Busy day today. This morning we had a city tour, and went to the castle across the river, where we were able to walk around the grounds for about 15 minutes. We saw a wonderful church there with a wonderful multi colored tile roof. These tiles are very strong and stand up to both heat and cold, but the brightness of the colors only lasts for about five years. We happened to arrive the year they have been replaced so it looks wonderful. I think the name of this church is St. Miklas, but this may just be one of many things I have wrong.
We also visited St. Stephen’s church, which was built in the 1800s and took about 20 years to finish. This isn’t the St. Stephen of December 26, it’s the St. Stephen of Hungary who brought Christianity to Hungary and is its most important saint. His day is August 20, I think, something that’s coming up soon. It’s a beautiful church inside, but it seems to me that stained glass art isn’t at a particularly high level in Hungary. We also visited heroes square, which I found relatively boring. Lots of equestarian statues, and lots of standing around in the sun.
It’s quite warm today, and of course we’re still wearing the clothes we arrived in, though the airlines said that it will deliver our clothes tonight, and they did. Yay. Clean underwear! I have managed to find two places so far with free wi-fi – McDonald’s and the restaurant where we had dinner tonight. The hotel charges $30 a DAY. Screw that. Because of heavy rains in Poland and elsewhere upstream, our boat is unable to make it to Budapest, so they are putting us up in a wonderful Marriott, about which the only thing I can find to bitch about is the $30 a day for internet access. Grand Circle, in addition to putting us in this nice place, is giving us one free tour of the extras we would have had to pay $80 for to make up for the inconvenience. I’m quite sure our room in the Marriott is much nicer than our cabin on the ship was going to be, and we were going to be in Budapest for three days anyway. Apparently, our boat can’t even start until Sunday from wherever it is they are. I’m happy no matter what.
This afternoon we had a tour of the Jewish quarter. There is an old orthodox synagogue and a newer “neo” synagogue, which apparently is what would be either a conservative or reform in the U.S. More liberal at any rate. Both are decorated in the moorish style – the neo because it was fashionable in the early 1900s when it was built (in only four years, compared to 20-something for St. Stephens, because, as our guide said, “the government was involved in St. Stephen’s.) The new synagogue is also the place where the Nazi’s herded the Jews that hadn’t been sent off to Aushwitz in the winter of 1944-45 and where several hundred of them starved or froze to death. There is a monument there in metal (aluminum? Stainless steel?) that has names engraved on all the leaves of people who died in the holocaust. In addition to being a weeping willow, it is also an upside-down menorah. It’s a very moving piece – about the size of a real weeping willow tree.
Dinner was at a fun basement restaurant called Geraud’s and was good with Hungarian dumpling-type things that are sort of like gnocchi, and some beef paprikash. I thought it was wonderful. Free beer,and a 7 layer chocolate cake with carmelized crust on top for dessert. Yum.
Wandered home along the tourist street, found out where to get gelato if there’s ever a five-minute period when I haven’t been fed within the last half hour.
Tomorrow we take the Medieval Hungary tour which promises to be interesting. I hope to go have a coffee at McD’s tomorrow night so I can upload this and pictures. So far I’ve only managed to send the occasional email while standing out in front of McDonald’s – which is the only free internet I’ve found in the neighborhood. I’ve found a number of places with unsecured, but haven’t been able to connect to them
Pictures: New synagogue, old synagogue, willow memorial, willow leaves, palace across from our hotel at night, inside St. Stephen’s dome in Budapest.
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