On Beyond Budapest

About two weeks ago, the Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Years') holiday created a five-day weekend from school. These don't come along too often, and a forward-thinking colleague of mine started booking tickets to Hungary for the break.

The single greatest thing about short trips around Europe is the cumulative effect of cheap flights, short flight times, and minimal body-clock changes. It reminds me of the alchemy of taking the subway in New York: a short amount of time turns into an enormous geographic change.

Budapest is a stunning city. Architecturally, historically and culturally rich, and flat enough to walk around all day. The long arterial boulevards with formal architecture remind me very much of Washington, D.C., and the way the sunlight traces its way through the streets makes the city have a different look at all hours.


Walking was the main activity of the trip for me, but some other highlights:

• The local opera company put on a production of three Stravinsky chamber operas (modern-sounding 20th century stuff), to which I got a rush ticket the evening I arrived. All three were $12 for the most expensive seat in the house, and the productions were astounding -- music, costumes, vitality, you name it -- one of the operas was the famous "L'historie du Soldat" where a travelling soldier meets the devil on the way home from war. All the dialogue was in Hungarian, but the stories mostly made sense (After getting tricked, I think the soldier finally thwarts the devil by rigging a game of cards, but I could be wrong.) During one of the operas, the entire chorus burst out into the audience and began booing and throwing vegetables at the orchestra in one of the many "meta" and convention-destroying moments of the evening. This is something I'll remember forever.
• Goulash. It's awesome! Paprika is a national treasure in Hungary, and is also used in their delicious house sausage (which was more than reminiscent of Betty's, and made me homesick for the time during family meal.)
• Late-night beer on the boulevards. Autumn begins to get chilly in Eastern Europe, and one restaurant provided blankets with their outdoor seating:
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• Taking the subway and train to visit a nearby arts town, Szentendre. Didn't buy anything, but took in the fresh air and wonderful churches and meandering streets.
• A traditional folk dance concert in town with local dancers and musicians. They have dulcimer, violin, and clarinet players the likes of which you've never seen.

There's more, but I'll link two quick-loading Facebook albums here so you can take your own walking tour. It's easy to get caught up in _doing_ things in another country, when a lot of the fun is found in just being there.

Album 1

Album 2

Finally, a picture of me looking rather arch in a restaurant in Jokai square:


And, next time, a story about a desert.