Woke up this morning to a breathtaking view of … fog!
Back on the herd bus (goodie) after breakfast for the 45 minute ride to our first stop. Woman across the aisle from Ken has not stopped talking since we sat down. How can anyone have this much to say about absolutely nothing before 0800?!?
Csikos Horsemen of Kalosca
First stop: the Bakod Puszta Hungarian Horse Farm near Kalocsa. It’s a working farm on the Puszta (vast open plains) of Hungary. Think: Kansas. Herded off the bus and into a stadium, where we saw a demonstration the famous Csikos horsemen. These are traditional Hungarian herdsmen renowned for their exceptional horsemanship skills and daring riding techniques – like standing on top of two horses while driving several more horses ahead. I mean . . . it doesn’t look that hard. I could probably do it. 😉
Honestly, very impressive.
Sidebar: (true story) if you have your bachelor party in Hungary, you can get liquored up and try to ride horses standing up. I wonder how many Hungarian bachelor parties end in the emergency room.
Skipped the carriage ride (I was getting 2nd grade pumpkin patch field trip vibes), and walked through the barn. Saw some Hungarian Mangalica pigs (which we enjoyed in yummy sausage form a couple of days ago). Distinct because of their curly fur coat, they are regarded as a national treasure in Hungary. And – Ken made some new friends.
Back on the herd bus. Update: she’s still talking. She is verbalizing every single thought in her head. Baffling.
Next stop: Kalosca, the paprika capital of Hungary. I’ve had Hungarian goulash (aka paprika soup) for the past 4 days. I’m pretty much done with Hungarian goulash (and paprika) for a while.
Apparently, paprika liquor is a thing that exists in Hungary. Left it in Hungary. 
And we’re walking. We’re walking. We’re walking really really slowly.
Organ Concert
Short organ concert at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Kalosca. My mom loved organ music, and whenever I hear it played in a centuries old church in Europe, well, I appreciate the time to be alone in my head. I miss my mom every day.
The interior of the cathedral was beautiful. I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever seen a pink cathedral ceiling?? I’m really bad at identifying architectural styles, so usually run a photo through Chat GPT. Chat GPT identifies this interior style as Rococo, which is interesting because everything else I read about St. Mary’s says it’s Baroque. I’ll let the art historians to sort that out.
Herded straight back onto the buses. No time to walk around the town. Disappointment.
Update: she’s still talking. A four year old on a sugar high has nothing on this woman. Complete babblefish. I don’t think her husband has said a single word all day.
For the record, Ken and I walked straight down the middle.
Made the best of some ship time this afternoon (while others were out on excursions) by finding a quiet place to read my book.
Relaxing in the lounge tonight with a cocktail, and who sits down across from us? The babblefish. A solid 75 minutes of nonstop talking. About what? Dunno. I was doing a lot of smiling and nodding, but I have no idea what she was saying.
Except for this, the QOTD: “Oh, we LOVE traveling in England. Everyone speaks such good English.” 
Tomorrow: Croatia.
Travel date: October 16, 2025.
I’m sorry but I object! The “Four Horsemen” thing is taken!!
Remember… “Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below.”???
GO IRISH!
Point of Discussion: I think *technically* their real names were: Famine, Pestilence, Destruction, and Death. 😉
For someone who writes such lovely and colorful descriptions, I’m quite surprised that you don’t understand poetic license. Grant land Rice obviously did and summed up another stunning, historic Notre Dame football victory beautifully. Don’t you think? 😘
Still laughing at her nebulous bon mot! Thanks for an entertaining read, do I see earplugs in your future..?
I need to throw my Bose noise-canceling headphones (aka don’t-talk-to-me) earphones in my day bag! 😂
Just love the photo of ‘the herd’ . . . get your point! St Mary’s does look Baroque . . . but an expert I am not! Am a past expert on paprika . . . the result being I do not use it as much these days as warranted . . . should not tie the poor spice to a marriage which did not work, should I 🙂 ?
Oh, I think food is tied to memories (good and bad) more often than we think.
I can see that this was far too much herding for your taste – or mine! But the cathedral looks beautiful and to my untrained eyes, definitely Baroque. So I Googled the difference between that and Rococo and found this: ‘Rococo grew out of Baroque but was more playful. Both were status architecture. Both featured lots of ornamentation. However, Baroque was dramatic, while Rococo was light and airy.’ Oh, and I laughed out loud at the QOTD 😂
I think that’s what I finally took away from it, too, Sarah. Light and airy vs. heavy and ornamented. Now, I just need to REMEMBER that so I can apply it in the future. Cheers!
Oh my God the horror of being herded like schoolkids and/or sheep AND being lumbered with Motor Mouth. You’re not winning me over with the cruise thing. On the QOTD thing, a waitress in California said to us…..”Oh my God where are YOU guys from? I ain’t never heard English spoken like THAT before!”…. My reply was “…….”
{{SIGH}} Unfortunately, that’s about right. Only I expected you to say it was in one of our southern states with the “ain’t never”.
You might be right….
[…] I do not know this man’s name. I will never see him again. But I want him to know that he has permanently enriched our family’s vocabulary. We have used this phrase no fewer than four hundred times. It applies to virtually every situation: traffic jams, bad weather, delayed flights, overly enthusiastic tour guides, fellow cruise passengers who have not stopped talking since we sat down on the herd bus at 7:30am and whom I will refer to only as, The Babblefish. […]