Fun: Weekend Report

We just pulled in on the train from a weekend in Budapest--lots of art, architecture, and walking. We found a three day winter special rate at a small hotel in a good location close to the Great Market Hall and the Szabadsag hid (bridge). You can tell that winter is a slow season, and, likely, especially slow during this economic situation. You couldn't tell times were slow in the Market Hall on Saturday morning though--big crowds shopping for vegetables, meats, cheeses, and breads.

Art is always at the top of the list for us when we visit a city, so we spent a lot of time at the wonderful Hungarian National Gallery (Nemzeti Galeria). As the guide book says, "with a collection of 10,000 art objects, this museum is not for the cultural faint of heart". It's enormous, and so interesting because these are not works of art we've seen before, and yet, they are familiar in style with other European works that we have seen. It's all new...to us.

In addition, the collection is in Buda Palace, on the top of Castle Hill overlooking the Danube River, and the many bridges crossing it. We happened into a complete retrospective exhibition of Vajda Lajos, a famous Hungarian artist. We went through that exhibit first, and then were totally amazed by the galleries upon galleries still to go. We'll return next time and visit some areas we only viewed for a short time, or not at all. We strolled around on Castle Hill, and looked at the view of the Danube and Pest from the Fisherman's Bastion, but didn't go into St. Matyas Church. Next trip, I want to see that again, with the amazing painted and decorated interiors.

Beyond art, we did transportation pretty well. We crossed two of the famous bridges over the Danube on foot, went up to Palace Hill on the funicular (siklo), managed the Metro without being kicked off or fined for incorrect ticket behavior (!), and narrowly escaped being mashed flat by a speeding yellow tram. The train trip to and from Eger was uneventful and inexpensive, but did include some unexplained (to us) stops.

In sightseeing, we admired the gilt and glitter of the sacred and the profane (respectively) St. Istvan Cathedral and the Four Seasons Hotel lobby (also known as Gresham Palace). We took a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter, with most sights gone now, or being redeveloped. The Holocaust Memorial remembers the 600,000 Hungarian Jews who died during those years. We walked into the Opera House lobby, but didn't attend the program that was in progress.

Our hotel included breakfast in the fixed three day cost, so we didn't have to find lunch, although there are many inviting restaurants and kavehaz (coffeehouses). We didn't eat 'Hungarian'--instead went to a tapas bar one night, and an Italian restaurant another. Both had Hungarian flavor, however, and were interesting urban choices. For really Hungarian food, we managed to find out about, and go to, a local festival--the Mangalica pig festival!

The festival was held in the Varosliget (City Park) near the Szechenyi Baths, and was quite crowded with crafts, music, food, beer, wine, and palinka. There was even a live Mangalica piglet being strolled around in a cart full of straw, although we could never get close enough to see the hairy little creature. The Mangalica is a Hungarian breed of pig that almost went extinct during the Communist era due to lack of suitability for mass production--it's now coming back as a healthy meat, and source of national agricultural pride. They were serving the pork in all kinds of ways from sausage to roast to stuffed cabbage, and more.

The weather was very good on the weekend, with temperatures getting up in the 40's, and blue sky even coming through at some times. We did have some rain, and we saw a few snowflakes this morning as we walked to the train station. There was some snow on the ground near Budapest, but by the time we got close to Eger, no more.

We went through our emails to make sure we don't miss anything we're supposed to be doing tomorrow. They are taking it easy on us...or they don't quite know what to do with us. The American Studies folks (all English-speaking) are interested in Jack's contribution, but nothing concrete has yet been set up. My 'debut' will be Thursday, my first seminar on online teaching. I've got to work on that so they'll think I've got my act together, at least for the first week! I woke up early this morning with the structure of the seminar series in my head--I guess I've been working on it in my sleep. I had a pad of paper nearby, jotted some notes, and will work on fleshing it out tomorrow when I spend my first full day in the office.

I think we're going to start going to a survival Hungarian class next week--they hold it for the international students. All in all, however, I think we're doing pretty good with the phrasebook and kindness of strangers (and English-speakers!).

At the Mangalica Festival...hungry after waiting in a long line!