A Bit about Budapest
It is evening and I am back at my hostel. There is so much to do before tomorrow, but I want to take a few moments and write about the city and my day in it.
First the subway. It looks like Eastern Europe. The Beggars are everywhere, and everyone seems grim. There are old ladies beside the exits selling bridal-style bouquets of flowers. They are actually quite adorable (the flowers). There are clocks beside each track which count UP the time.. they are always between a minute and three minutes when I have seen them. The escalators move at about double the speed as back home. I guess the communists needed to get their people to the production lines fast every morning, and no matter how I time it, I almost fall every time I step on. It is funny how one's body is used to doing a ting (like stepping onto an elevator) and how it does not take kindly to change.
Today I started at the Old Synagogue. It was built in the mid-18öös and it is a Turkish-style orthodox synagogue. It was amazing. Funnily enough, the bathrooms in ot were swarmong with mosquitos, but otherwise the synagogue was fantastic. The ceiling was painted blue with silver stars and there were stained glass windows and an organ (orthodox though), and three stories of seating. I believe it seats 3ööö. It was built on the site of Theodore Herzl's house, and involves a smaller synagogue in the back, as well as a memorial garden and a cemetary (with gravestones propped up against the trees - in WWII there were just no bodies to bury a lot of the time)
There was also a museum with relics rescued from the Nazis. At the start of the war two ladies from the National Museum crept in and packed everything in wooden boxes which they hid in the basement of the National Museum, saving them. Old tallits and menorahs. On the outside of the synagogue were stars and elk and lions and Jewish symbols (even in the grilling fo the gate) mixed with turkish architecture. There were plaques celebrating the different Hungarian war heros.
After seeing that I walked around the neighbourhood, and then took the tram to one of the Jewish Cemetaries. I got off at the wrong one actually and explored it, then hopped back on the tram and went on to the other one. The first cemetary was very Blair Witch-y. I mean, I know that cemetaries are not supposed to be scary, but this one was COMPLETELY overgrown. As I pushed through the trees I got a huge thorn in my thumb, and kept tripping over brambles. There were lizards everywhere and doves and other larger things crashing through the brush as I passed. At one point there was almost impassible trees on every side and I did not know if I could get back to the path. Ther graves were all toppled and there were OPEN crypts. It was very strange.
After that visited the Hologaust centre, which had a display on about the Romanies (gypsies), not in English at all.
After THAT I tried to walk to the craft store in a mall, and it was not there. The mall, I mean. The building was just a huge apartment. I had walked almnost 2 hours.
Supper was fantastic - cold pear and cream soup and salad, at a trendy restaurant, with tip for 6$!
Now I am back here to fix the suitcase and to plan tomorrow morning. I am going to see the amusement park and a spa I think.
There is so much more to write. I will have to update this later with details...
First the subway. It looks like Eastern Europe. The Beggars are everywhere, and everyone seems grim. There are old ladies beside the exits selling bridal-style bouquets of flowers. They are actually quite adorable (the flowers). There are clocks beside each track which count UP the time.. they are always between a minute and three minutes when I have seen them. The escalators move at about double the speed as back home. I guess the communists needed to get their people to the production lines fast every morning, and no matter how I time it, I almost fall every time I step on. It is funny how one's body is used to doing a ting (like stepping onto an elevator) and how it does not take kindly to change.
Today I started at the Old Synagogue. It was built in the mid-18öös and it is a Turkish-style orthodox synagogue. It was amazing. Funnily enough, the bathrooms in ot were swarmong with mosquitos, but otherwise the synagogue was fantastic. The ceiling was painted blue with silver stars and there were stained glass windows and an organ (orthodox though), and three stories of seating. I believe it seats 3ööö. It was built on the site of Theodore Herzl's house, and involves a smaller synagogue in the back, as well as a memorial garden and a cemetary (with gravestones propped up against the trees - in WWII there were just no bodies to bury a lot of the time)
There was also a museum with relics rescued from the Nazis. At the start of the war two ladies from the National Museum crept in and packed everything in wooden boxes which they hid in the basement of the National Museum, saving them. Old tallits and menorahs. On the outside of the synagogue were stars and elk and lions and Jewish symbols (even in the grilling fo the gate) mixed with turkish architecture. There were plaques celebrating the different Hungarian war heros.
After seeing that I walked around the neighbourhood, and then took the tram to one of the Jewish Cemetaries. I got off at the wrong one actually and explored it, then hopped back on the tram and went on to the other one. The first cemetary was very Blair Witch-y. I mean, I know that cemetaries are not supposed to be scary, but this one was COMPLETELY overgrown. As I pushed through the trees I got a huge thorn in my thumb, and kept tripping over brambles. There were lizards everywhere and doves and other larger things crashing through the brush as I passed. At one point there was almost impassible trees on every side and I did not know if I could get back to the path. Ther graves were all toppled and there were OPEN crypts. It was very strange.
After that visited the Hologaust centre, which had a display on about the Romanies (gypsies), not in English at all.
After THAT I tried to walk to the craft store in a mall, and it was not there. The mall, I mean. The building was just a huge apartment. I had walked almnost 2 hours.
Supper was fantastic - cold pear and cream soup and salad, at a trendy restaurant, with tip for 6$!
Now I am back here to fix the suitcase and to plan tomorrow morning. I am going to see the amusement park and a spa I think.
There is so much more to write. I will have to update this later with details...
posted by Melamondiale @ 11:21 AM
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