Cool Experience

[PaddyT]

Im currently in Hungary for a couple of reasons but one of the main ones was to take my dads ashes back to the village he was born in. At the funeral were actually some of my dads old primary school mates(in their 80's now) and a bunch of relos i hadnt seen in many years-all of which was great and the burial of his ashes was done in the cemetary not more than 20 M from the building he was born in and spent his first 8 or 9 years. One of the old guys has created a museum to the area and actually written a couple of small books on the history of the area.So at the funeral i asked him if i could come back to the village the next day and have a look at the museum and a whole bunch of old peasant and agricultural gear hes collected over the years.

Next morning my wife, daughter and i went back and got to learn a lot about dads village , a bit more about his family. The village itself was originally settled by the Romans and has remained an agricultural area ever since. Now the really interesting bit was that the Germans launched their final eastern front offensive through the area in Jan 1945 (The Lake BAlaton offensive)- my dad witnessed a bit of the fighting although being a small boy at the time his recollections were hazy even before he got dementia. His recollections were that the Germans occupied his village for a while and then one afternoon left in a very big hurry- to him what seemed like minutes later the Russians came tearing in - so quickly in fact that they were heavily bombed by their own planes-he remembered that there were hundreds of Russian casulties. The nice part for me of this was that I was able to confirm that this actually occurred with the local historian - sometimes i think my dad had doubts as to what he'd actually witnessed.

Now the second really cool bit occured while we were in an old barn looking at old stuff and in walks a local with an item in each hand . In one hand he had a rifle action from WW2- it was very rusted and clogged with dirt but was clearly a bolt action - I know bugger all about old rifles but the historian thought it was Russian. In his other hand was a 500 year old Turkish cannon ball- hed actually dug both out of his yard the week before- talk about "living history". Even my 16 yr old daughter was impressed! The only bummer was that i didnt have my phone to take a couple of photos. All in all a couple of very interesting days.

[marksman]

your right Paddyt
very cool

[razor222]

Awesome bit of history!

[bigpete]

Very cool stuff

[bigrich]

Thanks for sharing paddy, very interesting. I wonder what would be unearthed with a really good look in the area ? Roman artefacts? The Turks and moors went quite far into Europe as well. Love history
Thanks again for sharing

[PaddyT]

yeah the little museum had a pretty good assortment of artifacts from Roman times, the Turks and modern times. Hungary has to be one of the most ïnvaded countries in the entire world.

[Stix]

Sounds like a great experience...!!

[bigrich]

yeah the little museum had a pretty good assortment of artifacts from Roman times, the Turks and modern times. Hungary has to be one of the most ïnvaded countries in the entire world.

as a result of all the foreign influences, i bet they have some great food and local dishes !

[PaddyT]

food is great, a bit on the heavy side , Hungarian people a real mix mash from dark hair , eyes and skin to Scandanavian blond. My wife is also Hungarian so ive been here many times(although not since 2004 due to owning a small biz). HAving a look at the hunting scene here too, hoping to come back next year and get a Roe Deer (mainly cause we dont have them in OZ), only bummer is foreign citizens can only hunt with a guide- so i need to save a few pennies.