Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Kalocsa: theatre and food

Over the weekend of June 6th and 7th, I went to Kalocsa to visit Franny and Jon. What a great weekend. I guess I have put off posting about it the same way that I hardly said anything about everything we did in Tata: it is just too difficult to capture here what a fun and wonderful time I had.

Kalocsa is known for it's paprika and it's embroidery, but this weekend was the Bluebird festival with a focus on music and theatre. Franny lives in a flat above an OTP bank in the center of town, overlooking the pedestrian-only street. Before I arrived, she and Jon listened to a performance from the street without having to leave the flat!



We started with a "walking tour" of town: this town has so much character - definitely more than Kisvarda! I saw where Franny teaches, the church (of course), the booths with local products at the fair, the paprika museum, a photography show, and then off to their favorite restaurant for some coffee. Turned into coffee, cherries, ice cream and conversation with their favorite restaurant owner/chef.


After stopping to get some wine to go with the dinner, we headed back to the flat for an afternoon of cooking. After not cooking for most of this year, what a treat. And everything was fresh from the market: tomatoes, peas, garlic, lettuce and greens, etc. What a wonderful meal to sit down to!

After dinner - or was it after the first course? - we headed out to a performance that was part of the festival. A bit hot in the venue, but wow! what costumes and fun -- it was the Emperor's New Clothes. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so hopefully Franny will post some photos that I can steal! We watched the first act, then headed back to the flat for the salad and dessert courses, and more wine.


Unfortunately, due to having to use the trains and buses, and having to transfer four times, I had to leave early on Sunday. But true to form, Jon produced a wonderful breakfast of french toast with cherry jams that Franny (or both?) had made. Finom!

To check out all the pics, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/margie510/kalocsa#



Thanks Franny and Jon for a wonderful weekend!

1 comment:

CS said...

isn't it funny how anyone who goes to Kalocsa goes to visit Franny AND Jon - not just Franny... glad you got to meet Vincenso! (not sure if I spelled that right)