Fraternity-Testvériség, 2001 (79. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

2001-04-01 / 2. szám

Page 14

TESTVÉRISÉG

Wearing My Hat through Hungary

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Kathy A. Megyeri

I believe in wearing wide-brimmed summer hats since I heard Dr. Sheila West, Associate Professor from Baltimore’s Dana Center for Preventive Ophthalmology say that there is “strong evidence that UV (ultraviolet) light from exposure to sunlight causes cataract, and wearing a hat with a brim can diminish ocular exposure by up to 50 percent.” Consequently, I wear a favorite summer Panama hat decorated with a bright black and white scarf that I take on every trip, but this year, I received unexpected reactions to it during our trip through Hungary. I advise other women going to Hungary to wear their favorite hats for the following reasons:

1. You will be labeled as an outsider/visitor/touristAVest- emer/American regardless of your hat, so add a bit of flair and flaunt it. Hungarian women do not generally wear hats, so you will be noticed, but the results will be pleasant. For example, the clown in the Moscow Circus, which was playing at Városliget Park, blew me a kiss, the head waiter on the floating Danube Hotel/Bar/Restaurant moored across from Parliament personally invited me back, and the director of the Baroque-style Festetics Castle in Keszthely personally escorted me into a Friday evening music recital in the castle’s ballroom. I felt like royalty and for a moment, my Panama straw felt like Maria Theresia’s tiara.

2. If you are seen in a crowd or at a newsworthy event, you will be photographed. I attended a political rally of6000 held in Debrecen to protest the discouragement of learning Hungarian in Slovakia and Romania. I was on television and my picture made the front page of the Magyar Hírlap newspaper, not because I’m so politically astute or could give a quip to the reporters since I don’t speak more than ten words of Hungarian. It was because of my hat that photographed well and was the only one worn at the rally.

3. I needed my hat for protection from the UV rays as Hungary was particularly hot and sunny this past July averaging 30 degrees Celsius with no rain or clouds. Because one spends so much more time outside seeing sights and eating at outdoor cafes and because so few buildings outside American hotels are air-conditioned, it is necessary for fair-complexed people like me to wear hats. I traveled outside Budapest toward Érd to see the “cemetery” for Communist statues of Lenin and monuments to the Workers’ party. I strolled the shores of Lake Balaton, the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe and Hungary’s favorite resort. I dabbled in the curative mineral baths at Hévíz, the southernmost city on Lake Balaton. I took the ferry across Lake Balaton to see the restored village of Tihany with its thatched roofs and spectacular view of the lake and also well-known for its eleventh century Benedictine Abbey. I savored the best fish-paprika soup at Badacsony, home of small family vineyards that give free samples to lure tourists to take home a jug. I walked the promenade at Balatonfüred and watched the sailboat and sunfish races since motor boats are banned from the lake. All the while, I wore my hat and kept from burning.

Back in Budapest, I toured Margaret Island, in the middle of the Danube River, aboard a tram. I studied the Roman ruins and coliseum at Aquincum. I strolled the stylish street of Váci utca to window shop. I toured the neo- Gothic Parliament building and found that the 1:30 tour for Hungarians is only $2.50, but at 2:30, the same tour for Ibusz tourists is $15.00 so pretend you’re a Hungarian, if you’re hatted and don’t look like one, and no one will question you. I spent hours at the Folk Life Museum across from Parliament to learn of the history, culture and clothing of Hungary. I soaked up the ambiance of the Gellért Hotel’s famous art nouveau baths followed by a chocolate concoction in its pastry shop. I saw a wedding and heard a band concert of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s greatest hits in the park in front of Hunyadi’s Castle in Városliget Park. I watched the guards change at the Millennial Monument on Heroes’ Square and toured St. Stephen’s Basilica and the Fisherman’s Bastion all with my hat on.

I also took two trips, one by car and another by boat, to the lovely Danube town of Szentendre, north of Budapest, now an artists’ colony with museums and art galleries in many of its Baroque, Rococo and Louis XVI style houses. I continued north to Visegrád, a small village among the mountains with ruins of a castle founded in the 9th century and the partially restored palace of the Anjou kings. Of course, people stared at my hat, but I stayed cooler than they did.

4. Temporarily leaving my hat on a chair to use the restroom or look closer at an artifact or sight demonstrated the Hungarian virtue of honesty. On more than one occasion, I took off my hat inside a building, set it aside and returned to find it in exactly the same place. While visiting the casino across from the Hilton Hotel, I set my hat aside to