Further proof that the Hungarians know how to party

The proof? We have our first visitor from Hungary to Eff You, of course. So, besides the source of Hungarian goulash, what is Hungary? At the most basic level, this:

Hungary . . . is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital and largest city is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and the Schengen Area. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.

My little sister, who majored in French (yeah, I know, let's not talk about it) studied in Strasbourg or some such French city in the Alsace-Lorraine for a semester. She learned some great shit about French cooking, but she also took a trip to Hungary because a professor of hers was on sabbatical there. This was before the Iron Curtain fell, by the way.

So she got her visa for Hungary -- a 48-hour visa, which was fine since she was just going for the weekend -- and off she went on the train. She got to Buda, or Pest, or Budapest, or whatever, and her professor was out of town until Monday. So she waited until Monday, visited with her professor, and got on the train back to France.

Unfortunately, her visa had expired, and in those days, the communists were a little persnickety about papers being in order. On the train, a conductor looked at her ticket and passport and was apparently appalled. Not being able to speak Hungarian, my sister was able to determine this mostly through body language and tone of voice. She realized she had a problem, and tried to talk to the guy. She tried English, he responded with a language she didn't understand. She tried French, he came back with another language she didn't understand. She tried Russian and German, and he came back with two more languages she didn't understand. Between them, they spoke nine languages, but not a shared language. The conductor grabbed some guy -- not sure if he was a railroad employee or what -- who apparently spoke Hungarian and Russian, and that guy made it clear to her that she could not cross into Austria aboard that train. She had to get off at the last stop before the Austrian border and walk across the border on a dirt road that didn't have a checkpoint, then get back on the train on the Austrian side of the border. She successfully made it back to France, and the rest is history. Just not history you're heard of. Anyway, that's my Hungary story.

Yeah, kind of pales in comparison to the rich history of Hungary, which includes a centuries-long battle against the Turkish invaders trying to spread the caliphate to Europe (some things never change, right?) and, of course Vlad Tepes' role in all that. Good old Vlad, apparently the model for Dracula, was quite a character.

Anyway, along with lots of interesting history, Hungary apparently is up to its collective butt in hot springs, with folks from the Romans on coming to Hungary to "take in the waters," as they say. This leads to things like hot chicks floating around in hot springs in inner tubes. Sounds like a fine reason to go to Hungary. Just sayin':

Anyway, let's all extend a big Eff You welcome to Hungary. Y'all come back soon!