The experiences
I arrived in Budapest
after a very long train ride with a Canadian (wearing a Batman tank top to whom
I asked "Batman Saturday?" explaining that one of the Shauns I worked
with in the US did Batman Fridays--Nevermind it was actually Sunday) and a
couple Croatian women. One of them was so excited she was speaking English with
us she was calling her mom and teacher to tell them. She was doing so well we
were pretty surprised she didn't speak English more often.
Happy to leave Croatia
and the memory of bed bugs behind I settled into a bunk with a curtain (like
old school train berths). I slept long and hard and the next day it was after
noon when I actually woke. I spent the afternoon planning what to do in Budapest and
discovered that there was WAY too much to do and see. I planned some marathon
days at a place called the Hummus Bar down the block. Great falafel and
lemonade. Then I was feeling a bit homesick so I went to an art house type
theater a few blocks away to see Serena. Wow, that's a messed up movie that
certainly did the trick.
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| Don't forget the baclava |
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| Very cool old theater |
Knowing how much longer
I had with my pack and how much it weighs I did another paring down. This also
may have been a result of reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying-Up. I mailed
another package home and set out to do the walks in Rick Steves' book. I
visited Parliament and had lunch (salami and paprika cottage cheese sandwich
and a delicious coconut iced coffee) before seeing the holocaust monument Shoes on the Danube.
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| They even put a little flower in it! |
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| Shoes on the Danube |
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| View of Parliament from across the river |
After feeling the
blazing sun I cut out to get a hop-on-hop-off bus ticket. These can be great if
you want a city overview and to hit the major points. I loved the one I did in
Capetown. I didn't love the one I did a couple years back in London and this
one was about on par with that. Not much info, not very convenient stops but at
least I was safely inside a bus when the rain and hail poured down. The ticket
did come with a cruise on the Danube and a night panorama tour when all the
buildings are lit so it was overall a good use of money. Budapest
is second to Paris in good lighting so I was looking forward to the night drive.
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| Parliament at night |
The next day I visited
the Central Market where I saw just how much paprika a country can produce.
They have many varieties and frequently use a sweeter paprika in Hungarian
dishes. I really went to try Langos for lunch. It looks like a pizza but it
doesn't really taste that way. It's more like Native American fry bread with
sour cream, cheese and Hungarian Salami (spicy paprika added). They can load
these up with everything and anything. I took a picture of dessert versions but
one guy I was eating with (from outside Chicago) had literally everything on
it. Mine felt like an episode of Man vs. Food so I gave up before finishing but
he was still chugging along slow and steady when I left. Another guy at the
table was a film professor at Penn State (he actually did a year of his Theater
MFA in Madison) and brings students to eastern/central Europe every year.
Something I learned on the bus tour is that a lot of movies are shot in
Budapest. The cityscape can easily look like another European city, they have
the skills and it's cheap.
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| My Langos lunch |
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| Dessert Langos |
Belly full, I crossed
the Danube to visit old Buda (most things are on the Pest side of the river). I
really only wanted to see St. Matthias' Church since I'd heard great things
about it. I was not disappointed. The beauty of this site and the Fisherman's
Bastion just outside is self-evident.
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| Another attempted panorama |
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| One of the seven towers of Fisherman's Bastion |
I also wanted to visit
the Faust Wine Cellar (in the former monastery, now basement of the Hilton) but
it was closed. So I still haven't tried Hungarian wine which is apparently
excellent. Back on the Pest side I found a local chain of buffet type
restaurants to go to, the wine there was good but came from a box so I'm not
sure if it was local... As usual the singles get a seat at the bar and I spent
most of the night talking with Marco from Milan who comes to Budapest twice a
year on business. He was a pretty funny guy and could tell I really didn't care
for his city. He said that it could easily not be amazing if you aren't in the
right area or surrounded by the right people. Very true.
My last day I packed in
everything I missed. I started the morning at the Szechenyi Baths which was
just crazy relaxing. I loved the one pool with herbs that smelled of mint and
watching the older men sit around and play chess. I even caught a bunch of
people start a whirlpool like my brother and cousins used to do. After I had
enough sitting, I wandered around City Park, visited the Soviet Memorial, found
the most beautiful McDonald's in Europe (not kidding--it's on TripAdvisor),
visited the Dohany Synagogue (restoration funded in part by Tony Curtis who was
born in Budapest) and the Tree of life, toured the Opera house and got coffee,
walnut cake and palinka (special brandy) at the Book Cafe, a hidden gem in a Barnes and Noble type bookstore.
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| Outdoor pools at the Szechenyi Baths |
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| McDonald's |
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| Dohany Synagogue |
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| Tree of Life--each leaf has the family name of someone who died in the Jewish Ghettos of Budapest |
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| Their bodies were brought to the synagogue after liberation and buried here just outside. |
Of all that, the Opera
tour was my favorite. The guide was very funny and it was very educational
about society in the days of its construction. To separate the upper class from
the aristocracy the entire third floor is only accessible from side entrances
so the aristocracy wouldn't have to get close to the bourgeoisie. There are mirrors
everywhere so everyone could see what was going on since turning your head was
apparently bad manners. When the Hapsburgs gave Budapest some of the funding
for the opera it wasn't enough so they decided to only use Hungarian labor and
materials (just a few exceptions like Italian marble) to make ends meet.
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| Smoking corridor |
One stipulation was it
couldn't be bigger than the one in Vienna (seat of the Hapsburg throne). On
seeing its completion though Franz Joseph only visited once because it was
smaller but far more beautiful than Vienna's (having seen both, I completely
agree). The emperor's box usually sat empty and today 4 government officials
have the privilege of using it. One exception: Madonna when they filmed Evita.
Speaking of movies, what's going on outside the opera house with all the
cameras and such? They're filming Dan Brown's Inferno. No celebrity
sighting, but I think this is also what was being filmed when I was in Florence
(getting some B roll footage of the real art and Dante's hometown--is that what it's about?). And Courtney tells me I just missed Ron Howard
going to Budapest. I should probably read this book, the Canadians in my
room here in Vienna tell me it's good.
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| "Don't Cry for me Argentina" |
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| No Tom Hanks :( |
So it was a crazy few
days in Budapest and I highly recommend the city to everyone, it's perfect in
so many ways.
On to Vienna where
music, art and history dominate. Vienna was the seat of the Hapsburg and Roman
empire for centuries. I wandered the winter and summer homes of the Hapsburg
family. I saw all their portraits five times over, where Mozart played his
first concert, I played in the labyrinths with all the kids. I went to the
opera house for a performance of Don Giovanni. I also had an incredible urge to watch Amadeus.
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| The summer home--Schloss Schoenbrunn |
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| One of the labyrinths in the back yard. |
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| The enormous grounds start--if you can see far enough you'll see an enormous fountain. |
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| The winter home |
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| Bear with Rifle |
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| Roman section of the Art History museum, it just goes on forever |
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| Opera House: When someone said "It looks like a subway terminal" the architect committed suicide. That seemed to happen a lot in those days. |
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| Bar on the second level of the Vienna Opera House |
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| These roses at the summer schloss were gorgeous |
I even visited and rode
the world's oldest functioning Ferris Wheel. I went to see a fabulous old film,
The Third Man, which stars said ferris wheel and others like Orson Welles and
Joseph Cotton. I never would have known this film if Veronica hadn't yelled at
me to add it to the Lakeside lineup many years ago--Thank you Veronica. We
didn’t end up showing it but it is fabulous and BFI voted it best British film of the 20th
century. I will
say it's also a lot more funny when there are German speakers in the audience.
They show the movie about three times a week in Vienna. It's pretty great and I
highly recommend you see it.
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| Oldest still functioning Ferris Wheel |
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| VERY cool display cases of the wheel over time. |
Among my exploits in
Vienna...sweets are very sweet here. I had a lovely lunch at Cafe Demel, some
amazing nudel chicken cheese casserole. Then of course a Melange and SachreTorte. I also stopped by Landtmann's for a Melange, Apfel Strudel and some very
amazing vanilla eis.
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| The case at Demel's |
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| My struedel before the ice cream and coffee arrived. It looks lonely right? |
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| I might have tried all of the flavors of Magnum bars by now since that's the only option really and just now I've seen that they stamp an M on every bar. They were meant for me. |
And now thank goodness I
am caught up on things like planning what to see next in Krakow and Prague,
suggestions still welcome. All the pictures are uploaded and soon to be labeled with
captions and geotags (do we still use this term?). And now you all know what I've
been up to.
The lessons
- In large cities with good public transportation don't
go for the city sightseeing bus (unless you need an overview and can't get
it via podcast or tripadvisor) just get a transit pass for your time.
Budapest and Vienna's transit systems are amazing and if you know what you
want to see you'll have no trouble getting there and much quicker than
with the sightseeing buses.
- After visiting all of the Hapsburg homes and art
collections, I think I'm good on the old art and homes front for a while.
I'll be admiring castles and art museums from afar for at least the next
week.
Interesting
- I love speaking German!!!!! Thank you Frau, where ever
you are...
- My first realization that I can actually speak is when
the waitress asked "mit schlagsahne oder ohne?" The answer is
always "mit"
- translation: "with whipped cream or without" "with"
- I still cannot remember the word for Check
- I don't love the Sachre Torte.
- I can't believe Starbucks is here when it really goes
against everything Vienna stands for.
- I know two Hungarians (Janos and Ferenc) and their
names are everywhere in Budapest!!!
- Ferenc
- Janos
- American presidents seem to be everywhere too
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| Washington in City Park, Budapest |
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| Reagan at the Soviet Memorial in Budapest |
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| JFK just off St. Stephensplatz in Vienna |
