Sunday Adventures!

Today was an amazing day but I'm completely exhausted. First, Dan and I decided to attend a church. We found a church that offers two English services a month that we thought we might like. Unfortunately we were late because the tram only took us one stop and then made us get off. We weren't sure if there was an accident or something but we knew we needed to find another route quickly. We found a way to the church and we enjoyed the service. We met a few other Americans at the service, even one from Iowa!! It's always amazing to meet someone who has heard of your tiny home town. (This also happened to me with one of Beefeaters at the Tower of London several years ago. Small world!)

After church we decided to go exploring. First we came upon the reason for our tram incident...the Wizz Air Budapest Half Marathon. There were so many people! Most of them were running but many were watching and cheering. I took this picture of the flags near the finish line. 

Even though I have zero interest in running, it was so neat to see all the people enjoying this event. 

After we finally were able to get around the marathon (we walked to the finish line and then around everyone stretching), we wandered through the beautiful City Park until we came upon the Szürkemarha Festival. I wish we could have learned more about the history of the herdsmen, the traditional dress, and the music. Unfortunately it was all in Hungarian.  There was still plenty to see. We saw all sorts of food (stews, chimney cakes, candy, and salami) and crafts (leather and wood products, furs, jewelry, pottery, and dolls). We saw several of the Szürkemarha, grey cows. Here is a picture of one to show how large they are.

This is a just a taste of what it is like in Budapest every day. There is so much to see and do and learn. I love it!! To conclude, here is a short video of the musicians from the festival. I believe they are all playing cimbalom. I could be wrong. I wasn't able to get close or talk to anyone about it. This was taken on my phone so I apologize for the poor quality. I hope it can still give you a taste of the amazing sounds!