Family Vacation, Part 3: Eger, Hungary

Last week’s post was pretty serious so I want to break things up a bit with some more family vacation pictures.  They make me happy.

We decided to take a day trip to Eger (pronounced egg-air), Hungary.  It was hard to choose one day trip.  There were so many places I wanted to see, including the town where my great-grandmother is buried, but it was too hard to get to.  And there was a lot to see and do in Eger.  It seemed like the right choice.

And we were so lucky because the day they were there, all of the locals were dressed in period costume and having archery contests.

Eger is famous for it’s castle, thermal baths and it’s wine, especially Bull’s Blood, a full bodied red wine (so good!!!).  Here are some pics from our day.

This is the main train station in Budapest.

Oliver loved how you could see the tracks and the trains as soon as you walked in. And look at that ceiling!

The train had huge windows to look out of.

Along the trip, these beautiful yellow flowers were blossoming as far as the eye could see.

Just a sweet picture of my guys.

Oliver snapped this of me while I was looking out of the window. I kind of love it.

Once we arrived, we took a short cab ride into the town.  We were starving so the first thing we did was find some lunch.  It was so yummy!!!

Strawberry soup. It’s a cold soup made with strawberries and sour cream. My grandma used to make a version with cherries. It’s a soup but it’s like a dessert. It’s basically the best thing ever.

I had schnitzel on this trip more than I care to admit. I love schnitzel!!!

I also love paprikas!

Eger has a really cool history.  This blurb was taken from ricksteves.com.  Eger is “famed as the town that, against all odds, successfully held off the Turkish advance into Europe. Working their way up the Balkan Peninsula, 60,000 Turks arrived in Eger on September 11, 1552. Some 2,000 Eger residents, fighting from within their castle’s protective walls, held the line against the advancing invaders. After a 38-day siege, the Turks retreated in defeat. Sadly, they returned in 1599 and, this time, succeeded in conquering the castle. The Turks sacked the town and controlled the region for close to a century.”

Depiction of the Turks invading Eger in 1552. The Hungarians held them off in a 38 day battle.

Locals dressed in period costume and engaging in archery contests throughout the town.

View of Eger from the castle walls.

Doesn’t Eger look like a storybook village?

The beautiful, quaint streets of Eger.

Town center.

We let Oliver take control of the camera several times on this vacation and we found that his pictures were some of our favorites.  Here is Eger from Oliver’s perspective.

That’s Eger!  Going there made me want to explore all of the small towns of Hungary but, alas, we were soon heading off to our next destination, Vienna.  The final part of our journey to come next week.

The Question

I’ve always known he’d ask.  That he’d put two and two together.  I just never imagined that it would be so soon.

Oliver and I were lying in his bed as I was snuggling him to sleep.  At one moment we were talking about his day and with no segue at all he asked me again (he asks me a lot), “Mommy, why did they have to take off your breast?” I gave him my usual answer. “There was something in my breast and if we didn’t get it out, it would have made me very sick.”

Usually, he leaves it at that, or begins to ask my questions about having the surgery, did I feel anything in the surgery, questions about my reconstruction, etc…  I always answer honestly.  But this time, tonight, he asked me the question I have always been dreading.

“Mommy, if they didn’t take away your breast, could you die?”

“Yes. But, they did take my breast and now I’m healthy again.”

I heard him breathe in and out, gently.  He took in that information.  I’m not sure how his little brain processed this because he followed it up with his usual questions. “How did they make you a new breast?” “Were you in pain?” “How long were you in pain?” “Did it make you sad? Do you feel sad now?”

After he asked me all of his questions, he very wisely said, “Wow, that was a big conversation.”

Yes.  Yes it was.

These questions…these questions I never wanted my child to have to ask.  But cancer has made us all age beyond our years

I thought that when Oliver asked me about my cancer and death, I’d feel sad.  That I would ache for him knowing that his mother had faced mortality and that he could be directly affected by this.  But that is not what I feel.  I feel proud of him.  I feel proud that he was brave enough to ask the question.  I feel proud that he is so smart and intuitive, that he could come to this conclusion himself at such a young age.  I’m proud that the weight of this conversation was not lost on him.  He totally gets it.  But I’m most proud that he feels comfortable asking me.

One of the last things I said to him before he fell asleep was, “I know that this was a big conversation.  But I want you to know that I will always tell you the truth. Is that ok?”

“Yes, mommy.”

He turned over, snuggled his back into my chest, and fell asleep.