An older version of all the wealth and affluence that exists around here. Parked right at our front door.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Old Porsche at our Building
An older version of all the wealth and affluence that exists around here. Parked right at our front door.
Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion
So amazingly lit up at night and viewed from across the Danube River.
St. Stephen's Basilica at Night
Wine tasting festival and great live music in the square tonight. Could not have been more fun.
Puppy Look-a-like at Deak Ferenc Square
By far the hardest person in the world to leave while on this year-long adventure, my Cocker Spaniel, Puppy. Miss you, Pup!
Also, a pretty dramatic occurrence on this night. Some alcoholic bum sat along the church wall with a dog laying limply in his lap and set out a paper cup looking for coins. Something seemed off about the whole thing, and eventually it became apparent that the dog was perfectly healthy, and he was simply using it as a prop for sympathy. But beyond that, whenever the dog heard a sound, like another dog bark nearby, it would try to perk its head up and look around, like any healthy dog would do. Immediately the bum would cover the dog's head, press it back down into his lap, until it laid there lamely. While frustrated, I couldn't do anything about it really. Until his friend's dog started barking across the square and the dog in his lap kept trying to spring up. The bum was REALLY rough with his dog, pushing it down, hitting it, and finally punched it in the face with a fist. Apparently I wasn't the only one who had had enough of this and sprang up to rush at him. One woman had arrived first and was kindly saying, "You shouldn't hit your dog." When I got there, I was enraged, and started shouting and cursing and threatening him. I even took his cup of coins and told him he didn't deserve them. He couldn't speak any English, and my Hungarian is non-existent, but we were at each other. A Hungarian man walked up and started scolding him, and I took a moment to squat down and pet the perfectly healthy dog. Another drunk friend of the bum showed up and some pushing followed, and I desperately wanted him to push me so I had every excuse to hit him. He must of recognized that and just kept pushing and fake punching at the Hungarian man. This led to him freaking out and screaming around the square for minutes and finally exchanging the dog he was beating with his friend's dog and taking off. So at least he stopped hitting it. Later on we passed him sitting in front of a supermarket across the street with the other dog. I stared and cursed at him as we walked past, but of course he couldn't even recognize the English. When we walked past a final time on our way home it took every ounce of control not to kick his face and just destroy the bastard. Even now, I'm shaking writing about it I'm so furious at him. Some things are just unacceptable and people need to act.
Trash
After a full day of festivities around Deak Ferenc Ter. About the only negative thing we saw in Budapest the entire week.
Deak Ferenc Square
Right next to the main (and only) transfer station for all three of the metro lines, we ended up more often then not passing our time here watching countless people, street performers, musicians, and everything else. Perfect spot.
Behind the Jewish Synagogue
A monument to the victims of the Holocaust located behind the large Jewish synagogue.
Kodaly Korond Metro Station
Kodaly Korond station is along the historic Line 1 of Budapest's Metro system. Currently three lines stretch around the city, and a fourth is under construction. Line 1 is remarkable as it is the oldest (1896) electrified underground railway system built on continental Europe and is the second oldest in the world after London's underground rail system. Rather small stations and short trains that rumble by quite often.
Anti-U.S. Intervention in Syria at Russian Embassy
A small but boisterous contingent protesting in front of the Russian Embassy voicing their displeasure of the potential U.S. intervention in the ongoing Syrian conflict.
Wedding Party Bus
Keeping in tune with all of the summer weddings in this part of the world, we saw a particularly lively group celebrating in a topless bus that passed us near Heroes' Square. Congratulations!
Timewheel
A giant time wheel filled with sand that measures the passing of an entire year. Despite its massive size and more than considerable weight (60 tons), it must be manually rotated 180 degrees each year to start the count for a new year.
Try as we might, we could not see any sand falling, and only about a fifth or less of the sand had fallen into the bottom half despite us being here on August 31st. Good thing everyone uses clocks.
Snack
Foods like this, a giant pretzel-like thing with cheese drizzled and baked on top, are basically given away for free here.
Anonymous Statue
Monument to an unknown 12th century monk who is credited with writing 'Gesta Hungarorum', the first story of the Hungarians.
Vajdahunyad Castle
Incredible castle that made use of Gothic, Baroque, Renaissance, and even Romanesque styles.
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