As Chevalier d’Eon said (a very interesting French diplomat and spy, who belonged to the secret network of spies called “Secret du Roi”):
“With the time, everything is changing, and the world around, and there are only words that are left …”, so I continue my story and present (=leave) the words for you, my dear friends. Hello again!
My absence has been long here and I do realise it. And as always I have few reasons for that: it’s my creative flight in the world of art (recently designed a tattoo for a client), immersion in the language of love, that filled with flavor of fresh baguette, captivating cheese and lulling (or the opposite – rocking) wines, an exciting make-up course and simply laziness (yes, this happens to me sometimes)! Here’s a few reasons of the 1001 reasons for my absence and the mysterious silence, my dears.
So today-post is going to be about a truly fabulous city called Budapest which is the capital of Hungary. Frankly speaking, my ideas and expectations about the country and the city itself were not so great and I didn’t feel so much joy and excitement for going there. I don’t really know the reason of this feeling, maybe it came from the name of the city which didn’t sound amazing to me or maybe because I never really came across to the information about it. I think I was going there rather with a happy thought to add a new point to my list “I was there, drank beer and mead that barely got my mustache wet” © A.Pushkin.
According to my plan (the travelling one) I had the only day to see Budapest. It was just an interjacent point of my chain of travels and wanderings in Europe.
Since my time in Milan (my previous stop) was also limited (I spent there only 3 days as you probably know from another post I wrote on the blog), I did not have time to prepare myself for Budapest. I didn’t manage to learn Hungarian and to read about the attractions and sightseeing there so, in general, I felt like an alien, who arrived in an uncharted area. Fortunately, at the airport, the first thing I noticed was a tourist office and asked all the questions I had and got a window into the world of Hungary, more precisely the map of Budapest with all the information about different tourist interests ad goodies narrated in the card itself. I asked the man in the office which underground station I needed in order to see the center of the city and decided to go there straight away after having a breakfast somewhere (the station I needed was called Ferenciek Tere, on the blue line), and then just walk around the city, absolutely aimlessly.
However, already in the subway, I was involved in the experience of visiting a new country for me! Everything was interesting, unusual to me: the citizens themselves (I was staring at the way they were dressed, how they behaved, etc. It was just like American series “Lie to Me”)), the announcement of stations such as Kőbánya-Kispest, for example…it was a wonder! By the way, totally forgot to mention that the underground ticket I bought at the airport was an unlimited day-ticket for huge amount of money!! More precisely, the price was actually good, or rather cheap (compared, for example, with the prices of transport in Paris or London), but the numbers were frightening, because one euro equals about 300 HUF!! In currency exchange I even thought that I was “cheated” and was given 10 times more than I should have gotten))) it’s definitely the best place on the planet, ahah.
An example ( price for 1kg of bananas)
So I got to the station Ferenciek Tere and then I went for a walk around the city. My plan was to stroll along the embankment of the Danube while observing attractions close to the river. It is believed that diamonds (definitely not maps) are the girls’ best friends but somehow I felt responsible for all of our women’s regiment therefore I carefully and diligently studied all the squiggles Hungarian letters, schemes of buildings and roads’ turns on the way to His Highness the Danube! In fact, I did find what I was looking for, although was a bit lost at first (of course, I made it purposely only in order not to ruin the stereotype about the relationship of women and maps))).
On my way to stunning views of the river, in the anticipation that I was, I had already met interesting buildings, staff, and even a kind of a Malevich’s black square.
I really liked the building of New Budapest Gallery, which located on the Danube embankment.
To be honest, I did not quite understand where I was. I mean that I saw some art objects inside the building, but as I understood, it was not a gallery but a shop located side by side with the world of art.
Since I have that many emotions from what I saw there and I, frankly, do not know how to describe those impressions that the city made on me, so I’ll just introduce you to my little photo-exhibition titled “Walk on the waterfront” and then again I will go into the story with the light, carefully verified musical notes of “The Blue Danube” …
Liberty Bridge which is 333 m in the length and 20 m in width.
“To be or not to be?” (c) – if it’s in Budapest – of course the answer is TO BE!! 😉
Love this balcony, looks creative!
Chain Bridge was designed by an English engineer William Tierney Clark and the constraction of the bridge was supervised by Scottish engineer Adam Clark. The bridge was shown in the movie “I Spy”.
It was very hot on the waterfront, under the scorching sun, especially in jeans and a black T-shirt that I was wearing (I know how to choose clothes for the weather)). In fact, my light summer clothes were in the suitcase in the airport). So I decided to have some rest from the heat, buy something edible in a store and have a kind of lunch in the park under the shadows of foliage. In the area I went to, I saw a monument with an inscription in Russian: «Слава Советским Героям Освободителям» (= “Glory to the Heroes of the Soviet Liberators”).
I liked the name of the shop – “Grey Goose”. In Russia we have a kids song that is about two geese (grey and white) that were living at granny’s place 🙂 (this is it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgo-7DjW39Y)
And here it is – the beauty, more precisely – The Hungarian Parliament Building! I will write about it later, in the part of my “evening cruise” (and so the curtain was opened, the secret was revealed).
Here are some lovely views of the building of the parliament and its surroundings.
I felt really sorry for the guys, that stood under the red-hot sun, without moving. What a hard job!
While strolling along the river I spotted advertising cruises on the Danube. I decided to get closer to some of the docs and inquire about the variations of cruises offered and their price. I really enjoyed reading brochures in Russian. Apparently, this job was done by Google. I don’t know – maybe German version sounds funny as well (unfortunatelly, I cannot understand what it’s saying).
The prices ranged from 4,000 to 13,000 forints or so (after staying in the euro environment, such figures are, of course, scared me, but a little effort of remembering the basics of mathematics and everything fell into place. Finally, I decided that an evening cruise it’s a great opportunity to see the city in the light of night with its festive appearance. Besides, I remembered how extremely happy I was on my twenty-first birthday, when celebrating it with my best friends in the evening cruise on the River Thames, with the enchanting views of the capital of Great Britain. So the decision was made, the ticket was bought and there were still a few hours left before the beginning of the cruise, so I decided to see the city in a rapid pace and in few minutes I was already sitting on the bus or tram (do not remember exactly) observing magical Budapest from the window of transport.
I felt a bit uncomfortable, considering the fact that I had no idea where I was going to, while also not speaking the language and not knowing the city at all, and I was afraid to end up in a village or something like that)) But, as I said earlier, I had a ticket for transport for the whole day and I knew that if I got lost, I could always sit on the same trucks and go in the opposite direction. At some point of my trip, I saw something that reminded (very slightly) me beloved Notre Dame Cathedral, and so I decided to get off the bus, walk a little (though the cathedral I saw was too far (talking about the appearance of it) from the Parisian one).
Still not sure where exactly I went to, but I also found a local market, filled with bright flavors of juicy fruits and vegetables, blending smoothly into the space with spices and other goodies and fun. Ah, I should have stayed there forever)))
And then I have to thank my own intuition. Being totally unprepared for this trip, without any plans where to go and what to see, I just saw on the map some pond and decided to move there. I found the closest to my destination underground station and went to…Hősök tere (that is how the station was called). The view impressed me from the first steps after the exit of the underground station.
As it turned out, I came to one of the most famous squares of the capital – the Heroes’ Square. The tall column, located in the center of the square is dedicated to the millennium of the Magyar transition through the Carpathians. There was (and still is, lets hope) the figure of the Archangel Gabriel on the globe with the apostolic cross and the crown of the King Stephen at the top of the monument.
According to a legend, the Archangel Gabriel came to the king in his dream and told him to convert Hungarians to Christianity. There were Prince Árpád and the seven Magyar tribes represented at the base of the column too. There were also two semi-circular colonnade which was a monument dedicated to the heroes of Hungary. There were diverse bronze sculptures of representatives of several dynasties between the columns. And The Museum of Contemporary Art with The Museum of Fine Arts were also located on the square (which I unfortunately couldn’t visit because of the lack of time I had there).
It was interesting to watch such actions at the Square. Perhaps this was a new interpretation of the American computer-animated film “Cars”))
After enjoying the views of the area, I kept walking further, deep into the wonderland! I am talking now about the city-park called Városliget (Varoshliget). As I learnt later, this park was hunting grounds long time ago, and grazing cattle…Now the area of the park is 1 km² and its territory contains about 7000 trees, and there are also several artificial lakes. According to Wikipedia (I am using very intelligent source, ahaha) there are famous Szechenyi Baths, Capital Circus, Zoo, Museum of Transport, as well as a famous restaurant in Budapest “Gundel”, which is over 150 years old located in the park Varoshliget. I vaguely trying to remember seeing anything from the list. In fact, the park is certainly very rich with its fairy-entailing views.
Lets swim with a car 🙂
My colleagues. Their wish to draw such a beauty is understandable.
Found this lovely couple…
and another one…
I believe one duck was asking another one to marry him)) but the second was like: “Oh, I am not sure. I need some time to think about it”)) (As you can all see I am going mad a bit).
If I had a bit more time I could probably transfrom into Alice and enjoy this wonderland in another angle…;)
I would like to add a bit more information about the mentioned above restaurant “Gundel” for fans, lovers and admirers of London (which I consider myself). Honestly, for some strange reasons, I didn’t find the restaurant I was talking about there, but after my trip to Budapest I found an interesting fact, which stated that in London’s Soho there was (and still is) a restaurant called “Gay Hussar”, whose founder (Victor Sassi) at his 17ties was sent by the British Association of hotels and restaurants for kind of training to “Gundel” in Budapest.
And my hunger led me to Varosliget Cafe & Bar 1895. The atmosphere was cozy and pretty quiet there, I sat outside as the weather was lovely (not too hot already), and it was good that during my meal, I was also able to charge my bitten apple, my American friend. I ordered the Hungarian national dish which was goulash, that perhaps was not original to do so, but the most important thing was me being full and happy after this lunch-dinner.
So, the time was going and I slowly slowly was getting to the point, more precisely to my evening cruise on His Majesty Danube. So I decided to have a little walk and then take the subway to the center, to the pier of the happiness.
On the way to the boat, that was waiting for Cinderella (me), I saw some other boats that were probably expecting other Cinderellas with their own stories and adventures.
My cruise was the average price, inexpensive at all, no frills (there wasn’t a course of meal, neither there was live music on board), but the price included a glass of booze and an audio guide in several languages (including Russian). I was very glad to hear that woman’s voice in my player (or better to say the information she was telling there). She talked about every architectural structure, monument or area we were passing, with different stories and interesting facts involved in her speech. For example, I remember well that the amount of money spent on the construction of the building of the Hungarian Parliament, was so huge that this amount would be enough to build a small town (village) for 30 000 citizens, with its infrastructure, roads, etc.! By the way, the Houses of Parliament simply mesmerizing while shimmering in the night lights.
At the end of our little journey there was “The Blue Danube” by Johann Strauss played in the audio-guide. For a lady like I am, who used to dance and still dancing, the music touched me because even when I’m not on the dance-floor, I mentally circling in waltz. It was such a magnificent combination of melodic music, beautiful sparkling buildings and structures on the Danube, and the fresh coolness of the Hungarian night. Those impressions I got on the cruise are still stayed with me, as if it was only yesterday.
Then I said “goodbye” (not without sadness, but with hope to visit this wonderful city again) to Budapest, went to the subway station, then by bus to the airport and didn’t have the best night of my life at the airport. The thing was that the plane I needed was going to take off in the early morning and therefore it wasn’t convenient to go to a hotel (as in few hours I would need to go back) or somewhere else, it was easier to feel in the shoes of the hero of Tom Hanks in mister Spielberg’s movie “The Terminal”.
Though I personally believe that Viktor Navorski’s conditions were much better in the film than mine in reality. Budapest Airport was really small, with rigid and cold chairs made of metal. In addition, almost all (though if I’m not mistaken, absolutely all) shops and cafes were closed at the airport for the night, and it was hard to stay positive without the comfort, evening bath and cup of tea)))
In other words, that night was a kind of nightmare, but at the same time it was a lot of fun when I was trying to sleep, lying on those metal chairs and occasionally slightly opened my eyes and saw some people sitting and swaying their bodies in the rhythm of sleep or a snoring girl somehow miraculously fitted on her suitcase. Overall, I felt that I was not alone in my sad situation and it gave me the strength I needed, and anyway I still was on cloud nine because of my expectations that were not supported and the reality surpassed all that I was preparing to see in Budapest, in the city, which name didn’t promised me some kind of magic, excitement and trepidation (as I believed before to see it)! BUT I so much loved this fantastic city!
See you soon, dear friends! I wish you marvelous discovers and that reality will always exceed your expectations! With the best wishes from the lover of life (and from now on the lover of Budapest too)!
История Современной Золушки из Вестминстера. Westminster's Cinderella. 