Keszthely Beach!

We went to the nearest beach in Keszthely a few times. We went swimming there twice. I had known that there was a free beach, but it was farther away and because it was mostly hot there, we didn't really feel like walking all the way there. 

The first time we went to the beach, we were just looking around. To my delight, I found so many swans and ducks roaming freely in the shallow water. Here are a few pics outside the beach area (to get inside, you have to pay 920 HUF/person or € 3.4 if I remember correctly):

A pic of us with the swans and ducks:

Another view of the lake from the other side of the walkway:

This is the walkway...

This is the duck food machine:

Feeding the swans and ducks on a different day he he...'coz I just HAD to try the machine HA HA HA HA HA HA...

 
At the end of the walkway there is this cafe, but we never ate anything there. The end of this walkway is also used for tourists' boats.

Here's one example of the tourist boat and no, we didn't ride on it 'coz we had no time (this kind of boat leaves a few times a day and sometimes for certain boats, they only leave during the evening before sunset):

Here's a video clip of the area outside the beach. Over at the back there is a stage for performers and a few days before St. Stephen's Day on August 20th, there were lots of food and wine stalls as well as a stage for bands. There is also a shady park in the area.


Here's another video of the swans and ducks fighting for food!!! 


Balaton lake is really safe for kids because of the shallowness. One has to walk SOOOO far away from the beach to be able to reach more depth. One funny incident happened the first time we went to the beach. Even though there was a tourist info office right next to the beach pay booths, but because we had been there once before and the young men spoke more German than English, I was reluctant to go there and ask again.

The beach pay booths were manned by two older women who obviously didn't speak English. I just raised 2 fingers to pay for our tickets but then after we got in, I realized that I wanted to hire a locker so that we could both swim together without worrying about our money or mobile phones, so we went back to the pay booth and I said to her, "Locker?"

She stared at me with a blank look on her face. I resorted to using body language. I made a box in the air with two hands, then I pretended to put a key in the middle of the box with one hand and then turn the key around. She got it right away!

She gave me a receipt for that and then wrote "18.30" (had to pay 1,300 HUF for that or around €4,8 - a sum that I thought was rather hefty for a key!) and she said some Hungarian words and then she held up a 1,000 forint bill while pointing towards the "18.30" again. I just assumed that if we didn't return the key after 18.30, that meant we would have to pay 1,000 HUF more, but I knew that we wouldn't be staying that long anyway, so we went in and put our important stuff in the locker after paying for two sun chairs.

That first swimming day wasn't as hot as the second one. The temperature was 23'C and the water temperature was 22'C. The second time we went swimming there, the temperature was 33'C whereas the water temperature was 30'C.

Here's the view of inside the beach. Apparently after 6 pm, they opened all the doors so that people could get inside for free (but then most of the people stopped swimming at 6 pm or at the latest at 6.30 pm anyway).

A short video clip of the beach area. Lots of food stalls and beach bars and there was also a small swimming pool somewhere in the area, farther away from where we were sunbathing.


When we returned the locker key, the woman checked the key number in the receipt book and then she returned the 1,000 HUF to me. Ohhhhhh!!! So renting the locker didn't cost THAT much after all, but probably they kept the 1,000 HUF just in case we didn't return the key on time or something.

Here are some more photos in the beach area, just to show you different angles and how shallow the water really is...the first pic is just sunbathing pic hi hi...and we'd always hide under the shade once we got too hot (the second swimming day, though, it was too hot to sunbathe directly under the sun, so we put our sun chairs in the shade). THANK GOD for the shady trees!!! :-D

To be continueddddd...

3BT: Random Days

1. The roses aren't dead! I could see some green buds since yesterday. I cut a few dead branches (that had dead leaves on them) but left all the others alone. We'll see how they grow! Blur Ting, THANKS for your advice!

2. MIL bought some raffle tickets for us all (herself, her hubby, me, R2, R2's elder brother and girlfriend) on some occasion and R2 and I won something HA HA HA HA...Coffee and a set of salt-and-pepper shakers.

3. I saw a hare outside MIL's place - too bad it was too swift for me to take a pic of it, but still it made my day! :-D

4. Heaters!!! After 7 days of "early summer" (temp. 20-28'C), spring days came back with COLD mornings and showers that made us have to turn on our heaters again. Ah...thank GOD for heaters!

5. A boy said to a girl (they are VERY good playmates at the daycare): "You're my girlfriend" and they told us about it HI HI HI HI...SO cute!!!

6. Seeing buds growing in the garden patch.

7. When on the way home from MIL's house, we stopped by next to a vast field 'coz there were swans fighting. I could only take these pics from afar (too late to capture the heated battle between two swans - they were flapping their wings while standing upright on the grass):

First pic: Click to view a bigger version. Notice the swan flying away on the right side of the pic and yes, those are reindeer at the back! These two swans who stayed on the ground managed to win (I suppose). There were at least two contenders (unfortunately I only captured one of them in the pic) 'coz it all happened too quickly.


Another one - sorry for the lack of sharpness - it was hard to get a good pic when I had to be quick and I couldn't come closer - at least the zoom helped 'coz with my old camera, I wouldn't have been able to get this pic.


8. I'm ordering a used Wii CD and I'm going to order another one 'coz we need more game varieties for our exercise day on Wednesdays (and 'coz I've found a cheap one that I think might be suitable for us). :-D

9. Having a garden to work on (a pic of us raking the dead leaves last Saturday):


10. Receiving a HUGE sack of soil, compost, and 6 pansy plants from my MIL.

11. I accidentally cut R2's hair the wrong way - but he wasn't angry. Instead he just told me to cut it all off he he he...THANK GOD for a patient hubby!

12. Playing as a horse (a standing one) and having two kids ride on my back - one at a time, of course. It was FUN and they didn't want me to stop HA HA HA...oh dear...