BUDAPEST HUNGARY

We are back! Our week in Budapest is over and we expect to leave for the US on Sunday. My mom is not doing too well and so we want to be there to help out and to try to make her more comfortable at home if possible.
So in the midst of all the packing and cleaning and planning, I am posting my pictures on flickr, but had little chance to write. So we have a guest writer today. Thanks, Steve!!

Yeah, you have seen me, I am clearly not hungry, so I must really mean Hungary. That is where we visited as a tune up for our travels to the US. When we got back home, Fran’s mom was not doing well, so we changed flights to allow us to see her as soon as possible, and I am trying to write this during the three day interval we have to do laundry, say good bye to friends, and steel ourselves for the ordeals we will be facing all too soon. So this will just be sort of a collection of snapshots of our six nights in Budapest.

We stayed aboard the Hotel Botel Lisa, located on a backwater sort of canal, that may have been dug for barge traffic to and from heavy industry along its shores, which connects at both ends with the Danube, or the Duna, as it is called in Magyar. I know it is hard to imagine such a setting being bucolic, but it is even harder to imagine having seen it. I know I can not imagine it. There were fisherman on either side of the old boat, as well as across the canal. We never saw them catch anything, which is probably good, because eating fish from that brown muck could not be healthy. The community this was in was named Csepel, which we quickly changed to Cesspool. The advertised swimming pool did not exist, nor did the mini bar, nor the free water in the room, and we had to fight to get our shuttle into town, which meant the owner, a friend, or twice a taxi was called to take us to a public transportation point. They did, however, have a fairly decent restaurant, with a view of the muck, I must say that for them. Also, on the first morning we were there, when we had our tour appointment, the owner was afraid we would be late, and so went with us and helped us find our contact area.

Let me be positive. There were some truly wonderful experiences. First of all, there was Csaba, who was our tour guide on Segways, those little two wheel gyroscopes that go where you lean. A wonderful three hour tour on really fun machines. Csaba (sounds like Jaba, as in Jaba the Hut, or is that Jabba the Hutt) spoke marvelous English, answered our questions, was patient with our learning curve, and truly looked out for our safety whenever we had to take the Segways onto the road. Indeed, the first time I have seen a young tour guide take the safety of the tourists as a top priority. A great young man!!

Without knowing we were booking a tour with the same company, we decided to go on a tour of Statue Park. Statue Park is where they took all the massive statues from the Soviet era, rather than breaking them up in the streets. It was wonderful seeing several tons of Lenin pointing the way to the future, and of a soldier shaking hands with a worker, with his other hand in a fist. Bea (Beh), our guide, who had grown up in the Soviet era, told stories of the time, and made the park come to life.

Those two tours were arranged by Ben at Yellow Zebra. If you ever go to Budapest, look up Ben at Yellow Zebra tours. He is far better at setting up interesting things to do than anyone else that has been in the business in all the traveling we have done. Bravo for him and for his staff. If you need his number, get in touch with us.

The public baths in Budapest are amazing. We went to the largest, in the park called City Park near Hero’s Square, and had a wonderful half day soaking up the hot water, and going into and out of the pool with several types of hydro massage. I think there may be nothing funnier than to see little old ladies vie for their spots just before the underwater bubblers at the bottom of the pool come on, and then watch them smile and sway with their eyes closed, as the bubbles come up under them. At least I do not think they were simply reacting to the Hungarian Diet. Hero’s Square was also impressive, as was a wine fest they were having there, although I found the Hungarian wines to be a bit resiny for my taste.

On the Buda side, we visited an overlook at the top of Castle Hill, and went along the outside of St Mathias Church, not wanting to help the Catholic Church with a donation. Wonderful views. Back in Pest, we visited St. Stevan’s Basilica, named after the same person I was named after, although originally and in Magyar, it was St Istvan. If ever I change my name, I may become Istvan, just for fun. At least people will not assume they know how to spell it!!

And then there was our wandering around. The city market was wonderful, with sausages and cheeses and wines and fruits and vegetables and LOTS of peprika and peppers on the ground floor, and handicrafts and beer on the second floor. Wandering down streets, finding bookstores with English titles (including inexpensive paperback editions that Amazon and Barnes and Noble said were not yet available, but would be published soon at higher prices), and seeing the people. We took trolley’s everywhere, sometimes just to see where they went. We explored and utilized the metro system. It was a great time.

The most touching picture I keep in my mind was when we got lost making our way back to Cesspool. We had gotten on the wrong train, and there was only one old man on the streets, and we asked him if he spoke English, or Italian, or Spanish, or French. He apologized, and said that he was stupid, because of the Russians, because he only knew Magyar and Russian. He made us understand that much, then he took us to a shop that looked closed, but was open, and stayed with us as the people told us to get a taxi to where we needed to go, and told us where to go for the taxi. We thanked him, and he was proud to have helped.

Perhaps that is the story of Budapest. The young, those who grew up but were just coming of age when the Communists left, are full of hope, full of energy, and full of pride in their country. The older generation seem to have been beaten down, perhaps they feel stupid, and they know more clearly what was wrong in their country, and they are not happy about that part of their history, but they try, they try desperately, to be a part of a better future.

Hoping that your futures are better as well,

S

BOUGAINVILLEA TIME

I am slowly beginning to understand the flower seasons here. After the showy leaves of the acanthus flowers have died back, it is time for the yearly show of cascading Bougainvillea. This papery flower has a long season and blooms even in draught. Last summer mine died back because of a white microscopic growth that locals call “mal di bianco” (the white bad) but after I treated it with soap and water rinses, it bounced right back and produced well in the fall. Then this year, I cut it way back. I want to add a coral color and a red to my current fuchsia colored one in the center of the front garden.
After yesterday’s cold and rain, the likes of which we hadn’t seen since early April, we had a clear partly cloudy day today, and we took a ride to photograph my favorite bougainvillea bushes. We also found fields of artichokes that had not been picked and that had turned into fields of large purple flower dancing in the sunlight. While on out ride, we thought we’d look for the new tourist hotel for 1,500 people that opened in our area near Selinunte. The place is tucked into a hillside and I wonder how close to the Mediterranean the tourist agents say the place was. It does have a nice pool, but unless you have a top floor room, it is tough to see the sea from there.
Ignatzia and Paolo baked bread this morning so on our way back we went over there and we picked up pranzo. Hot bread and spreads, cheese and fresh tomatoes, basil and oil is great. We also checked on the progress of the helicopter pad that is being constructed across the bay to accommodate former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, who will be visiting our area for a wedding in mid June. Looks like exciting times for us here in Baia Renella!