09-01-2016, 04:17 PM
Sunday August 21
And on Sunday, I rested. Sort of. Okay. I didn’t rest at all. I just didn’t lug a tripod around with me everywhere I went.
HK wanted to head back up to Buda to see the museum there. I wanted to find the Ludovica, the former military college, and a few other spots.
I promised to use the trains as much as possible and do as little walking as possible. I still ended up over 12 miles for the day.
My first stop was the Corvin theater. I was now going back with my still camera. It was still a pain to shoot. Then I took the Metro 3 to the Ludovica which has evolved into the Natural History Museum. Since it was Sunday, the place was closed.
I was kind of disappointed because Maday had told us the room in his painting still exists. It was supposed to have an awkward entrance as you entered it. Well, as I was departing the Ludovica grounds I noticed a building off to one side. The main feature were these rounded top windows that were different from any other windows at the Ludovica and looked just like the windows in Maday’s painting as well as photographs I had seen.
Yes, I tried to gain entrance. Yes, the security guard thought I was crazy and sent me on my way. Yes, I’m going to insist that was the building where Laszlo Borsdoy taught Piller.
My next was stop was the Kerepesi cemetery. Sure, every famous Olympian was at the Farkaseti cemetery over in Buda, but the Kerepesi was near the hotel and a lot of famous Hungarians were buried there, too.
I hopped on the light rail and it went in the wrong direction. Dammit. I got off at the next stop and moved to the other tracks. This stop was far off the tourist trail deep in suburban Budapest. I was surrounded by those nice tall apartment complexes you see in movies about the communist eastern bloc. I didn’t feel out of place at all.
Eventually another train came and we started back in the proper direction. Only the train didn’t get far beyond where I was originally picked up. Then the driver got out of the front of the train and made his was through the two cars to the back of the train. The other passengers started screaming to find out what he was doing.
The word filtered down that this was as far as this train went. If we wanted to go further in this direction we better get on the bus idling across the street at the curb. I didn’t understand a word of this. I just followed the rest of the passengers as they darted off the train, crossed through traffic and got on the bus.
I kept my eyes glued to my crappy international cel phone and it’s brand of google maps to make sure I was going where I was supposed to be going. But, yay, I was on a Budapest Bus.
I got off the bus at a brick wall that I picked out to be the wall of the cemetery. I should have gone on at least one more stop to be closer to the entrance, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I also saw the tracks for the Light Rail being replaced which was the cause for our departure from the Light Rail train.
Kerepesi was huge. There was an app to tell you where all the famous graves were in the place. At least that was my assumption. The app poster was in Hungarian, so I assumed the app was in Hungarian.
The place looked impressive. Lots of huge cenotaphs and monuments to the dead. If I knew anybody from Hungarian History, it would have probably been fascinating. As it was, I was just a little bit bewildered by the scope of it.
There was a giant monument to Kossuth, he of the metro stop near Parliament. I’m going to say he was Prime Minister back in 1848, when the first Hungarian uprising occurred. There were monuments to fallen Soviets. There was a 1956 section. None of it meant a thing to me. I learned later that Italo Santelli’s grave was somewhere in there. Because of the scope of the cemetery, I doubt I would have found it.
From the cemetery I walked to the train station to pick up my good friend Metro Line 2. I took it back to the hotel and the light rail line. I took the light rail to the Octagon stop on Andrassy Ut. There I met my new friend Metro Line 1.
Metro Line 1 is the oldest subway in Europe. It has teeny cars that race along in tiny tunnels. They are also hard tunnels to find. I did finally notice the yellow placards that mark their entrance.
I took the train to the Szecheny Baths which everyone told me I should visit. This was just a reconnaissance visit in the hope that I would get there later on this trip. But I couldn’t get beyond the gate and never saw the giant baths themselves.
I wandered the City Park. I entered the castle and paid too much to walk up a flight of stairs to get a bad view into the castle forecourt. There was another fair going on here, too. They were making more food in big platters. I saw the biggest hotdog in the biggest bun. I purchased my first T-shirts of the trip, too.
I made my way to Heroes square for another set of pictures. I bemoaned my lack of tripod but it was Sunday, my day off. There were a couple of pedal pubs circling around. One had stopped and promptly attracted a hooker. The next time I looked she was ensconced on one of the stools next to the six guys.
Pedal pubs are this weird invention. There are six to eight seats with pedals underneath. There is also a keg at one end of the vehicle. You get to pedal around the city all the while drinking from the keg.
I took Metro 1 back to the Opera house so I could take pictures of it. I was rapidly losing steam so I headed back to the hotel.
I met up with HK and we went to the Strudel House for dinner. Mmmm strudel. I was so tired I even sat outside amongst the smokers without caring.
And on Sunday, I rested. Sort of. Okay. I didn’t rest at all. I just didn’t lug a tripod around with me everywhere I went.
HK wanted to head back up to Buda to see the museum there. I wanted to find the Ludovica, the former military college, and a few other spots.
I promised to use the trains as much as possible and do as little walking as possible. I still ended up over 12 miles for the day.
My first stop was the Corvin theater. I was now going back with my still camera. It was still a pain to shoot. Then I took the Metro 3 to the Ludovica which has evolved into the Natural History Museum. Since it was Sunday, the place was closed.
I was kind of disappointed because Maday had told us the room in his painting still exists. It was supposed to have an awkward entrance as you entered it. Well, as I was departing the Ludovica grounds I noticed a building off to one side. The main feature were these rounded top windows that were different from any other windows at the Ludovica and looked just like the windows in Maday’s painting as well as photographs I had seen.
Yes, I tried to gain entrance. Yes, the security guard thought I was crazy and sent me on my way. Yes, I’m going to insist that was the building where Laszlo Borsdoy taught Piller.
My next was stop was the Kerepesi cemetery. Sure, every famous Olympian was at the Farkaseti cemetery over in Buda, but the Kerepesi was near the hotel and a lot of famous Hungarians were buried there, too.
I hopped on the light rail and it went in the wrong direction. Dammit. I got off at the next stop and moved to the other tracks. This stop was far off the tourist trail deep in suburban Budapest. I was surrounded by those nice tall apartment complexes you see in movies about the communist eastern bloc. I didn’t feel out of place at all.
Eventually another train came and we started back in the proper direction. Only the train didn’t get far beyond where I was originally picked up. Then the driver got out of the front of the train and made his was through the two cars to the back of the train. The other passengers started screaming to find out what he was doing.
The word filtered down that this was as far as this train went. If we wanted to go further in this direction we better get on the bus idling across the street at the curb. I didn’t understand a word of this. I just followed the rest of the passengers as they darted off the train, crossed through traffic and got on the bus.
I kept my eyes glued to my crappy international cel phone and it’s brand of google maps to make sure I was going where I was supposed to be going. But, yay, I was on a Budapest Bus.
I got off the bus at a brick wall that I picked out to be the wall of the cemetery. I should have gone on at least one more stop to be closer to the entrance, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I also saw the tracks for the Light Rail being replaced which was the cause for our departure from the Light Rail train.
Kerepesi was huge. There was an app to tell you where all the famous graves were in the place. At least that was my assumption. The app poster was in Hungarian, so I assumed the app was in Hungarian.
The place looked impressive. Lots of huge cenotaphs and monuments to the dead. If I knew anybody from Hungarian History, it would have probably been fascinating. As it was, I was just a little bit bewildered by the scope of it.
There was a giant monument to Kossuth, he of the metro stop near Parliament. I’m going to say he was Prime Minister back in 1848, when the first Hungarian uprising occurred. There were monuments to fallen Soviets. There was a 1956 section. None of it meant a thing to me. I learned later that Italo Santelli’s grave was somewhere in there. Because of the scope of the cemetery, I doubt I would have found it.
From the cemetery I walked to the train station to pick up my good friend Metro Line 2. I took it back to the hotel and the light rail line. I took the light rail to the Octagon stop on Andrassy Ut. There I met my new friend Metro Line 1.
Metro Line 1 is the oldest subway in Europe. It has teeny cars that race along in tiny tunnels. They are also hard tunnels to find. I did finally notice the yellow placards that mark their entrance.
I took the train to the Szecheny Baths which everyone told me I should visit. This was just a reconnaissance visit in the hope that I would get there later on this trip. But I couldn’t get beyond the gate and never saw the giant baths themselves.
I wandered the City Park. I entered the castle and paid too much to walk up a flight of stairs to get a bad view into the castle forecourt. There was another fair going on here, too. They were making more food in big platters. I saw the biggest hotdog in the biggest bun. I purchased my first T-shirts of the trip, too.
I made my way to Heroes square for another set of pictures. I bemoaned my lack of tripod but it was Sunday, my day off. There were a couple of pedal pubs circling around. One had stopped and promptly attracted a hooker. The next time I looked she was ensconced on one of the stools next to the six guys.
Pedal pubs are this weird invention. There are six to eight seats with pedals underneath. There is also a keg at one end of the vehicle. You get to pedal around the city all the while drinking from the keg.
I took Metro 1 back to the Opera house so I could take pictures of it. I was rapidly losing steam so I headed back to the hotel.
I met up with HK and we went to the Strudel House for dinner. Mmmm strudel. I was so tired I even sat outside amongst the smokers without caring.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm