Entre Les Murs

Budapest

Janet and I treated ourselves to a weekend in Budapest in celebration of Janet's recent birthday and our upcoming second anniversary.  We splashed out a little on the hotel; but it turned out the hotel was also celebrating its birthday, so we got a special deal including some little extras.


The first little gift was a bottle of Hungarian sparkling wine upon check-in, which came with a very nice presentation (below) and a bottle of Hungarian red that we took home. (Not to look a gift bottle in the cork, but the champagne was a tad on the sweet side.  We've definitely become a little spoiled by France.  It's hard not to criticize the wine, bread, pastries, and so on when we've become used to such tasty fresh bread or pleasant table wine in the most casual of restaurants.)


On Saturday we visited the Hungarian National Gallery, a short walk away from our hotel on the Buda side of the river.  Most interesting were paintings from the art nouveau period, which in this part of Europe is called the secession style (an example).  From the museum we walked across the Chain Bridge to the Pest side and explored.  The city is an interesting mix of grand European capital, and run-down communist backwater.  There are elegant old buildings, historic statues and wide boulevards; but just as evident are filthy office blocks with chunks falling off, architecture that is utilitarian in the extreme, and everywhere a coating of graffiti.  The bright paint on some buildings, sidewalk hoardings and construction cranes across the skyline attest to the rebirthing still in progress.

The following day we did some more exploring in Pest, making our way to the Museum of Applied Arts.  They had a retrospective display that highlit periods of the museums history as well as some special exhibits.

We made sure to be back to the hotel in time for a nap because the final treat in our birthday package was a meal at one of the city's finer restaurants, Gundel.  We enjoyed a superb meal with classic continental service only slightly marred by the vapid and un-ignorable American woman at the next table.


On Monday we aimed for the Parliament buildings, but were frustrated by some unspecified event that pre-empted any tours.  Instead we walked to the cathedral of Saint Sebastian, which at just over a hundred years old was rather new for a European monument, but was remarkable for displaying the saint's mummified right hand.  We then strolled up the tree-lined main boulevard of Andrássy street, before taking the subway back to collect our bags and head for the airport.

More pictures of the weekend are here.

posted 25.4.07