The girlie weekend

First of all the weekend did have two guys around for a while and one (Roy) all the time, but it was still primarily a girlie thing. The short term male (so to speak!!) was Andor who turned up on Friday around 11am by bike to stay until the following morning. At least once every summer he does this, as he is a fit old geezer and 85kms out and the same back the following day is nothing to him. Also, he wanted to see us in Ber where he hadn't been for a while and as this Friday was the best for him, he was given dispensation for being a man.

On Friday afternoon, before the girls came, Andor and I went up to the mill to have a look around and were very lucky to run into the owner, dr. Banfi who showed us around and enthused about his plans for the entire project. They are getting on with it pretty well and the opening date is now set for 26th July 2014, St. Anne's day. Recently they started on the fitness suite/games room, which will be housed in a hexagonal building further down the hill from the B&B/restaurant. Since my last visit they have also finished the upstairs of the inside in the mill, started fitting out the two guesthouses and worked on the dams and depth of the stream. Unfortunately, up at Viragos the owner had renovated the spring that fed the stream and not having consulted any experts on how to do it had managed to cut off the water. According to dr. Banfi the matter is in hand. Kowing his personality and position in the world, I have no doubt the problem will be fixed.

Three of the girls: Klari, Jutka and Kati arrived around 6pm, while Bozsa who had to work until 6pm rolled in at 9.30-ish. We all had a good meal together and retired reasonably early. Before that I got a few nice birthday presents: a DVD, bottles of wine and a couple of speakers from the girls. Andor didn't know it was my birthday, but still brought me some lovely blueberries. On Saturday we said good-bye to Andor as he rode off; breakfast was agreed for 8am, followed by a look around the "estate" and a visit to the mill. Just as we walked towards the gate we saw dr. Banfi driving up. He let us in and showed us around (this time only for a short time), but it was really lucky that I could introduce him to my friends. They liked him and the mill development, hoping to come and visit it once it is finished.

Lunch was paprika potatoes with sausage, which was devoured with gusto. The weather got very hot and humid again, so we put off the walk up to the andesite columns until later. In the meantime we listened to some gorgeous classical music from CD's that Klari brought and from my collection. The weekend turned out to have a baroque bent, as most of the composers we fancied listening to were from that period. Finally we got going to the andesite around 5pm, still in hot and humid conditions. I decided to walk up from the back, as that is quite gradual, if somewhat overgrown. Kati managed it, albeit slowly and when we got to the top the view was magnificent as always. Another great thing also happened: the wind got up and blown away the humidity. From then on we all loved it even more, even on the dodgy, rocky, unstable downhill below the cliff. At the foot of the mountain we met Istvan, the Lutheran pastor from the village who was out walking his dogs. I told him that I have not seen him for ages (which was true), and he invited us to the service on Sunday. Being an atheist I wasn't going and neither was Jutka, but the other three went and had a nice time listening to Istvan and the old little organ.

Saturday night was another early one, although the girls were chatting till late, I was told on Sunday. I slept like a "shot bear" to use one of Andor's expressions. The hike to and from the andesite is not long: about 5-6km at the most, but the rocky, steep ground in places, plus the overgrown paths took it out of us. My knees were aching from the descent. On Sunday after breakfast Klari, Bozsa and Kati went to Church and Jutka and I joined them later as they were coming out. They loved the service and even the sound of the little old organ, although some of its registers didn't work, Klari said. The pastor was very happy to see them and welcomed them to his congregation. Afterwards we went for a walk along the row of old cellars and got lucky again. Just as we passed dr. Banfi's back garden he came out and offered us a view of his cellar with a taste of some of his wine. We didn't say no and had a very pleasant hour sipping champagne and chatting to him about his life, his job and his children.

We got home around midday, had another classical music session, followed by a delicious bean soup cooked by our resident, voluntary cook, Jutka again. The last program of the weekend was a drive up to the top of the hill above the village, about a mile away, where there is a hotel and other interesting developments. We found the owner in there as well and he showed us round his little empire, presented us with a card and some palinka at the end. Some of the adornments in and around the manor house/hotel was not necessarily to everybody's liking, but it was still a fascinating experience. Not to mention the palinka, which was first class. We had the Alexander pear one this time, it was delicious. All in all the weekend was fantastic. I loved the girls' company and I think they had a good time too. We might make these weekends regular, say 4 times a year with one in every season. We also had amazing luck in always running into the owners of places and the pastor, so a warm welcome, a guide, several presents and a well organised tour was had by all. I know I missed my vocation by not going into tourism and hospitality, but this weekend, with its variety of activities and places to see came together completely by fluke. Still, how does that saying go: you make your own luck!