Monday we had a great meeting with the Bishop -- a nice man with a lot of cares trying to shepherd all the concerns of Transylvanian Unitarians. We began to gain appreciation for how much Unitarian concerns are intertwined with Hungarian ethnic identity. After a long conversation about his hopes for the church for partner relationships and for our partnership with Deva in particular, we got a brief tour of the offices of the church HQ, where they are keeping alive traditions form the 1500s. We also got to meet the parents of Koppandi Zoltan ("He's a Zol man"), since his mom works for the Bishop.
We then had lunch at the Hubertus restaurant across the street, a new fairly upscale place specializing in wild game. Yes, the restaurants (and every place else) do have napkins. Had a great meal, and we were joined by Zoli's older brother Boti, also a Unitarian minister. After lunch -- Tony downing the Dracula special and others enjoying delicious boar and venison -- we headed out of town.
We stopped in Meszko, the "Alabaster Village" where Christine Wise Morgan lived 70 years ago when she was married to Balasz Ference, before she came to Appleton and helped found our UU Fellowship. We got into the church in Meszko, which still has the paintings on the walls & ceiling that Christine & Balasz put there. Then we went to the Torda Gorge, a great wilderness preserve in a narrow gorge with 300 foot cliffs. We walked a mile or two in and found a spot where "Polar Plunge" Dean, responding to many challenges, took a dip in the nearly icy mountain stream. The setting was unbelievably gorgeous as we walked out, voices of the river and many birds, mountain columbine in purple and white, blossoming trees and blooming shamrocks. The gorge was fairly narrow in spots, the river and path squeezed between vertical walls and we saw a few climbers. In one spot, someone had spray painted "red hot chili pampers." This was frightening to contemplate.
Then on to Torocko, even more mountainous, and a pensiune with nice warm rooms in the shadow of Sleeping Giant mountain. Had a superb supper in a little restaurant run by the woman who owns the pensiune and whose grand-daughter kept running in and out. We couldn't finish the dessert (spiral nut buns called "hornet's nests") and she promised to pack it up for us to take the next day.
After supper, a drive to the house of Boti, who is the minister in neighboring Torocko-St. George. More palinka (every place you go, you get palinka first thing), then we had to suffer though an evening of singing Leonard Cohen, Hungarian folk songs, and dancing the polka. Fortunately, Boti's wife Eva is an extremely good sport and gracious hostess. Boti is a lot of fun and a good guitar player. We talked about Tom Waits and watched videos of the Hungarian musician Hobo. Finally, late to bed, with plans for some of the group to climb the Sleeping Giant in the morning.