Around The World 2011 Day 29: Budapest, Hungary

Today is our last full day in Budapest, and as Sir Isaac Newton suggested, our bodies at rest very much want to stay at rest.  After all we have visited everything on our list, our feet are still recovering from what we did to them in Rome, and the Four Seasons bed is pretty darn comfortable.

But we thought about it and decided to walk around the neighborhood a little.  After all, if we walk five minutes in any direction we see something pretty great.

For days I have been promising hotel shots.  Here is one.  How is that for a hotel lobby?  The Four Seasons Gresham Palace Budapest is definitely one of the most attractive hotels I have seen.  Every detail is perfect.

Our aim was breakfast at the same café as yesterday.  That happens to taken us to Saint Stephen's Basilica as well.  And when I see a person taking a photograph, I always want a picture of them doing so.  Sure, you could call me a voyeur of sort, but what is photography other than semi-permanent voyeurism?

Remember when I posed with this guy yesterday?  Now everyone wants a turn.

Yet they do not stick out their belly to match the statue's belly.  I just noticed right now, but the brass of his belly looks as if it has been significantly rubbed.  Did I miss an opportunity to have good luck by not rubbing his belly?

Breakfast, same as yesterday.  Except we each got our own croissants today.

Next to us at the café was this man who, yes, looked exactly like his dog.  The dog was incredibly mellow, laying in the center of the street and not caring as people walked by.

Now... we walk to the Parliament Building.  There is even a slight chance we will take a tour of it.

This sign sits in front of the restaurant next to Kyoto, last night's Japanese restaurant.  All of these things -- Kyoto, Our Breakfast Place, Saint Stephen's, this Hungarian restaurant -- all sit in the three short blocks next to our hotel.

Ötkert is the name of the restaurant.  It is also a bar and club.  As we walked away, we pretty much decided to return for lunch.

A few minutes later, with a few raindrops falling, we came to the Parliament Building.

You have seen it a dozen times on the Waste, but not this close before.  Stop complaining.

In front of the Parliament Building is this Eternal Flame to those lost in the Revolution of 1956, when the people demonstrated against the Soviet controlled government and paid dearly when Russia sent in the Red Army.  Before they were crushed, the revolt managed to bring down the government, wrestle control from the Communist Party, disband the State Police, and form a new government sworn to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and hold free elections.  I am beside myself thinking about this, and that the West allowed them to be crushed by the Soviet army.

Hungary never gave up.  I think I have failed to mention that it was Hungary who made the first and most bold step to take down the Iron Curtain.  In May 1988, Hungary began taking down its barbed wire fence along the Austrian border, and in September announced that East Germans who crossed into Hungary would not be forced back but would instead be free to go to the West, hastening the fall of the Berlin wall.  All of this was done while communicating with Mikhail Gorbachev, who made it clear that he would let Hungary determine its own fate.  And it did.  And the USSR and its satellite states of the Warsaw Pact all became democracies in the following years.  The children of those Hungarians killed in 1956 accomplished what their parents had begun.

Barbie and I talked about this on a park bench, looking at the flame, and we could not help but think of the events in Egypt this year.  .

Across from the Parliament Building is this museum, whose neo-classical style makes me think of Berlin.

By the way, the line for tours of the Parliament Building was long and not moving.  Not our scene to stand and wait.  Barbie asked if there was anything else around to visit.  I checked the map and saw a public square just two blocks away that looked pretty big.

He did not say much, but he did show me which way to look for the best view.

He never takes his eyes off that Parliament Building's dome.

As we walked, the rain disappeared and the sun came out!

We arrived at Szabadság tér, the square in question, and received quite a surprise.  Szabadság tér means Freedom Square, and look who is here.

Ronald Reagan.

In 1946, this memorial to the Soviet troops lost during the Siege of Budapest was erected.  Understandably, I suppose, considering that the Soviet troops freed Hungary from the Nazis.  However...

This memorial is surrounded by a fence likely because the Soviet Army replaced the Nazis with a repressive, totalitarian Communist regime.  Clearly someone had a bit of mischief in mind when they placed the Ronald Reagan statue smiling and looking directly at the Soviet Soldier's Memorial.

This Soviet Memorial replaced a Hungarian monument to the Hungarian territories lost to World War I.  Clearly the USSR had such control over Hungary that they were able to get them to remove their own monument and replace it with a Soviet Memorial.

And in June 2011, last month, the Reagan statue was added.  Had we come here much earlier than July 2011, we would not have seen this wonderful act of public irony.

These doggies care little for politics.  The doggy on his hind legs looks like he has take karate.

These flowers are a color red that the iPhone simply could not capture.  For those of you who want me to lug a larger, heavier camera around the world, this is the first picture that truly needed it.  But it is likely that the picture with Barbie's Olympus will be better.

At the end of Freedom Square is this wonderful fountain.

We have all seen this style of fountain before, but the designers of this one were especially creative.  Sections of fountain lower at random, creating a door in the water for people to step inside the fountain, soon to be trapped until another door opens.

I went inside only to get this shot for YOU, loyal Waste reader.

Talk about narrow-casting, this picture is just for my handful of friends who read The Song of Ice and Fire and have been waiting years for this very book.  I thought you all would enjoy seeing it in a Hungarian shop window.

I admire a city that can place different eras of architecture side-by-side and make it work.

This is my third day in Budapest, but my first time seeing Saint Stephen's Basilica in the sunshine.  Think back to the gray sky pics of yesterday (and this morning) and look at how much more beautiful this building looks when framed by a blue sky.

Even the brass cop prefers the blue skies.

Time for lunch!

We sat in the lovely inner courtyard.

Barbie go the Wiener schnitzel.

I got the Hungarian beef ragout with egg barley.

Both dishes were delicious, and I finally got some traditional Hungarian beef.  Hurrah!  The food here is delicious.  I am comfortable saying that Ötkert has given me my best meal in Budapest.

Ötkert is clearly super-hip, and they were playing great music the whole time.  It was obvious at night it becomes quite the crowded nightclub.  You know how difficult it always is to fie the Men's and Women's restrooms in a dark, clouded club?

Ötkert has solved the problem with the gigantic paintings of a Lego-ish boy and girl.  (Update: These are Playmobil figures.  Correctly identified thanks to pop culture aficionado Kate Thornbery.)

Before we call it a day, we though we would stroll across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge.  AFter all, we have taken pictures from one side to the other, but never crossed the bridge itself.

I love shots like this.  I sed to be able to get them on purpose with the iPhone 3G, but the iPhone 4's sensors are much quicker and bent/twisted/stretched photos are difficult to come by.

The recorded voice on the tourist bus told the story of this bridge, and at the end there is a tale that when the sculptor who created the four lions (to represent the four seasons) finished his work, he declared his work so perfect that if there was anything at all inaccurate about the lions he would jump into the Danube.  At that moment, a bridge worker looked up and said, "The lions have no tongues."  The sculptor lowered his head and jumped into the river.  Apparently he made his dare knowing that he was a good swimmer.

And that is why Barbie is pointing at her tongue, looking like a punk rocker disgusted with the Bourgeoisie. 

Our hotel from the bridge.  I should have pointed to our balcony.

There.  Error corrected. 

The sun came our and made the clouds beautiful.

Matthais Church.   I could have cropped this isnot a zoom, but I thought you would like to see the buildings, too.

Love the lions, especially against the blue sky and clouds.  And look!  Bottom left!  Picture 73 of Parliament.

The crab got her finger!   I never did find out online who is placing these painted pests along the Danube, and why they are doing it.

Adam Clark Square, with the funicular behind us.

Few WC signs are as easily understood as this one.

Elizabeth Bridge, the only one not restored after the war to its original design.  And up on Gellért Hill you can see the Peace Monument.

You have to look closely here, and see how the clouds are lit from behind by the sun.  At some point you should realize this is an impossible photo, that either Buda Castle would be dark against the sky or the sky would be plain whit against the castle.  Yep, I am going on about HDR again.  You are looking at two pictures taken at different exposures stitched together pixel by pixel.  Thank you, Pro HDR.

After returning to the hotel, it time to relax the tired muscles in the pool and spa.

I told you that the pool was up in the attic.

An amazing thing about this four sided infinity pool is that every wave ends at the edge.  They never bounce back from the infinity edge, instead spilling over.  This pool goes from thrashing waves to calm almost instantly.  I kind of wanted video of this, but recording video of strangers in pools is not welcomed at your five star hotels.  Even I know that.

By the pool Barbie noticed a menu for tonight's tasting menu in the Gresham restaurant.  The dishes looked great and it did not look that expensive.

At 7:30 PM we were the first to dine.

The bread came with two dips, one based on bacon and the other on ricotta.

The first course, foie gras torchon and crispy cocoa with citrus compote. That disk to the right is foie gras surrounded in unsweetened cocoa disks, like a high-class Oreo.

The second course, beef carpaccio with mustard, honey ice crea, and pepper toast.  Also note the teeny hard boiled eggs.

The third course, summer squash risotto with truffle and cinnamon parfume.

The fourth,  potato and almond cappuccino.  This was not coffee, it was soup with cappuccino foam atop it.

The fifth and main course, grilled fillet of pork tenderloin with fruit ragout, pastilla and roasted apricot cream.

The sixth course, dessert, praline mousse with coffee cream and maracuja sorbet.

I hate to say this.  I really do, but the above meal looks wonderful and sounds wonderful, but I was disappointed.  I will not go too far into it, but besides the foie gras in crispy cocoa, I cannot say any of it fell into the you have to try this category.  And I feel when you spring for the tasting menu at the restaurant of a Four Seasons you can fairly expect a meal to rave about.

The last night in Budapest, spent in the customary manner.

Tomorrow we fly to London.  I have buzzed the hair on my face to a short, acceptably Western length to minimize my suspiciousness.  We dark skinned people have to take extra steps now and then, and it was only a few days ago I had spent four solid weeks in the sun.

Until tomorrow.