FASCINATING ARCHITECTURE

WINDOWS:

I just love the architecture in Hungary.  It is like living in history instead of reading history.  I have taken a few pictures of windows and doors.  I hope you enjoy my collection.  (I may be FORCED to add more to this post as time goes on).  

This is probably the oldest window in Pápa, Hungary.  This is also the path I take to the Church each Sunday.

This is the Parliment building in Budapest.  So of course, it is very ornate.  Even the attic windows are beautiful. 

Most of the time each of the windows in a home or business are different.  I have wondered if the more ornate window is the more important room like the kitchen rather than the bedroom.  

It seems like a lot of expense to put this window into the attic but you have to admit, it is ornate and beautiful.

I suppose there is a starecase to the tower of this church.

If you look closely at the "windows" in the foundation, you will see a smaller window.  That is actually the outlet for the smoke to exit the basement.  In the olden days (before chimneys were invented) their fireplaces were in the basement.  Now they have regular chimneys instead of outlets.  I am sure they had to keep the windows closed when they had a fire in their basement so the smoke would not go in the house.   This is an apartment building.

DOORS:

I have yet to seen any 2 doors the same.  Such exquisit labor and money in peoples doors.   It fascinates me.  Most of these doors are 10 or 12 feet high.  Some of them are badly in need of repair.  I see some replaced with new doors, however I haven't found much regular maintenance done on the older doors.  They must be very expensive to replace.

This is a doorway to the backyard.  This is probably an apartment building.  People probably park their cars in the back.

This will be familar to you.  It is the St. Charles Church and also the town square in Pápa.  These large doors remind me of the doors on the Mormon Salt Lake Temple.  Now I understand more fully why our ancestors wanted to put large doors on the Salt Lake Temple.  This is the part of the world where many of the first converts came from.  

One side note about these wondows.  Can you see a covering over the window?  That is an outsde blind that can be raised or lowered from the inside.  I have seen a few in America.   Very common here.

SOPRON, HUNGARY

This is the boarder between Austria and Hungary.  In 1989 the students from Debrecsen had an idea that changed the world.  They wanted the Austrian citizens to be able to visit their family and friends in Hungary who were behind the "Iron Curtain".  Hungary was under the Soviet control at this time. 

The Pan-European Picnic was a peace demonstration held on the Austrian-Hungarian border near the town of Sopron, Hungary on 19 August 1989, an important event during the Revolutions of 1989 that led to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the reunification of Germany. It was organised by the Pan-European Union and the Hungarian opposition Hungarian Democratic Forum under the protection of Otto von Habsburg and Imre Pozsgay.  (In other words some students at the University in Debrecan, Hungary.)   This is a monument at the park.  You can see people coming out of the ground or out of confinment.  The actual pictures of the people walking through the gate is amazing.  People left their cars, tents, everything to walk to freedom.  

This is the original guard tower over looking the park, the road to Austria and the Iron Ceurtain.  

This is a repulica of the Iron Curtain.  This fence isn't very high.  I'm sure the real one was a few feet higher.  Can you see the other fence and the grassy area between the 2 fences?  The grassy area was kept scraped clean so that the guards could easily see if someone was trying to escape.  The fence is only barbed wire, can you imagion?  (The actors are Sisters Scherrer, Brown, Viernes and Borgstrom.

Another Hungarian sight to see is the Easterházy Palace.  

The Concert Hall.  Famous Austrian composer Joseph Haydn spend 24 years there.  One of his famous works was Farewell Symphony".  

I like the grounds.  Wouldn't this swirl pattern in the grass look terrific in a quilt?  

This is the apartment of Queen Maria Theresa.  The stoves in each room are heated with wood put in by the servents.  The stove door is behind the wall.  The tour guide said the chimney was the servents quarters behind the wall.  

This is the music salon.  Prince Nicholas played an unusual stringed instrument called "baritone".  He spent most of his life fighting the Turks.  He took part in the reconquest of Buda in 1686.  As a result of that he was raised to Imperial Princedom in 1686.

The sala terrena was used as the reception room at the time of Prince Nicholas.  The frescoes on the ceiling were created by Austrian artist, Köpp.  On the frescoes little angles are holding flowers which compose letters. (I am not sure if this is a Z or an N).  

This is the Train Museum in Sopron.

Elder Brown is either trying to find the engine or maybe he's looking for a place to hide.  Hahaha.  The Browns are very fun people to hang around with.  

City Center of Sopron.

Yes indeed, I just love a manly man.

Sister bertha Scherrer and Sister Helen Brown.

The story goes that after there was a hugh fire they built this fire tower.  From the top you can see the entire city of Sopron.

This is called the Roman Wall"  You can see the rooms of the building.  Now they have built the city on top of the wall.  This ancient city with these original walls have exsisted since VI Century BC.   

SOMETIMES HUNGARIANS JUST DO IT RIGHT

This post is about a better way of doing it.  So Americans pay attention!  For starters American grocery stores could cut their expenses considerable is they used this simple system of keeping track of their grocery carts.  When you pick up a cart you must insert a coin.  A quarter would work well.  You get your quarter back when you return the cart.  

Hungarians do not use sprinkler systems.  Nice.  I have never seen a garden hose.  Twice I saw a lady watering a plant with a watering can.  Hungary is a bit hummid but nothing like Texas or Florida.

These perfectly normal adults are having a sales training on how to be bold.  I really enjoyed talking to them while we were visiting the mall in Budapest.  

Pay attention America here is another good idea.  The red brick on the sidewalk indicates bicycles only.   As you can see, bicyclers don't have to be in the street.

This idea is one of my favorite.  Pay attention America!   Easy to clean stove tops.  I am cleaning mine with a sponge.  None of this scraping with a razor blade and expensive cleaner.  If Hungary can make it, you know America could do it.  Right?  

Pay attention America!  Just imagion a revolving door that will hold a grocery cart, the shopper and 2 children.  Wouldn't that be nice Americans?  

Pay attention America!  If the mail person had a bike, he could save wear and tear on his feet, expersive health insurance because of carring heavy mail and gasoline for the delivery truck.  This would not work in the "country"  but it would work terrific in the cities.  

Drivers licenses are not easy to come by.  I have a friend that took her drivers test 4 times.  It is expersive about $100 USD each time she took the test.  She had to pay $900 initally to take the Drivers Ed class.  When she failed the test, she had take more driving lessons.  Not everyone drives a car.  Most people have a bike, use the train or use the bus.  Pay attention America.  How many deaths could be eliminated if we made the test harder and more expensive.  

Just look at this cute baby cart.  I see a lot of baby carts in Pápa.  These two children are twins, a girl and a boy.  That beautiful woman is their grandmother.  Sister Helen  Brown saw 6 sets of twins one day in Sopron.  Why so many twins being born in Hungary.  My guess is because the Savior is hastening His work and He needs more children in Hungary quickly. 

Everone should have a refrigerator this size.  Why?  If you have a large frig, food can get lost in it.  Then it will spoil.  Small refrigerators keep all that from happening.  Besides that, if you put something on top of a large refrigerator, you will never see it again.  

It's a good thing they don't sell milk by the gallon in Hungary.  It would never fit in a refrigerator this size.