Weekend Excursion

This Sunday Zsolt and Agi and I went on an excursion to Slovakia, to a spa town just across the river from Esztergom in Hungary. I finally got a picture of Zsolt and Agi:
We set out between 10 and 11 and were at the spa at 11:45. Crossing the border was slightly delayed becasue of my American passport, but it still didn't take more than 5 or 10 minutes. The spa only had one warm water pool (36 degrees C) but it was a pleasant outdoor pool, so Agi and I soaked for about an hour and a half, while Zsolt went to the swimming pool periodically. After the spa, we had lunch. We tried to go to a restaurant Zsolt's brother had recommended, but it was closed for 'technical reasons' so we went to a restaurant / pizzeria down the road. I had traditional slovakian dumplings with sour cream made from sheep's milk and bacon. They were delicious. I told Zsolt and Agi we have a dumpling shortage in America. Then I had a palacsinta, and of course I had to have a Zlaty Bazant, (Golden Pheasant) the most popular Slovakian beer. It wasn't particularly impressive.

Here's another picture, without Zsolt and Agi, looking from Slovakia across the Danube to the cathedral at Estergom in Hungary: (This picture doesn't really capture how BIG the cathedral is)

Zsolt and Agi offered to take me to the cathedral, but they had been recently and I was there on my last trip to Hungary, so we skipped it and headed for the outlet mall, which Agi loves.

A picture of the border crossing from slovakia into Hungary:

The outlet mall closes at 8, so we were home by 8:30.

On Saturday, I tried to go to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the regular collection (not the Van Gogh show that is ending soon) but the line was out the door and down the steps and I would have had less than an hour after getting through it, so I went to the 'American style' California Coffee Shop' which is new here. Supposedly there will be a Starbucks opening soon though. Hungarian style coffee shops are different in that you sit down and order from a menu and a waiter takes his own sweet time in bringing your coffee, cake, and bill. It's nice if you have all afternoon. But anyway, the California Coffee Shop seemed to be pretty authentic, even though it's really owned by an Austrian company. (As an aside, there is a Starlucks in the Mammut (mall) at Moskva ter. I'm not sure if they're trying to pretend they're a Starbucks or not, but it certainly didn't fool me, hehe.)

Agi called me at about 5 and we went to the other outlet mall which had a store where I could buy a bikini - in fact, I bought two, plus some presents for Pancake, all for less than 25$. So I'm all set for the beaches in Spain. I'm lucky Agi knew about the store, because all the other swim suits I've seen have been 50$ or more.

On Friday, I went to work with Zsolt in the morning, and did some home visits with him in the afternoon. Then I went to the Luckas baths, so I have now been to 4/6 baths listed in the Lonely Planet, plus the one in Slovakia, which is pretty good for a 3.5 week trip, I think.

Thursday I went to Hatvan - one of the rural hospitals - with Dr. Varga - where Dr. Varga told me to give my expert opinion on how to set up their ER (they currently don't have one.) I'm pretty sure he was pulling my leg, but I did go to the meeting with the planners, the Hospital Director, and Dr. Varga's fellow consultant. I'm not sure I contributed anything useful, though. Then I went to a meeting where the colorectal surgeons, nurses, social workers, etc, were working on establishing a protocol for post-op care of colorectal surgery patients. It was interesting because apparently no one's ever asked the nurses or other support staff to be involved in planning or decision making, so they were initially reluctant to contribute. (Usually the doctor just tells them what he or she wants.) But by the end of the meeting everyone was speaking up and seemed to be interested in the idea of having a protocol, so I think that part of the changes here will be successful, at least.

Tonight I have a farewell dinner with Dr. Varga and his family, and Zsolt and Agi and Orsi, so perhaps there will be more pictures of the group to post. Wednesday morning I leave for Spain.