Heading To The Country: A Visit To The Lenti Hungarian Folk Festival & A Cool Video

Good Morning Everybody,

I know I still need to finish up with some more images from my Master Class in Budapest but I thought I’d bring you up to date with our travels so far.

On Saturday it was time to sadly say good-bye to Budapest and adventure west to the Zala Region and the very, very small community of Nemesnep, Hungary.  According to the front desk receptionist -  population 36, and just a few miles from the Slovenia, Austria, and Croatian borders.

We have reservations at the Abbazia Country Club for the next week. To call this a country club by American standards would certainly be a stretch of the imagination but we are definitely out in the country, surrounded by corn fields, small farms and more cornfields. If you’re looking for peace and quiet this is your place!

Taking In The Local Flavor(s) In Neighboring Lenti

Sunday morning LaDawn and I decided to adventure into the village of Lenti, Hungary and look for a church to attend for Sunday services. We easily located St. Michael’s Parish Church, a church built back in the 1300s and filled with beautiful mosaics. I’m always surprised how richly ornate and beautiful these churches are in even these small European towns.

Unfortunately, we missed the services – never did quite find out when they were - but we discovered a small festival outside of church organized by what appeared to be the Kindergarten just across from the church.

We walked around Lenti for over an hour or two just taking in the community as they prepared for the festival to open. The festival included several craft booths, a few booths selling candy and honey and several games.

The games are what caught LaDawn’s attention. As a former pre-school teacher she was delighted to see the simplistic activities presented for the children’s participation. Tug-of-war, stilts, bean toss, lasso the bull’s horns, a kind of table-top shuffle board, go fish, sifting, scooping and playing in large wood bowls of flour, measuring and grinding corn plus many, many more.

There was a wonderful merry-go-round type swing activity that the children loved. There were also many games to enhance eye/hand coordination skills that young children often need help in developing during their early childhood development…. at least according to LaDawn.  We sat and watched for over an hour as parents and grandparents ushered these young children thru the many activities. Even LaDawn and I tried a few of the games.

Here is a short video we would like to share with you. I put it together using the software Photodex ProShow Producer, a very powerful slide show program which knocks the socks off any other similar software on the market.  I easily combined the stills with the video into a pretty cool little show. LaDawn and I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed our easy Sunday afternoon.

Hungarian Folk Festival from David Ziser on Vimeo.

________________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that’s it from me today.  Today we’re heading across the border to Slovenia just a few miles away.  The plan is to visit Malibor, Ptuj, and maybe Jeruzalem , if time permits, all in Slovenia. Please hit the links to these three destinations – you will be surprised by their beauty.

Have a great Monday and I’ll se you soon,

David (and LaDawn)