Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1978. július-december (32. évfolyam, 27-50. szám)
1978-07-06 / 27. szám
Thursday, July 6. 1978. THE HILL OF YOUTH I’m hopelessly biased -1 spent eight years here on this hill and among these walls. Thirteen when I came here, twenty-one when 1 left. For me this hill spells my youth, and that’s why I’m so biased - about its scenery, its walls, its stones - just as one is biased about one’s youth itself, which one loves and hates all at once. Proud of one’s naive enthusiasm, yet in the depths of one’s soul ashamed, abhorring the spiritual and physical adventures, yet recalling them fondly. That’s just how 1 feel about this hill. When I hear the name Pannonhalma, I first see the view as we saw it from the top: a valley that broadens into the plain, the hills opposite. The sharp, clear air of early spring forces one to notice and count the orderly furrows of the fresh-ploughed fields, forces one to observe the patterns of the trees against the sky on the distant hilltops. Though the valleys between the last tamed foothills of the Bakony mountains are often misty, this hill still makes you want to gaze into the distance. It helps you see further, sometimes with startling clarity and sharpness. After the landscape, it is truly the stones which spring to my mind, and the walls, too, set beside, below, behind and above one another by the whims of history, from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, until the 1940’s, each age and style leaving its scrupulous mark upon them. I lived through those rooms and those books, those stones and that history; the last, I admit, saw a variety of upheavals - the Mongol-Tatar siege, the Turkish invasion - some of which the walls withstood heroically, some they heroically surrendered to. /The latest upheaval I lived through myself, when the Germans occupied the buildings./ Of the earlier ones one can only learn in the chronicles, for after each siege, fire or ravage, came hands to repair the walls, carve the stones anew, copy the books. Victors and vanquishers have gone; stones and books remain. Unintended and untold, the glory and chronicles of history are proved to be the sole prize of the victors, no one can rob the survivors of history itself. When I hear the name Pannonhalma, before any fading memory of schoolfriends’ or teachers’ faces, before spirited adventures of adolescence, shocks of first love and first loss, before the light of cloudless years and the terrible blackness of despair /that I experienced too/, I see first the landscape and the stones. Here the landscape was constantly a mother to me, the stones almost human, t’m hopelessly biased - for me this hill spells my youth. LAJOS MAROTI A Popular Tonr to Bangary The Board of Directors of the William Penn Ass. has again authorized a Chartered flight to Hungary. The flight leaves from Greater Pittsburgh International Airport Tuesday, August 1 and leaves Budapest Tuesday, August 22, and arrives in Pittsburgh the evening of August 22. Those who have participated in past Tours to Hungary are well aware of the enjoyment one finds in going on these trips to visit family members, friends and relatives or just to have a wonderful vacation in Hungary, seeing the sights, enjoyipg the fine foods and excellent gypsy music. Arrangements have been made for Three Land- tours in Hungary. Tour No. 1. Northeast Hungary, Tour No. 2. Trans-Danubia and Tour No. 3. Southern or Great Plains Tour. This is a great opportunity for William Penn members, both beneficial and social, to take advantage of the Association’s charter flight to Hungary. From New York, Los Angeles, other tours are available. Inquire at your local travel agent. In Miami Eugene Prager’s tours are very popular. To Budapest with love If you are going to Budapest on your own, without a tour group, the following information may be of some help: You will find English speaking personnel at all the major hotels in Budapest. Some of the hotels and addresses are listed below: BUDAPEST HILTON Castle Hill j HOTEL BUDAPEST II. Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor 47. HOTEL IFJÚSÁG j II. Mártírok útja 36. HOTEL GELLERT j XI. Bartók Béla ut 35. HOTEL ASTORIA V. Tanács körút 4. HOTEL DUNA INTERCONTINENTAL V. Apáczai Csere J. u. 4. HOTEL SZABADSÁG VII. Rákóczi ut 88. GRAND HOTEL MARGITSZIGET XIII. Margitsziget At these and most of the other large hotels in Budapest you may obtain, free of charge, a brochure listing the various cultural and sport events throughout the city. The Folklore Centre /XI. Fehérvári ut 47, tel. 45-21-60/ should certainly be on your list of places to go. Nightly performances are presented by leading talented amateur ensembles from Budapest and environs. These folk dance concerts represent the rich world of the characteristic Hungarian ethnographic regions. You can see the lively dances of the herdsmen and shepherds of the Great Plain and the popular games and colorful costumes ot Transdanubia, and hear the folk music and songs ot Hungary. We considered it a rare treat when we visited four years ago. Though land-locked, Budapest offers its residents and visitors a large selection of swimming pools and therapeutic mineral water baths for which it is world famous. The pools and baths are open to the public from early morning /7 AM/ to dusk. Here are some you will want to try: GELLERT MEDICINAL BATHS XI. Kelenhegyi ut 4. LUKÁCS MEDICINAL BATHS II. Frankel L. u. 25-29. NATIONAL SWIMMING POOL XIII. Margitsziget PALATÍNUS OPEN-AIR SWIMMING POOL XIII. Margitsziget RUDAS MEDICINAL BATHS I. póbrentei ter 9. SZÉCHÉNYI MEDICINAL BATHS XIV. Állatkerti krt. 11. /City Park/ /cont. on page 10/ Palatínus open-air swimming pool / ___AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZO____________________ 9 CSONTVARI: STORM ON THE HORTOBÁGY
