Budapest

Our students are gone! All have flown home, save two who are traveling on their own in Europe, but no longer our responsibility. So we have flown the coup! Or at least flown from Malta on an evening flight to Budapest.

We arrived Monday evening around 9:30 p.m. so we didn't really see much in the dark on the way to our hotel. The hotel itself shows residual effects of the Soviet era (at least the carpet dates back that far), but it's clean, the price is very reasonable and the breakfast is pretty good.

In fact, prices for many things are quite low. It's a bit difficult to realize, since the Hungarian Florin runs about 300 to the Euro. So buying an excellent meal with a glass of wine for 3600 HUF sounds extravagant, it's really only $13.17 (or €11.60 in the currency we've grown used to).

Today we set out from the hotel about 8:30 a.m. The city was remarkably quiet and sleepy at that hour. The pedestrian mall, Vaci Utca, was remarkably empty. We sort of meandered our way toward Saint Istvan's Basilica, a late 19th century neo-Renaisance structure, which was likewise uncrowded.

The 18th and 19th century buidlings that make up the city's center are remarkably ornate. Even the most mundane apartment building has touches of baroque stonework if one simply looks up. Sculptured cupids or other figures guard doorways all over town.

Parks, plazas, and other green spaces are abundant, and we realized how long it has been since we walked on grass (Malta doesn't have much of that). Something else foreign to Malta is the rushing Danube River, dividing Buda from Pest (though they are linked with several grand bridges.

We visited Szabadsag Ter (AKA "Liberty Square") where we walked past the U.S. Embassy, saw a bronze statue of Ronald Reagan (why?), and saw a memorial to the Soviet troops who liberated Hungary from the Nazis (not all Hungarians are happy about that one, as the protest banners attest.)

We continued on to Kossuth Ter, which is just outside the grand Parliament House. Who knew that Kossuth County, Iowa was named for a Hungarian freedom fighter of the 1840s? We walked on and crossed the bridge to Margit Island, which was crawling with kids on field trips (from pre-school through high school) where we sat awhile and watch a fountain splash. We noted that the previous day's work of getting students sent off and flat tidied had left us with little energy.

After a bit of liquid refreshment at a sidewalk cafe, we went back to Parliament House for the 1 p.m. tour for which we had booked tickets. 

The opulent guilded chambers were testimony to Hungary's golden age during the Habsberg dynasty in the 19th century. Modern Hungary is a considerably smaller and less wealthy member of the European Union, yet cherishes its 1000 year history of nationhood and occasional empire.

After the Parliament tour we walked along the Danube, stopping briefly at the poignant memorial to. Jews killed by Nazi-sympathizers in 1944 (just bronze castings of shoes on the riverbank), and at the esquisite Gresham building, now restored as a five-star hotel. We also noted how the river cruise companies (Viking, Grand Circle, etc.) dock their boats and release hundreds and hundreds of American tourists a day in this city.

Finally, we visited the Great Market Hall, another 19th century marvel housing stalls where locals and tourists can buy fresh vegetables, spices, meats and sausages, Hungarian wines and handicrafts, and of course, tourist t-shirts. We stopped for a cheesy Hungarian pastry.

On the way back to the hotel along Vaci Utca we stopped for yet another liquid refreshment at another sidewalk cafe. This was a less pleasant experience, in the end, due to an arguement with a waiter who cheated us on the bill. That was immediately followed by another negative experience of getting lost.

But in the end we found our way, made note of some sites to which we will return later, and after a respite at the hotel, enjoyed an excellent (and very reasonably priced) traditional Hungarian meal. My phone's fitness app says we walked 10 miles today, and we're feeling it. We shall sleep well.