Meanwhile the home-made cake is always more praised than the confectionary that we can buy in a patisserie. During weddings it is commonly accepted in Hungary that grandmothers and female relatives bake cakes since it is more delicious as the patisserie ones.

I think that restos pay more attention on the ingredients and that they do not use much fat. The issue of health becomes more and more important in Hungary.
Nevertheless in food Hungarians prefer the spicy ingredients (not personally, but generally men like those) such as hot paprika powder. We sprinkle it on soup. For example, they put it in fish soup. In Hungary the fish breeding is widespread and some towns and villages are famous for their fish (Szeged, Baja)

We mostly consume pork and chicken meat. We have some specialities such as Gulyás soup, Hortobágyi palacsinta - a savoury crepe filled with veal, Húsleves - clear chicken (or veal meat) soup with soup vegetables and thin soup pasta, stuffed cabbage, Gundel Palacsinta - pancake filled with nuts and chocolate sauce. Our most famous cake is Dobos torta - sponge cake layered with chocolate paste and glazed with caramel and nuts. Oh, I'm hungry now for some chocolate...

As far as the religion is concerned, the great majority of our population is Catholics. Debrecen is an exception, of course. My city is famous for the Protestantism. You can hear about Debrecen as "The Calvinist Rome". The city is considered as the centre of Hungarian Calvinist followers in the same way as Rome is the headquarters for his Catholics believers.

I am baptised in the Reformed Church but I think about this whole system in a different way. Meanwhile I believe in God and Jesus Christ.

Now I am reading a really interesting book. The author is Ervin Baktay who was a Hungarian explorer of India. He was converted to Christianity but his love and interest in culture and religion of India such as Buddhism or Hinduism was remained in his heart. He found great values in eastern culture too and he was Catholics at the same time. He grabbed the roots and common values of these religions and his profound thoughts characterise his works.

Protestantism in Debrecen has roots that originate at the beginnings of reformation. There was a symbolical debate between a protestant priest and a Catholics abbey. The latter claimed that Protestantism will not gain popularity in the city. He crushed a branch of a bush and planted it in the ground saying that this branch will grow up if the city becomes protestant. Today in the main place we can see this bush, which has been growing for 400 years and its existence prove the legend.

The most famous buildings of Protestantism in Debrecen are Great Church and Reformed College. The latter serve as reformed school since 1538. The University's faculties come from this building, which had not enough space to accommodate the increasing number of students. So the city built the imposing building of University. Here you can read about the details and the system of university:
http://unideb.hu/portal/en

The other most important building is the Great Church which has historical meanings too. During the revolution and the war of independence of 1849, Debrecen became the capital of the country for a short period of time and our patriots and statesmen declared Hungary's independence among the Great Church's walls.
Under this link, you can see some pictures about the church.

As we started our trip in the nature at the beginning of month, let me finish it there too.
Here you can see the top of the University's Church.

In Transdanubia, it is a region of Hungary, we went on a hike:

In this picture, there is a cut trunk, which symbolise Eve and Adam's tree according to the legend. Two huge oaks lied on the shore of the river Gaja for ages. The bigger was Adam's and the smaller was Eve's tree. Adam's oak was the victim of the fire and nowadays there is only a one oak, which serves as bridge on the river.

Have a nice summer!
With love,
Zsuzsi (Susan)

And secondly: about Hungary. It is really a small country in comparison with others. The population of Hungary is about ten million (the population of Paris with suburbs is also ten million).

In my view, my country is not a rich one economically. It has natural resources, values and rich in agricultural land. Alföld, which is the largest part of Pannonia Plain, occupies the southern and eastern part of Hungary (the region where I come from). A lot of poet was inspired by the panorama: the sky and the earth meet far away on the horizon, cattle grazes and wells evocate the ancient times, when shepherd and herdsman were ordinary professions.

We are the member of the European Union and of the Schengen Area. Unfortunately our state of development does not reach the western-European countries' level but that is the case of other neighbouring countries. The reasons are political, historical etc...
Meanwhile Hungarians are generally considered as hard working people and I hope this is a good sign.

As far as the education concerned I think that we are very good at science and mathematics. It's me who say that and I am not by the way a typical mathematician or scientist but I admit that a great number of inventors are Hungarian even if it is not well-known.

If you have time, take a look at this video, it is a presentation about Hungary's places with folk music and Hungarian inventions.

According to statistics, the rate of Hungarian people's knowledge and intelligence is relatively high but unfortunately the mass media has gaining more and more popularity in the society and it has negative effects. I can say that there are two types of people in Hungary as far as I experienced it: those who watch TV and those who not. Despite the fact that a considerable number of people spend his life in front of the telly, more and more people realise the influence of pointless reality shows and select carefully from the TV programme.

Our capital is Budapest. It lies on the two banks of the river Danube, the part of Buda is built on hills, the part of Pest is found on plate.
The image of Budapest is mostly influenced by the process of construction from 1870 to 1914 and it preserves this period's characteristic in architecture.
The two sides are joined with 8 bridges and between the two shores there are islands.
Here you can see the Chain Bridge and in the left hand side the domed building is the Hungarian Parliament Building.

Our hills are not so high and the country has a good hike-system (the hike line is marked with blue) which crosses Hungary. Here you can see a Hungarian panorama from the highest peak of Hungary, from Kékes.

One of our most beautiful places is Lake Balaton which is the largest lake in Central Europe. A lot of tourists from the surrounding countries and of course Hungarian ones also visit it because it is relatively cheap.
The photos below present the lake and a part of the Danube from the air.
On the first picture, you can see a peninsula where you can visit the Tihany abbey. Its charter of foundation as our most ancient document testifies the existence of Hungarian language in 1055.
Every year, there is a swimming competition in Balaton here. As you can see the north part (the picture is taken from this direction, so we are in the north part) and south part almost meet. This distance is the smallest between the two shores. Tihany is famous for his echo too.

On the second pictures, you can see the Danube, which is Europe's second longest river.
The Danube originates in the Black Forest in Germany. It passes through four Central and Eastern European capitals, before arriving into the Black Sea.
Poems, novels and pieces of music were born by the inspiration of Danube. For instance The Blue Danube is a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II.

Have a nice day!
With love,
Zsuzsi (Susan)

According to me, one of the most valuable parts of this entertainment is the presentation and purchase of old professions' products and a lot of other communal programs commence to follow this tendency nowadays in Hungary. In almost every festival we find the representatives of past Hungarian professions or trades such as basket makers, milk-loaf bakers, fried dough maker, potter and ironsmith in the artisan's fair. Besides the chance is opened also to try how we can shoot with an arrow in a blocked place or how strong we should to be to bend a piece of hot iron (I think the last one is more attractive for men). The costume of course is indispensible accessories so the whole event becomes more and more interactive. The products made by hand have an increasing number of prices since people pay more attention on our national heritage and authentic useful objects (I think).

Meanwhile do not imagine that every house or flat is equipped with spun baskets or we decorate our windows with embroidered curtain using authentic patterns, of course not. Romantic style or even minimalism can characterize a modern Hungarian house. By the way the last one is gaining more and more popularity nowadays, Hungarian magazines about decoration are full of modern furniture and simple shapes are preferable too.

As far as I am concerned I love the objects authentic, clothes, bijous made of wood which live their renascence in Hungary. I prefer them to kitsch and to those things that we can buy in every corner.

One of the best products of Hungary (I think) is our national music. I show you a link of Youtube where you can hear Béla Bartók's composition, one of my favourites: Evening in the village (or perhaps Evening at the Székelys - tradition word by word.) The Székelys are an ethnical group whose origin is not clarified. They show similarity with Hungarians in national culture, language and traditions but they differ from us in way of life (according to an encyclopaedia). Meanwhile I think that these two groups or nations were ever really closely related. Hungary was ever much larger than now. Transylvania was a part of Hungary (and others regions also) where Hungarians live at present too but under the public administration of Romania. The Székelys' home is found in Transylvania which is a popular destination of Hungarians during the summer or even in winter for skiing. (And at the same time emotional attachments are involved too.)
When I hear the piece of music composed by Bartók I have impressions which create this image before my eyes:
There is a female peasant in apron; her back is curved, sitting on the balcony of her house and peel the skin of peas at sunset. The children played with dogs, but they had to finish the play, they have to sleep now. The father lights and hangs the lantern on an angle which has hammered in the wall years ago, he sits down and the breeze blows off the fume of his pipe while the twilight descend and everything calms down. The walls of house are orange painted by the sun. The noises of neighbourhood disappear. Just a wolf will roar at night but now at evening the silence and tranquillity governs the countryside, the forests and the mountains. For instance this one: (The chasm of Torda)

To answer Elizabeth's comment from Austria I have to admit that I know some singers from Vox Antiqua. What a small world! By the way I sang in a little amateur choir not long ago, but we have finished it for some reasons. But I am fond of music mostly classical and folklore music. I learnt playing on organ but I have no time to practice and I am really beginner. Perhaps you have heard about the Debreceni Kollégium Kántus (Choir of Reformed College in Debrecen) who is a choir having had lot of international concerts, have a huge past, and was founded in 1739. My boyfriend was also a singer when he was a secondary school student and they take a tour with concerts in Scotland which was a great experience for him. The Reformed College and the Reformed Secondary School are closely related, the participants of choir comes from mostly the students of the superior and the secondary institution. The choir visited Canada, USA, Germany, Japan, England, Russia, Denmark, and South-Chorea etc..., during its history. So they have a huge reputation. I have heard them singing last week and it was amazing.

Hopefully, at weekend I can have a great fun since almost every large city's museum in Hungary will open their doors and wait the visitors at the occasion of the Night of Museums. This evening out is accompanied by dance shows, exhibitions, programs for families and a mass of people is in the streets of Debrecen. The essential part of this is that we visit the museums at night, because traditionally the program is hold at the longest summer night. (It reminds me always A Midsummer Night's Dream of Shakespeare).

So thanks for your attention and have a nice day.

Frogs croak and water-lilies float on the surface of water, children run around, they angle for tadpole and undergraduates study their notes of chemist or philology on their blankets.

One of my favourite other places can be find in the area of university, this is the botanical garden. It is more calm than the Lake of Frogs (Békás-tó in Hungarian) and it is full with botanical curiosities. Although I am not really interested in botany, the variety of flowers, plants, trees is pleasant to eyes. In the examination period, a considerable number of students possess the fields but no one disturb others because benches are far from each other. Bushes, pinewood and birch-trees cover the pathways, larks sing and sparrows twitter. It is like a paradise.