This means it takes us at least an extra hour each morning to determine what combination of bus, tram and metro will get us to the destinations of the day. This is the time we would have spent organizing photos and posting to our blog. The bakery and small grocery are "just around the corner" according to our hosts, but actually require complex counter-intuitive turns on many curving streets; we took over half an hour and got lost getting there, AND returning home, ending up on Bimbo street both times. ( Amsterdam had a simpler city plan and we walked nearly everywhere.) That was on Monday. We rarely ask directions as few people speak English and we cant figure out how to ask where, "Ujilipotvaros" or Szigetbecse" street is.
By Friday we pretty much figured out how to get around, so it must be almost time to move on.
But first about beautiful Budapest. Our first visit was to Castle Hill.
and the next was to the huge Jewish Temple that looks a lot like a Catholic church (they were trying to assimilate.)
There's a really moving Holocaust memorial in back with sculptures that beautifully commemorate those who died in the WWII Budapest ghettos and those who never came home from the concentration camps.
We've seen many, by which I mean many, interesting museums, mostly Hungarian or German artists I hadn't heard of, like Victor Vaserely (of 60/70s Op-Art fame, Paul loved this one)
and Ferdinand Hodler; but I guess that's why they say travel is so darned broadening. There are an amazing number of small and large museums dedicated to a specific artist. In Szentendre there are a number and at least two we found in Obuda.
There is a modern development, the Millenium Center, of which, the Palace of Arts and the Concert Hall are the main cultural attractions.
A high point was the Ludwig collection at the Palace of Art (beautiful large spacious galleries) at Budapest's very modern Millenium Cultural Center, right on the Danube. Old Ludwig really appreciated Modern Art... only two Picassos and a smattering of Impressionists, but a David Hockney I could actually cry for it's so perfect, and lots of other great art, much of it from the 1960's. Paul enjoyed a temporary exhibit of Keith Haring, but I didn't really go for his stuff, in the same way I didn't "get" Phillip Guston at SF MOMA a few years ago. If we were here longer, we'd get tickets to the Opera, or the Concert Hall, or a dance concert; but we haven't figured all that our yet. Enough about the arts...
When one considers the Soviets "liberated" Budapest from the Nazis and have just slunk off less than 20 years ago, Budapest has done so much. There are amazing clean beautiful old glorious buildings, there are huge expensive modern buildings, there are dirty beautiful old glorious buildings, and there are dirty old ugly buildings.
Mostly, though, we are amazed what they have done to beautify a majestic old European capital. Many of the cleaned up or new buildings are majestically lighted and stunning in the full sense of that word. We would never waste so much electricity in California, but do appreciate the effect here. There's demolition and construction everywhere, yet it seems there's so much left to do. Paul continues to photograph faded beauties, most of them with incredible art deco and the Hungarian variant Secessionist (which we have no idea how to differentiate) detail or statue adornments that one hardly notices due to the years of smog and dirt.
They definitely display a pleasant sense of humor
,this is sinking columns in front of the National Theatre. we were told the Theatre was intended to look like a (Paul thinks he heard) sinking ship, (Danice thought she heard) ship.
There is good food too. Our hosts directed us to Donatella's Kitchen for a delicious thin-crust Pizza, Caprese salad, and a decent gnocchi; we felt great in the Art Deco interior of Spinoza's Kafehas (coffee house)
for dishes like Pumpkin Soup, Matzo Ball soup with goose broth, Hungarian Goulash, and the Hungarian version of Cassolet with Goose leg and beans. One night at a neighborhood tavern in the Pest area we ordered Pork Knuckle for two, with spaetzle, sauerkraut, sausage and potato croquettes. It was enough for four and we were surprised and pleased when the nice waitress packed it up for us to bring home for the next evening's dinner as well.
We love it all and feel so fortunate to be here - qualified for senior rates at the museums, yet still healthy enough to tromp around in our tourist outfits. Danice wonders whether the young women in spike heels envy her hiking boots; it probably varies with how far they've already walked that day. We're talking serious cobblestones.
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