dr. Zdltan Szabó welcomed the contingent to Hungary on behalf of all Hungarian^ in the country. There was a response to the greetings by National President Charles, National Secretary Stelkovics had a few comments and then callen upon Mr. Albert V. Kocsis, past president of the Rákóczi Aid Association, to say a few words in commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of Ferenc Rákóczi. After a most enjoyable meal, we sat around singing to the music of the gypsy orchestra and enjoying the various fine wines produced in Hungary. Pretty soon, however, the fatigue started to overtake us and slowly we all retired for the evening because the next morning 122 members were going on the six day land tour. In the morning most of us were down in the dining room for an early breakBicentennial Tour 6 fast which consisted of the Hungarian expresso coffee which many of us could not get accustomed to all of the time we were there, or we had a choice of tea, cocoa or milk, and for breakfast we were offered ham and eggs, salami, cheese or kolbász. After breakfast we began boarding the buses, those of us who were going on the land tour, others who were going to either visit relatives or going to Jugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, each took off on his own. In this account, we will talk about the six day land tour on which we participated. Our first stop was to the statue of King St. Stephen, founder of Hungary, which is located near the Mátyás Templom and the Halaszbastya. Here, Mr. Elmer Charles, on behalf of the Association placed a wreath at the statue amid appropriate words. Our next stop was to the statue of George Washington in the Városliget where on behalf of the Association, Vice President Balia and National Secretary Stelkovics placed a wreath at the foot of the statue and Mr. Charles, on behalf of the Association, expressed gratitude for the opportunity of being able to place a wreath in Budapest at the statue of the Father of His Country: George Washington, particularly on this, the 200th bicentennial anniversary of America. As we left the City of Budapest we were amazed to see the number of apartment houses being built, there are actually whole new cities being built. Yet, despite the building which is going on, there is still insufficient housing to take care of the needs of our Hungarian brethren. The first large city we passed through was Szentendre from whence we headed for Visegrad which is at the famous bend in the Danube river. It certainly is an imposing site to see the Danube. Just before noon we arrived at Esztergom, which is the seat of the Catholic Primate of Hungary, the seat occupied most recently by Cardinal Mindszenty. Here we found, as we did in many other places, the Hungarian government is spending money to refurbish the churches which are of great historical value and also are great tourist attractions. We viewed the interior of the basilica and from there we went to see the treasures of the Hungarian Roman Catholic Church which are housed in the museum in connection with the basilica at Esztergom. Unfortunately, as it occurred throughout the trip, we did not have enough time to see everything we wanted to because there was a schedule to meet and we had to go on. The first day we had lunch at the Furdoszallo, a famous swimming area in Esztergom. We were most happy to have Mr. Michael Kara, member of the Audit(Continued on Page Nine)
