Last year Kata was not in town when the Égerszög Opera Festival took place, but this year she was lucky enough to have time off for this grand show. We went early in the afternoon so that Kata's granddaughter Lili could also be there for the puppet show performed by Mária Herczeg. Miki the Squirrel's Practical Jokes. The performance was well done, and it was a nice touch that some of the kids were also invited on stage to handle some puppets in another short production. Misi Mokus gave each child in the audience a kiss before they left.

The puppet show was followed by a children's folk dance taught by Gábor Nyíri and the Csender Folk Band. It was nice to hear some of our favourite Csángó tunes, but teaching of the steps and the tempo of the music was far too quick for the children. The adults also had their turn to learn a Szatmári csárdás. Unfortunately, while we learned the steps together in a circle, we never broke into pairs to put them into practice. The music lasted for a couple hours last year, but the programme was extremely short this year. It was still early, so we had plenty of time to sample the yummy krumpli langos with homemade plum jam and down a couple beers before making our way to the old Calvinist church (1791) for the opera concert. We also sampled some of (3763 Bódvaszilas, Szabadság út 36, kosikj@freemail.hu). We were particularly impressed by what they called forest honey, but others call honeydew honey. It is the only honey not made from flower pollen, but instead from the sap-like excretions of aphids. 

The show was opened, as it was last year, by the PERLA String Quartet. They played popular classical music, which while sweet, has the habit of putting me to sleep. The quartet played...

Baritone András Hábetler again took on the role of master of ceremonies, to which I think he is very well suited. András kept us entertained with stories, jokes and showman's patter introducing the back story to the arias and duets. He seems to have led an interesting life already - first achieving success as a water polo player, then earning a medical degree before moving on to opera and landing roles as Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) and Papageno (The Magic Flute). Star tenor was joined onstage with his soprano wife  for the opening duet before they performed a series of arias. András also gave a stirring rendition of Frigyes Karinthy's poem "Nem Mondhatom El Senkinek." The Hungarian National Opera House's conductor László Bartal accompanied the singers on piano. The whole feel of the evening is as if you are sitting in your own living room. The small church accommodates about 100 people, and the singers perform and interact amongst the audience like a theatre-in-the-round. While András would be mischievous and "borrow" an audience member's phone to help him make his video, Rita came up close and gave playful smoky looks to some of the male audience members. Gergely simply closed his eyes and let rip at full volume.

The opera programme included the following pieces:

Puccini - Tosca - E lucevan le stelle
Erkel - Bánk bán - Hazám, hazám
Gounod - Romeo et Juliette - Romeo cavatina
Puccini -La Boheme - Musetta
Mozart - Figaro házassága - Zerlina Figaro duett
Mozart - Figaro házassága - Suzanna

The whole thing is annually organised with great passion and dedication by Gyuri and Marika Tóth and the Éger Ág Foundation. Even though I am not a fan of either opera or classical music, I am very happy to have learned about this event and plan on making it an annual pilgrimage. It is simply a joy to be in the presence of positive, forward thinking people and to enjoy a professional and fun show.                                                            

After the concert we went back to the courtyard of the local museum and had a couple drinks. Our granddaughter Lili and my boss' daughter Emese decided to open a play shop. Emese had bought some candy for 350 HUF and sold it to Jeroen for 500 HUF. Unfortunately for Emese, Jeroen did not realise it was all in play, and having paid for his candy, he walked off and ate half of it before Emese's thought processes caught up with her stricken expression and ran after him for her candy back. She gave back all 500 HUF for the remaining candy. Another satisfied customer! Lennard had also donated his car keys for the entrepreneurs to sell - luckily those were not sold.

Jeroen and Lennard came back with us because we had joint plans the following morning to help our ailing neighbour and friend Jolanka. The next morning we went over to surprise Jolankanéni and weed her garden and cut her grass for her. She was not expecting us, or the help, and we were pleased she accepted our assistance.

From there we visited Simon, Dori and little Emma in Szögliget where they were kind enough to let us pick a bucket of cherries (3kg) from their last unpicked tree.