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Bella Budapest
Hello everyone!
Budapest: The Pearl of the Danube. The City of Baths.
Just back from Budapest, my new favorite city! The weather was fantastic and the flowers in bloom....it was amazing. The city isn't too crowded, has lots of green spaces and parks, beautiful buildings, and great food. Everything from the people to the architecture to the food was elegent. The night we arrived we came up from the metro to a busy but beautiful city surrounded with great buildings. It was love at first sight. After we left our stuff at our apartment (downtown Pest) and walked along the bridge to see the city by night...marvellous. We ate our first meal along the river outside and the veal with paprika was delicate and delicious. The second day we headed to a park on the north side of town (can't remember the name right now...darn hungarian names). The park is huge with ponds and a castle, thermal baths, and a zoo. From there we visited two museums. A modern art exhibit calle Coolhunters that is very interesting about the image of youth in society and how it is projected...clothes, actitivies, ect. Then we headed to the national gallery to see the Velasquez exhibit. The exhibit was so crowded and hot that I escaped to explore the permanent collection. It is a great collection!!! In the evening we went on a boat tour by night of the Danube. The third day we headed to Buda. First stop...the thermal baths at the extravagent Hotel Gellert. Despite the elegence, we paid about 10 Euros for the day. The baths are goregous and there are also outdoor pools. I slurged and for about 5 Euros had a massage by a hefty Hungarian woman. It was great. After some sun outside we ate a fine meal at the Hotel and headed up the mount to see the Statue of Liberty. The view was great and the park greener than ever. From there we headed to the Royal Palace. Although it was closed it was nice to walk around it. It is enormous. The fourth day we headed back to Buda to visit the Matthias Chruch. It was enchanting and one of the most beautiful churches I have every seen (and after studying Italian Rennaissance Art and living in Italy I have seen my fair share of churches!!!). After that we headed over back to Pest to visit the Parliament, but first ran into a charming folkart market. The Parliment is the second largest in Europe after the Parliament in London and is breath-taking in and out. Many of us wondered why there is such a large Parliament for a small country of 10 million, but when it was built Hungary was three times as big. After the Parliament we shopped! Great shopping in Budapest as well. Our last day we decided to head to another thermal bath, one of the largest in Europe, called the Szechenyi baths. It was huge. Outside there are three large pools, each with different types of water and jets. Inside there are several suanas, cold pools and hot thermal pools (seemed like 20 or so). It was relaxing to go around to the various baths and then lay in the warm bright sun. Strangely I got more sun in Budapest than in Spain! The last visit was the Opera house. A real gem. Too bad we couldn't get tickets to see an opera, but it was already so out. Budapest was under communist rule until 1990 and the changes to the city since must be drastic. It is still afforadable for other Europeans, but I am sure it has become more expensive with the arrival of tourism. The baths seems to carry on this comunistic tradition of something for all, not just elite. So despite all of their pomp, the baths are a place for all. Hungarians are very proud and I immagine many are still trying to adjust to the idea of capitalism and tourism as we found many who couldn't speak English and were left in a bind, but in general everyone was quite friendly. If you can...go to Budapest!!!
Now I am back at school and Sunday night we leave for our studies in Berlin...just enough time to wash some clothes and take care of errands before I'm back on the road!
Take care!
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