What a
day!! I woke up reluctantly at 8
and got up about 8:30. Had to pack
to check out of the hotel room so left there about 9:45. I had a light breakfast in a little
bakery nearby and then went to the Hungarian National Museum where I thought
I’d spend a couple of hours before going on to another museum. Well, let’s just say I got engrossed
and didn’t emerge until 2:30! That
museum is a wonderful introduction to Hungary. It’s all about Hungary’s history – mostly political,
economic and religious, starting in the year 1000 when Hungary became its own
country and converted to Catholicism right up to the 1989 break with
Communism. It’s had a stormy
history to say the least. The
exhibits were really well done and I had an audio guide and just got completely
immersed in the story of Hungary with its many wars, revolutions, changes in
government, imperial rule by others (Austria, the Ottomon Empire, Germany,
Soviet Union among others!). The
highlight of the visit for me was the room where they have Beethoven’s home
piano. It is the piano he loved
and that was in his home for all of his adult life and on which he composed
much of his music. After his
death, it went to Franz Liszt who also used it to compose much of his piano
music. Liszt left it to the museum (or the museum’s predecessors.) The piano is still very much play-able
and in the room where it is displayed you can listen to Beethoven and Liszt
piano music on headphones that are recordings of pieces by each composer played
on that piano. By the time I got
there I was a little tired anyway so I sat on the bench and listened to piano
music while I gazed at the instrument that both of them had played and composed
music on. It was simply amazing to
be looking at the very instrument that Beethoven played.
When I left the
museum I had very little time before I was to meet the landlord to go to the
apartment so I grabbed a quick diet coke and then stopped in the local
supermarket to get milk and breakfast items for tomorrow. I went back to the hotel and Tomas was
waiting for me. We walked to the
apartment, which is only a few blocks away. This apartment is really wonderful! I feel like I’ve stepped
into a 19th century novel!!
The building is OLD and very ornate, though, like many buildings in
Budapest, somewhat blackened by years of exposure to the elements. The door from the street is a huge,
painted black iron door. You walk
into a large, somewhat dingy foyer, lined with mailboxes and then into a rather
dark hallway to find the elevator.
There are stairs too, big winding stone steps but I learned the hard way
that they don’t have any lights, so once its dark and no natural light is
seeping in anywhere they are non-navigable without a flashlight! The elevator is like something out of a
movie. Big, black iron door, that
you pull open and then push two wooden folding doors back to step in. It creaks and groans its way up. The hallways are dark and you have to
hit light switches on the walls that stay on for a couple of minutes while you
get inside. The apartment is
lovely. Big open living room with
sleeping area facing the street with a balcony. A small middle room off of which is the bathroom and then a
small eat in kitchen. The door
lock has no fewer than 4, enormous deadbolts. The key, which looks like some medieval prison key, has to
be turned four times to lock all the bolts both when you enter and when you
leave. The ceilings in this place
have to be at least 20’. It’s like
sitting in a cathedral! And the
heat is really efficient. So much
so that when I got back this evening I had to open the balcony door to cool it
off in here! Once I got settled in
I had my first cup of tea since I left home and then headed out to go to the
Szechenyi baths.
I made my first
foray into the Budapest metro. I’d
say its somewhere between London/Paris and New York in terms of
navigability. There are only three
lines, but there are a dearth of maps. Unlike London and Paris where the metro
maps are very readable, the maps in the Budapest metro show the whole city and
you have to really hunt to see the metro lines on the map and figure out what
is the end-point of each line so you know which train to take! And the escalators seem to go downwards
forever –very long and steep and FAST!
I managed to get myself to the baths without mishap however. The best of the day was yet to come.
I’ve posted a
few photos of the baths but they hardly do justice. The facility is ornate and ENORMOUS. At night it is all lit
up and really looks magical. When
you enter it is a veritable labyrinth of hallways and passageways to get to
where you need to be. Down a
flight of stairs and then along a long hallway to the locker room. They issue
you a wristband that locks and unlocks the locker. You change into swimsuit and then go back upstairs to the
outdoor hot pools. Even though the
temperature today was in the low 30s, everyone just walks on out to the pools
in bathing suit and bare feet with nothing but a towel! The water is lovely and hot. Since it’s winter, the heat from the
water, and the cold air create a constant fog that makes the whole place look
ethereal and mysterious and magical. Its all lit up and all the other people
are just silhouettes in the darkness.
While I was there I heard many languages being spoken in the darkness –
I picked out French, Spanish, Italian, Australian and British English in
addition to a few Americans, and then a whole lot of Hungarian which is a completely
incomprehensible language! There
are three enormous pools at the outside section of the baths. One is hot, with some jets but mostly
for just soaking and enjoying the warmth.
In the middle is a lap pool which is for serious swimming and the water
is much cooler. (I didn’t go in
that one.) Then at the other end
is another warm pool, cooler than the first, but still plenty warm enough that
you don’t feel cold even in the winter evening. That pool is lit up by colored underwater lights that
constantly change – green, blue, purple, red… And there are jets all over the place so folks move to them
and let them massage various muscles.
There is also a circular wave pool where you have to fight a current to
join the swimmers parade, but when you get into it the current literally pushes
you along at quite a clip round and round in the circle. It was great fun! The real challenge is not to crash into
other bathers as you are swept along!
In the hottest pool I saw the Hungarian men congregating around the
floating chess boards engrossed in their chess matches. I was there for over two hours and the
men playing chess were there when I arrived and still at it when I left. I soaked in both the warm pools for
about 2 ½ hours. It was just so
completely gorgeous and like stepping into some wonderland. It feels luxurious and is totally
relaxing. I kept thinking how glad
I am that I did it in winter. It
would be a very different experience in summer, when it was still light outside
and the air is hot. What was
so wonderful was the contrast between the cold winter air and the hot
springs. And I just loved the fog
that kept moving and changing and that made the whole place look
otherworldly. Bonnie and Karen –
you MUST put a visit to Budapest and her baths on your “to travel to” list!!
I took the metro
back and stopped in the apartment to drop off wet things and then went out to
get dinner. I’d had no lunch so
was fairly hungry and decided I’d better wait for my G&T until I had some
food in me!! The neighborhood is
fairly residential and quiet right around the apartment. I walked a few blocks and it was dark
and not much activity and the few open restaurants had no one in them, which
didn’t appeal to me, and then I saw the lights for a restaurant that I just
couldn’t resist. In large, bright
orange/red letters it said “BONNIE”.
The name of the place is BonnieRestro and it looked nice and there were
a fair number of people in it (always a good sign) so I went in for
dinner. It’s modern fusion cuisine
and was really tasty with wonderful presentation. (I had left the camera back
at the apartment so no pics of the meal.) I will go back tomorrow to get a
picture of the neon “BONNIE” sign however, just because I must have that! I had a dish that was quite
surprisingly delicious – turkey breast wrapped in bacon, stuffed with cheese
and prunes, over rice with currents.
It was beautifully presented and quite delicious. For dessert I had a coconut cheesecake
with citron cream frosting and mint and raspberry glaze. That too was beautifully presented with
the raspberry glaze in the form of a G clef! I had a glass of Hungarian wine with the meal, leaving my
G&T for when I got home. One thing
I’ve come to accept in Budapest is that ice in my G&T is simply not going
to happen! There’s no freezer in
the apartment fridge so it will be British style G&T for the next week!
So after that
long and thoroughly enjoyable day I now have to figure out what I’m doing
tomorrow during the day and how to get there and then get to sleep! So far, Budapest is proving to be a
really wonderful city. Until
tomorrow….
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