Pest in Budapest

Today we went to investigate the Pest part of Budapest.  And what a difference.   We were by now familiar with the bus and metro, the train was full of children and teenagers on school trips, and we also got off the metro five stops earlier.   When we surfaced we saw an entirely different scene.  Calmness greeted us with wide streets lined with grand buildings, less traffic and no Roma people trying to sell underwear.   The station was also cleaner and less busy, and we were not stopped by the guards.   

 So off we went, feeling very relaxed and happy.   Our first stop, Saint Stephen's Basilica (Szent lstvan Bazilika), a truly remarkable church from the outside, and even more spectacular inside the church. The mostly Renaissance church is named after Hungary's first king, whose mummified right hand is kept in the Saint Right Chapel.

 The church has enormous windows so that the church is filled with light.   We were also fortunate to hear a short organ recital, and could have sat on the padded seats for hours, soaking up the atmosphere.    A very welcoming church.

We carried on walking, and entered Szabadsag Square, in which there was a fountain that formed a square, and was dry in the centre.   When you stood by a corner, the water stopped in order to allow you to walk into the centre of the fountain.  And the same happened when you came out again.    Very clever.

 The Soviet monument, also in Szabadsag Square, is apparently the subject of fiery debates.    We wonder that it is still standing.

 The buildings surrounding the square are very grand, 19th century buildings.  The heavily guarded, and fenced, American Embassy is also situated in the square.   I got into trouble by the police guarding the entrance, because I took a photograph, and they made me delete it from my camera.   Spoil sports.

 I could not resist having my photograph taken beside the oversized bronze statue of Ronald Reagan.   Was he really that tall?    Apparently Ronald Reagan, contributed to the fall of communism, mostly for America's benefit, no doubt.

 We are not sure who this man was, but Walter looks good standing beside him, on a bronze bridge.   Very slippery according to Walter, the bridge that is, not the man.

 The view across the river to Buda Castle, and the church.    Were we only there yesterday?

    The neo-Gothic parliament building rivals the Houses of Parliament in London.   Magnificent buildings, and I think the setting will be too, once the renovations have finished.    As well as giving the buildings a good clean up, there is also a huge underground car park being built, and finally the grounds around the building will be landscaped.   We have heard that they had to fill the unfinished car park with water in order to stop the walls caving in, due to the pressure of the current flooding of the River Danube, which runs in front of the parliament building.

We went to a restaurant beside the market, which was only partially opened today.    A very low key lunch, schnitzel for Walter and veal stew and noodles mixed with egg for me.   The beer we drank was very nice.

 Then back to this museum cafe for an expensive coffee plus cake for me.   But what a setting.   We were fascinated by all the art nouveau museum pieces in the cafe.   The museum continued up for two more floors and is a private collection.

 But the museum we concentrated on was the Ethnography Museum, which has an extensive collection of national costumes among the permanent displays on folk life and art in Hungary.

 There was a very interesting display of photographs taken by a German school master in Vemend.    The photographs showed people from a variety of different cultural backgrounds, who lived in Vemend from about 1910 to 1935.    There were Serbs, Croats, Romanians, Jews, Bulgurians, Slovaks, Greeks, Turks and Roma, and they all lived harmoniously.    And the common language was mainly German.  Sadly most of the inhabitants either moved back to their own countries, or were killed, during WWII.

I remember decorating eggs liked this, when I worked at a school in Adelaide.   Looking at them brought back memories.

 We walked back along the side of the river, or at least well back from the edge of the river, due to the extensive flooding.  We wondered why people were walking all over the tram tracks, but of course the tunnel was flooded so no trams were running.

 The park, and the road, were quite a few metres under water.   The River Danube normally flows behind the trees to the right of the photograph.

 We came across a brass band, and stopped to listen to them for a while.

 There was a large book fair, underway, which was the reason for the brass band.    No books in English, unfortunately, as the prices looked very reasonable.

And back home to the camping ground, and our cosy motor home, with the washing still drying on the outside rack.   But still not dry, as there is too much moisture in the air.

Tomorrow we are off to Lake Balaton, where there should be a dryer, according to the blurb in the book.  A big wash ahead of us, I think.