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January 22, 2006
Budapest!
I'm here in Budapest, with the lovely A&N. They have a delightful apartment right in the heart of Old Buda, on what my guidebook refers to as "probably the most attractive street in all of Castle Hill." In fact, my guidebook even specifically references their apartment building number, as several famous Hungarian revolutionaries were held as "prisoners of status" here in the 1840s.
Aside from waking up every morning at 5 a.m., I'm having a blast. The weather was beautiful yesterday, so we did a bit of sightseeing, navigating the public transportation scene with ease (A is a pro at this sort of thing). We had a lovely lunch a new and happening place called Voros es Fehir, where I had a delcious pumpkin soup. Then we were off to Hero's Square and City Park, home of an ice rink, the famous Szechenyi Baths, and the Vajdahunyad Castle, which is really a collection of buildings, each built in a different style (Romanesque, Gothic, Rennaisance, Baroque, etc.). Quite an eclectic place.
After that, we were off to the Terror Museum. The building was used by the Nazi Party in the 1940's and after that became the headquarter of the secret service during the communist era. Today it is a memorial museum of both dictatorships and the victims. While most of the information (and all of the film) was in Hungarian, it was still a powerful place to visit, and VERY well designed.
What struck me most was one of the first rooms, which was divided into two sections, with television screens featuring scenes of the Nazi invasion of Hungary on one side, and the Soviet occupation on the other. It was shocking to see how exactly the same it looked--cheering crowds, benevolent leaders, battalions of soldiers, and pictures of the disenfranchised and persecuted. For two parties with such divergent philosophies, it was hard to tell the differences through film clips alone.
Another feature I found interesting was in the basement, next to the cells preserved from the days when they were used to house (and torture) prisoners. In a long hallway, the museum has posted 3x5 photos of all the people who actively participated in the terrors, along with their birth and death years. I looked at row upon row of these photos, trying to identify some characteristic that set them apart from the pictures of their victims posted in the cells down the hall. I was unsuccessful--in general, both sets of people looked pleasant and capable. Then I noticed that a good portion of the photos indicated that the person portrayed was still alive. It made me how they felt about the museum, and about being publicly identified as a terror perpetrator.
Afterwards, the three of us went to Gerbaud, one of the most famous cafes in town--and also on my list of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. While it was indeed delightful, I'm not sure it qualified to be on the list--I think that Nemrut Dagi would certainly trump a chocolate shop. That's not to say that our treats weren't delicious--I thoroughly enjoyed my hazlenut chocolate torte. Yummm.
After a leisurely break back at the apartment to enjoy some wine and plan our next move, we were off again--this time to Nancsi Neni for a traditional Hungarian meal. Once again, I was delighted with my food, a chicken breast with cheese and baked apple, as well as rice spiked with sweet raisins (which I didn't expect to like at all!).
We timed the bus-trolley-bus perfectly, and arrived back home just in time to enjoy a little more wine and an interesting political discussion. Then it was off to bed to prepare for another day in Budapest.
Of course, with dreary weather and a slow start, we didn't actually make it out of the house today. We decided that it was completely acceptable to "rest" on Sunday and that we would explore with renewed vigor starting tomorrow--assuming of course that the snow, which started this evening, doesn't strand us inside for the next few days. It's been known to happen, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Comments
Glad to hear you've arrived safely and are having a smashing time.
Knowing how much you enjoyed LaBute's Fat Pig, I wanted to direct your attention to two articles in today's Post: one titled "Her Big Break" and one titled "The Playwright: Enjoying People at their Worst." Thought you may want to check them out....
Have a wonderful time playing in the snow, while we don our sunglasses in late January...bizzare.
Take care!
-ada (rather than continuing to battle the Alcoholics Anonymous acronym that my first and last initials resemble, I've decided to insert my middle initial from now on...)
Posted by: Anonymous at January 22, 2006 02:08 PM
Nice writing!
Posted by: Coco at January 25, 2006 09:26 AM
