Saturday, September 28, Bucharest

After a nice buffet breakfast we set out walking. (We didn't do a hop-on hop-off tour here because part of the Road Scholar program is a city tour on the day after we finish at the orphanage.). Covered a huge part of the city and found it much as we'd been warned.  It's crumbling down. There are many once beautiful buildings, once beautiful parks, and once beautiful avenues, but most everything is falling apart and untended. There are occasional signs of work being done, but they are few and small scale.  And there are many buildings from the last half of the twentieth century that were ugly when they were new and are also as decrepit as those 100 years older.

Piata Romana, a major juncture of boulevards.  Tiles suggest an intent to repave but they look like they've been sitting there awhile.

The fresh yellow paint is an English publishing house. Above that is what the rest of the building looks like

Piata Unirii, another major hub in need of TLC

Charlie said I should take pictures of some of the better stuff.  This was taken through a wrought iron fence. I don't know what the building is, but even this "good" one needs the grounds tidied and the construction area cleaned up!

On the other hand, we haven't seen as many homeless as in Hungary (or San Diego), nor have we seen the Romish street scammers.  People are not as stylishly dressed as in Hungary, but many have cell phones, and many speak English.

We often travel with a shopping "mission" though I noticed we had no requests from friends and family for anything from this part of the world.  Anyway, Charlie has been searching for a hat, so we've been popping in and out of all kinds of places from Ferragamos to souvenir shops.  Finally, success!  We went into a multistory department store that looked like a bunch of concession shops all jumbled together.  We went upstairs and down, through many men's departments until he found what he was looking for, but it was too big.  The saleswoman took us into a back hall to what turned out to be the alterations department. The seamstress sewed a felt band under the existing hatband (no charge) and C.was a happy camper.

Our alterations lady with Charlie's hat

Came back to our hotel for a nap before our concert tonight.  At least one of us was successful.  I gave up and started this.  This month has been the big biennial George Enescu festival. He was a favorite son, a composer, and tonight we will hear the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Later

Who knew?  We really enjoyed the performance.  It drew on folk themes in a minor key, so parts were almost klezmer-like.  The second piece was Mahler, never one of my favorites, but this was quite melodic, and like a movie sound track.  I guess for all of my cultural aspirations, I really like the low brow stuff.  Let's call this music accessible.

Two choruses and an operatic soloist for just one section of one movement.  And seven percussionists!  This Mahler was a 100 minute production.

And so to bed.

22,068 steps (9.4 miles)

Friday, September 27, Budapest and Buchrest

Spent our last half day in Budapest walking to Margaret Island, just because it was one of the few remaining "must see" places we hadn't hit.  Didn't have time to explore it adequately, but did get the views from the bridge and saw the fountain.  The fountain does an hourly water show set to music.  We heard the Jerusalem March from Nabucco and "Who Will Stop the Rain." Something for everybody.  And that just about sums up our visit.  We saw puppet shows and ballet, churches and synagogues, ate well and ate junk, saw city and villages and countryside.  And we had a great time.

View of Pest from Margaret Bridge

Fountain on Margaret Island

View from the bridge: Buda

Surprise Art Nouveau building discovered on the way back to the hotel.  Are we back in Barcelona?

Got to the airport with time to spare and needed to spend the last of our Monopoly money. (100 forints are about 44 cents, so we had carried around 2000, 5000, 10,000, and even 50,000 notes, and it doesn't feel like real money.) Bought candy at the airport, ostensibly for the kids, but we all know who really will eat it.

Trip uneventful, though not without trepidation when I saw the little Romanian Airlines plane.  Rode into Bucharest during rush hour and the cars look new, the boulevards wide and green, and saw beautiful large residences and embassies and institutions in varying states of repair.  As we came into center city, we passed lots of Soviet era architecture (ugly) and when we walked to dinner found even the nice 19th century buildings are crumbling along with the pavements.  Walking is a risky undertaking what with the loose tiles, projecting metal pieces and dog poop everywhere on the sidewalks.

Had a wonderful dinner but got lost on the way back, trying to take a short cut instead of the major boulevards.  And everything looks different after dark.  Asked directions and one guy sent us in the opposite direction of what we needed, but I'm sure it wasn't deliberate.  Anyway, hadn't realized we're staying in the neighborhood of the Hilton and Radisson and ritzy shopping because we drove in from the other direction. Our place is a small boutique hotel, the Hotel Amzei, with a huge room facing a courtyard.  Thank you, Charlie, for such great advance planning.

22,067 steps (9.4 miles) and I'm sure not even 10% were going in circles

Thursday, September 26, Budapest

Good news emailed from my doctor. There is probably no issue, but I should come in to have pacemaker checked when I return home.

We were able to set off for Godollo for the day, taking the metro for the first time, all the way to the end of the line, where we switched to the HEV, the light rail and off into the countryside to visit the beautiful Baroque Royal Palace, built in the 18 th century for Queen Marie Theresa. It became the favorite retreat of the beloved (and ubiquitous) Queen Elizabeth. (It seems half the sights in Budapest bear her name).  After WWII it was used as a barracks for the Soviet troops and then a home for the aged, so the restoration is fairly recent and done scrupulously. Far more history than I can remember, but well worth the visit.  It functioned in much the same way as the Palace at Versailles, though it's much less ostentatious -- somewhere between Versailles and Hampton Court, which served the British royalty in the same way.  We walked around the grounds and the town a bit, had lunch and headed back.

Royal Palace, Godollo

Town center, Godollo

Stopped at a big suburban Arkad (enclosed shopping mall) three stories high and a couple of city blocks long.  Had all the same stuff one would expect in the U.S. plus a big supermarket.  The food court had a McD's and a Burger King, Chinese, pizza, the whole nine yards.  Came outdoors to find it sprinkling -- the first rain we've had.  Stopped at the hotel to get raincoats on our way out to the shoes on the banks of the Danube and by the time we were properly attired the rain had stopped. Walked up the riverbank (our hotel is next to the Four Seasons, about a half block from Chain Bridge).  Found the memorial powerfully moving as I know many of you have.  For those of you who haven't seen it, it marks the spot where the Arrow Cross Militiamen (Arrow Cross Party was the Nazi party in Hungary) stood Jewish men, women and children along the river, tied them together in small groups, and shot one per group, so the falling bodies would pull the others into the water with them to die of drowning, thereby saving bullets, and incidentally making the victims even more terrified.

Charlie by the shoes

That did it for me for the day.  Came home to rest before going out to dinner.  Had great Indian food at Salaam Bombay, right next to the hotel.  We'd been avoiding it because it's always empty, which according to my mother-in-law means the food can't be good.  But I was too tired to care. And we had the best samosas ever!  

We fly to Bucharest tomorrow where the real adventure will begin.  We've had a great time here, seen and done a good bit, traveled by bus, boat, taxi, metro, light rail, but mostly by foot. I swear we've walked every utca (ootsa -street) and cobblestone in Budapest.

19,020 steps (8.1 miles)

Wednesday, September 25, Budapest

 

Started out at St. Iztvan Church, right in our neighborhood.  Very impressive and Charlie couldn't get over the  amount and variety of marble.  I'm not a very sophisticated appreciator of church art and architecture, but it looked beautiful to me.

St. Iztvan's Basilca

Walked to the Town Market and again we were impressed. Wide aisles, clean, uncrowded, and at last, attractive produce!  Of course didn't want it today.  Fish market and many of the butchers in the basement, and souvenirs  upstairs.  Same wooden tchotkes, (spell-check where are you when I need you?), embroidered linens, leather hats, and bags of paprika as everywhere.  Ate lunch in the food court there, where we had generous portions of mediocre food. Stuffed cabbage is not like mama used to make. But how good would food be in a shopping mall in the States?

Central Market

Next off to Parliament where we had reserved a tour.  They are laying new trolley tracks and tiles around the entire building so getting to it through the construction site was a challenge.  Getting in was worse. They check bags.  No problem.  They x-ray people. Slight problem.  I can't go through with my pacemaker and told them so. So I get to go around for a body check. But there are no women to do a pat down. So the soldier tells me to extend my arms and I think he's going to do it but instead he grabs a wand, which is also a no-no and starts with my lower body.  I shout no and cover my pacemaker with my hands. He shouts put your hands up lady!  I'm almost in tears, though I couldn't tell if it was embarrassment over the scene we're causing or fear of the wand, or frustration over not being understood or some combination.  In any case he didn't do my chest, but got well above my waist.

We proceed through the tour, with me stewing about whether or not the gizmo will work if (when) I need it.  At the end of the tour I tell the guide what happened and could she give us the name of the closest hospital with a cardiac unit likely to have the equipment to check it out.  She's ready to call an ambulance!  The upshot was we trooped in to talk to her boss who called his friend, a pediatrician, and she gave him the name of a place. Not sure if its an urgent care facility or an ER but they say come on in for an ECG, which they tell us is an echo cardio gram.  Not what I had in mind, since it wouldn't tell me if the pacemaker was working.  So we left the Parliament (quite beautiful, with an interesting history, by the way), and headed back home.  I immediately emailed my cardiologist to ask if it was even a problem at all since the wand wasn't right on the device.  Sure hope she answers before I have to rely on Romanian medical care!

House of Representatives, now the only house.  Upper house is used for conferences

Had intended to visit the Holocaust memorial of the shoes on the river embankment on the way back to the hotel, but the construction blocked access and we would have to take a lengthy detour, for which we no longer had time.  Will get there before we leave.

Met our Coronado friends, John and Jacklyn, who are touring Eastern Europe too and had a great dinner together (Italian again. Do you see a pattern here?) Now back to the hotel for blogging and bed.

20893 steps (8.9 miles -- should I get up and walk around the room to make it an even 9?)

P.S. I need tech support. How do I change the font?  There's no significance to the dual typeface.

--
Posted By Connie and Charlie to THE PINKI VIEW at 9/25/2013 12:49:00 PM

Tuesday, September 24, Budapest

Well, yesterday we saw the largest synagogue in Europe and today, quite by accident, we saw the smallest.  But that came late in the day.  We set out this morning to take a tour to three small towns up the Danube.  There were ten of us, six Aussies, two Spaniards, and us, with a multilingual guide and we were quite a congenial group.

First we went to Esztergom, to visit the oldest Hungarian Royal Palace and the seat of the Catholic Church in Hungary. Well, we had a view of the palace, and spent lots of time in the Basilica. Very beautiful, with lots of history I can't quite remember.

The Basilica of the Hungarian Catholic Church, Esztergom

Then back on the mini bus to visit Visegrad, where we went up the hill to see the ruins of an even older royal castle.  But we didn't go all the way up, just stopped for a photo op and went on to lunch at a resort hotel.  Lunch was breaded chicken breast, French fries, and white rice; I knew Romania would be like that, but didn't expect it in Hungary. Any suggestions for restaurants out there?  I would kill for a green vegetable!  But the view was lovely.

Photo op near Visergrad

Thence to town number three, Szentendre, the "arts colony".  Think most of the art was made in China; saw lots of wooden spoons, bags of paprika, table linens and tee-shirts. And the same in store after store.  The town was otherwise quaint, with hilly cobbled streets and several churches. So we spent our free time wandering away from the tourist schlock, and came upon a Jewish Memorial House.  Of course we went in. Turns out it was the home of a survivor who turned it into a shul and a memorial to all the local Jews who didn't come back.  The woman tending it didn't speak English but she had a little printed sheet that claimed it was the first synagogue consecrated and opened in Hungary after WWII and that it is the smallest. It is just one little room and you can practically touch both side walls while standing in the center.

The smallest synagogue in Hungary

We rejoined our group at the river and traveled back to Budapest by boat, chatting some more along the way.  An altogether pleasant day, but DO NOT put this on your "must see" list. I guess you can't hit it out of the park every at bat.  I'd call the Danube Bend experience a base hit.

Having had that big, late midday meal thought we'd just go to the market for fresh produce and eat in our suite.  Good luck with that.  The veggies looked awful. Ended up with some tasteless fruit and greasy salami.  So dinner was mainly cookies and tea.

11231 steps (4.8 miles) I feel like a slacker.

Monday, September 23, Budapest

Took a long walking tour of "Jewish Budapest".  Started at the huge (biggest in the world until NY's Temple Emmanuel was built) Dohany Synagogue, surprisingly Moorish in style, and quite beautiful.  But the most impressive thing was how crowded it was, with tour groups representing many countries, and most of the visitors were not Jewish.  We visit synagogues everywhere we go, but never saw one this busy. Saw the Jewish museum next door on the site of Theodore Herzl's birthplace.  This museum is a gem, filled with both Judaica and Holocaust displays. Our guide, who was excellent, was five years old in 1941 and was confined in the ghetto, where his mother died.  His father died in a labor camp.  Next to that is a "cemetery" where the bones of thousands were found after the war.  Many were identified and have memorial plaques, but over 1100 were never identified.  At the back of the complex is the memorial park, with the tree of life statue, the Raul Wallenberg memorial, and other commemorative art.

Dohany Street Synagogue

Cemetery

Tree of Life, each leaf has the name of someone or a family that perished in the Holocaust

Next we saw the Rumbach Street Synagogue, which is really just a shell, but the bits that remain are even more Moorish, with mosaic floor tiles and elaborately painted walls.  It is currently used as a public art space.  Since none of that community remains there is an ongoing public capital campaign to raise money to restore it.

Rumbach street synagogue exterior

This is a photo in a niche of the decaying interior of the Rumbach Synagogue

Then on to the Kazinczy Street Synagogue, with it's Gozsdu Courtyard, the center of the orthodox Jewish community. There was a sukkah set up, which our guide didn't recognize, since he wasn't Jewish and hadn't been on the job for a full year. We gave him the scoop, and I'll bet his afternoon group thought he knew what he was talking about.  This place was Art Deco in style and quite different from the other two.

Art Deco painted walls, interior Kazinczy Synagogue

But many tourists see these places. It was the afternoon activity that will surprise you. Charlie was eager to try the thermal pools at Szechenyi Bath, but I was concerned they might be too warm for me, so while he went pool hopping, both indoors and out, I had a pedicure at the spa.  But not just any pedicure. This was a fish pedicure!  Once you get over the ick (ichthyotherapy, get it) factor, it really was quite pleasant.  At the outset it tickled so badly I didn't think I could last the 15 minute session, but that passed in a minute or two and it just felt like a low-level vibration.  And my feet actually felt and looked smoother after those little guys feasted on my dead skin! Don't know what it is about traveling that makes you do things you'd never do at home -- even though we have this in San Diego I'd never been tempted.

So now I'm writing in a Burger King (yes, BK) where I would never be at home, but they have free wi-fi while our clothes are washing one block away.

14,117 steps or 6.0 miles so far.  We still need to get back to the hotel about 2000 or so.  But my feet feel great!

Sunday, September 22. Budapest

Well, I guess I wasn't as perky as I thought yesterday, since I had the wrong date. Today is the real 22nd.

Spent the entire day walking Andrassy Street, the main upscale shopping boulevard. It was closed to traffic for a major street fair -- an arts festival, crafts sale, food stalls and beer gardens. It ended at Heroes' Square where a temporary horse race course was setup: The Pallio of Hungary. Of course we had stopped along the way to watch performances, one of which could rival the Cirque de Soleil. And of course we stoppedj to sample the local food. The avenue ends at a huge city park, which is home to an art museum, zoo, and the famous Szechenyi Baths. We both agreed this park rivals Tivoli Gardens. Because it was a special event weekend they offered free tours of the entire spring-fed thermal spa (in Hungarian -- you get what you pay for!). Anyway, we saw the outdoor pools, something that looked like a mikva, but was probably for some kind of immersion therapy, the underground pipes feeding the thermal pools, the events center (set up for a wedding), the gym, etc. Charlie might try to get back for a swim if we have time one day.

 

We are currently resting our weary bones in a little pocket park killing time waiting for the ballet (Giselle) to begin. While we always manage to miss an actual opera, we never miss the Opera Houses in the cities we visit. This park is not far from the big Dohany Synogogue (on tomorrow's agenda) and we're facing an apartment building with a sukkah set up on the little balcony. I guess it's because we often travel in the fall, but we never seem to miss them either.

Later: ballet was amazing, as was the theater. Came home for tea and cookies and bed.

20,490 steps (8.8 miles) plus a few hours standing around watching street performances and waiting for the horses to come by.

Saurday, September 22, 2013

Arrived yesterday afternoon after an exhausting trip - 28 hours but with the time change it was a mere 19 en route. I crashed for an hour while Charlie reconnoitered.  He had tried the Argonne Labs "jet lag diet" and refused to succumb to fatigue.  (Just like Air Borne for not getting sick on planes, cherries for sleep, and pixie dust to fly, it only works if one believes.  I ate the same stuff for the three day run-up and was wiped out for lack of sleep.)  Anyway, we made it for a short walk and a delicious dinner (Trattoria Pomo D'Oro) and he was asleep by 8:30.  

So today was really day one.  We woke up refreshed and on Budapest time. As usual, we took a Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour to get the lay of the land, hopping off at the more remote and inaccessible spots. This meant more time in Buda, which is the hilly side. Spent time at the Citadel on Gellert Hill and on Castle hill, a charming area around the National Art Museum and the Fisherman's Castle.

The view from the top of Gellert Hill.                 

Charm

The view from our lunch table, where I dined on the ubiquitous goulash, which was quite good.

Back on the bus -- the view of Parliament from across the Danube

Walked back to the Starlight Suites Hotel, which I would recommend, BTW, knowing pretty much what we want to see and do the rest of the week. Had dinner at a rather disappointing nearby Hungarian bistro.

First impressions:  the people are young, generally fit looking, well-dressed.  I had been thinking more Russian - that dumpy / frumpy stereotype, but no, they're very attractive and about half of them look like someone I know.  Many of the names are familiar too.  Plenty of smokers, but not as bad as most Western European nations.  They say the birth rate is falling, and there are many parks with empty playgrounds, but judging by the number of strollers I think they're gonna turn that around. Traffic is light for a big city, but it's Saturday and I could change my mind about that.

 Walked 16,634 steps today (7.1 miles) which is pretty good for a day spent on a bus