Sometimes we just get lucky. Looking through a very long list of possible things to do in our last week in Budapest, I came across ads for an organ concert at St. Stephen’s Basilica. It sounded interesting because if we bought the right ticket, we’d get to meet the organist. He would talk about the […]
The Organist — April 24, 2024 Read More »
I’ve wanted to ride a Segway for a long time. I mean, for a long time I’ve wanted to ride a Segway. Since I hadn’t done it, I had no idea if I’d want to ride one for a long time. We got our chance when I happened on a pop-up advertising things to do
Budapest Segway Tour – April 23, 2024 Read More »
It’s a question that has certainly plagued more than one country: What do we do with statues and plaques that are part of a history we do not want to honor? Hungary has a tortured past, both literally and figuratively. Setting aside everything before the 1900’s, which is a lot of complicated history, Hungary lost
Memento Park – April 20, 2024 Read More »
The text message was brief: “On Thursday evening Gulyas Party at 7:00 pm on the 6th floor. No formal dressing is required.” That would be the 6th floor of a building in Budapest overlooking the Danube, and the message was from Tamas, one of our superhosts at the AirBnB where we’re staying for 3 weeks.
The Gulyas Party – April 18, 2024 Read More »
We decided to put some effort into local attractions today. Attractions meaning what guidebooks highlight as attractions. So… The Jewish Synagogue and The House of Terrors. Both, of course, housed terrors. Mistaking a bit of knowledge for actual competence, we exulted in our ability to catch the right tram, exit at the right place, catch
A Day of Remembrance – April 17, 2024 Read More »
Have you Been to Hungary? We all do it, it seems. We set foot across a border or breeze through a city and add a country to our bio: Been there. Check. It may have been a day, or a highly scripted week, or 6 years living there, but they all count the same. I
Have You Been To Hungary? April 15, 2024 Read More »
Mid-morning we geared up for an actual hike, a la All Trails recommendation. We’ve been walking the soles off our shoes/sandals ever since we got here, due in large part to metro misunderstandings, but hiking 10 miles is different than walking 10 miles. If you don’t know the difference, you should try both and see
Turkish Memorial & Gellert Hill Hike – April 13, 2024 Read More »
Thursday we got a message saying they would be working on the plumbing Friday and would we please not use the faucets or toilets from 8 AM – 3 PM? Because we are North Americans who are always so happy and positive (according to the ticket taker at the museum yesterday), we responded with “No
The day not at the lake – April 12, 2024 Read More »
Day three it’s time to learn something about getting around. First attempt: Go online, get the app, purchase a one-month pass apiece. Of course that didn’t work because for some reason my credit card was rejected. I suspect I’m the reason, but I prefer to blame the app. So we walked to the nearest metro
Learning the Metro, or not – April 10, 2024 Read More »
When we decided to spend three weeks in Budapest, we told ourselves we wanted to meet “the people.” We didn’t exactly define who the “people” were, but I’m pretty sure we didn’t mean tourists. We were thinking “the people who have lived here all their lives.” We wanted to know more about those lives, even
Where Are The People? – April 9, 2024 Read More »
