Budapest …. the last days!
Just mostly knocked around the last two days of our stay here. Absorbing the district near parliament and returning to Buda for the National Gallery.
Parliament was closed one day and we saw school children performing songs and a little color guard pageantry. The courtyard was filling up with kids as we watched and unlike the US there weren’t many parents in the audience as far as we could tell.
Another touching sculptural piece along the Danube Promenade honored those Jews killed and dumped in the river (sometimes tied to one individual whom they shot and pushed in) after the Hungarian collaboration with the Nazi’s failed. There is a conflicted historical perspective demonstrated in Budapest. The Shoes honors victims, but this next memorial is protested popularly as symbolically blaming the German Nazi’s rather than the complicit Hungarian government for deaths.
I visited the National Gallery on my own. Found it interesting that it was curated essentially by wartime era and appreciated the impressionist work by Hungarian artists and the spacious building. There was a thread of social justice painting and sculpture in the ’20’s or so that seemed to ring of our current 1% dialogue – a sculpture called Homeless I especially appreciated.
I’d returned because I was intrigued by a photo exhibit called Every Past Is My Past. It started from a collection rescued from a defunct Kodak plant and expands still from photo finds and donations. As much family and community history was lost in war, some of it is restored in this photo collection. The collection is growing online as they attempt to identify places, people and dates in the photos they’ve found. It was fascinating. Real people from late 1800’s through the 80’s.
We used the subway more these days – we said because we were going from place to place across town, but it may have been our energy levels in the heat a little bit. No apologies. Walked miles and miles over these three weeks!! The Line 1 is actually a UNESCO Heritage Site as it’s the oldest electrified European subway (1896). Beautiful wood and tile stops.
Our final adventure was the Szechenyi Thermal Baths. We enjoyed the vintage hot spring pools, but I’m not sure it matches up to Rick Steves’ other 🔺🔺🔺 European sights. We tried everything but the lap pool and sauna. Our couple of hours there was enough for me, but I’ve never been very good at poolside. The most interesting part was figuring out how to get in! They were ahead of their time though as a water park. (No photos – wasn’t willing to risk my cell phone/camera. Life as I know it would end chaotically if it drowned and I failed to pack my waterproof shield😮)
But it pretty much looked like this postcard. Mary and I had agreed there’d be no bathing beauty photos anyway!
Final traditional dinner in our neighborhood.
With a strudel and lava cake finale!
And our adventure ends. I’m glad of this experience of Central Europe. It often made me thoughtful. And I enjoyed the people we engaged with. A good trip. And a good travel partner – thanks, Mary!
Pozegnanie. Rozlouceni. Ferwel. Bucsu. Farewell.
Meanwhile & Far Away 