Kalandpark

The last summer outing before the start of school: a visit to Kalandpark, which we have been wanting to visit for years. We have passed by it countless times while riding the Children's Railway through the beautiful forests of Já'noshegy (one of the Buda hills, located close to where we live), and finally we made it there. Unfortunately Adri was not feeling well, so it was just Bast-Ilo and Mama.

Adri's debut on the pear flute

Happy Birthday Adrienn!

Were you really this small?

Basti-Ilo surprised Adri in the morning with their hand-made gifts.

Every year in Budapest there is a Festival of Folk Arts that falls on Adrienn's birthday. What better way to spend this special day than to wander through the Buda Castle and look at all the wonderful arts and crafts being displayed there? Here are the highlights of our afternoon...

A cartful of pots with traditional glazes and patterns

Egg-painter extraordinaire, Ildikó Bakó

Ms. Bakó also makes the most exquisite corn-leaf figurines. These are esconced inside dried halves of pomegranate and lemon.

Learning how to remove the kernels from the corn. These will be used as feed for chicken and other farm animals.

Handwoven straw bags and other such things, beautifully brought up to date.

Where is Adrienn?

Traditional Hungarian gingerbread cookies - too pretty to eat...

The littlest musical instruments in the world. Adrienn is now the proud owner of the "pear flute" shown above.
(Stay tuned for her solo pear flute recital)

Now we introduce the biggest hat in the world...

The big theme of this year's festival was wool and Adrienn learned how to make a purple ball.

Peach pits smoothed and glossed to perfection.

Webbles (Adri's new word for these beautiful wooden pebbles)

A whole choir of corn dolls.

This statue looks a bit funny from this side....

One of the greatest Hungarian inventions: the Kürtőskalács (chimney cake). One can smell its delicious aroma from miles away.

Barrell-making the old fashioned way.

After 5 hours of wandering around the castle, we were ready for a cold and watery treat. Watermelon with a little inspiration from the folk art festival.