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<\/a><\/p>\nWhat follows here is a m\u00e9lange.\u00a0 It incorporates photos from several days wandering, stories gleaned from free tours (or more accurately, pay as you like), and from a mix of flipping through the Hungarian language guidebook my AirBNB host left me and my own google searches of the internet (which very often prompted Hungarian results that I would filter into English only or English translation).\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice my shirt color sometimes changes, or my hair goes from having an awful day to at best a middlingly bad one.\u00a0 The script continuity team dropped the ball, what can I say?<\/p>\n
My general impressions of the city are frustrations.\u00a0 Whether that\u2019s due to the amount of time I\u2019ve been living out of my duffle bag or the people proper I cannot say with any certainty.\u00a0 But the noise has gotten to me and that could be a result of a little from column A and a little from column B above.\u00a0 Shouting at friends\/colleagues\/associates over cigarettes and beer, bicycles\u2019 bells to tell me to get out of the way, honking horns from gridlocked cars, police sirens\u2026 it all has me flinching.\u00a0 Walking the city, I\u2019m leery of jaywalking as Regie, my free tour guide, warned the police are inconsistently strict about it here in Budapest, writing tickets only occasionally but when they do the fines are super steep.\u00a0 The crosswalk lights are seemingly designed to make it so you might make it across but if you follow the flickering and flashing greens leading to ominous reds, you\u2019re really only supposed to make it to the halfway traffic island on any given light\u2026 no matter how few lanes the road may be.\u00a0 It\u2019s maddening and infuriating and all the more difficult as the shouting, bike bells, honking, sirens reverberate round.<\/p>\n
And so as I begin collating the facts, figures, legends, and impressions of Budapest, I\u2019m also prepping for tomorrow\u2019s marathon which promises a running sightseeing tour of this city, the capital of Hungary.\u00a0 I\u2019m very stiff and sore, partly with age and partly with this crappy apartment I find myself in. \u00a0The biggest mistake I\u2019ve made on this trip, and there have been many doozies to be sure, might be that I didn\u2019t grab my stuff, forfeit the money I paid AirBNB, and go find some place else to stay.\u00a0 And this coming from a guy who stays at murder hotels.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if that will make it into my review of the stay but it should.<\/p>\n
Bottom line though \u2013 I\u2019m worried about the run tomorrow on a variety of fronts.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure that sinus infection has morphed into an ear infection.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure these aches and pains of age and sleepless nights in an uncomfortable bed aren\u2019t suddenly going to resolve themselves.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure Pest is pretty flat land but Buda is known for its hills and thus I may be looking at a bit more up and down action than I\u2019ve had in the last few races.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m just feeling\u2026 melancholic?\u00a0 Morose?\u00a0 Depressed?\u00a0 Again, the causes and reasons for these feelings are as numerous and mixed as the worries from above.<\/p>\n
But enough of that palaver.\u00a0 I should cut all of that as who cares?\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s because these scribbled 1s and 0s digital notes in a virtual bottle tossed into the sea of the internet are read by few if any and such ramblings are confined as it is.\u00a0 But I suppose I\u2019m including such thoughts as a personal record for me and as signpost that maybe it\u2019s time to cut back or really to abandon this whole thing.<\/p>\n
Enough, enough.\u00a0 On with the picture show.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s begin as my walking tour on October 12, 2017, did.\u00a0 This is St. Stephen\u2019s Basilica.\u00a0 Stephen was the first king of Hungary, the one who united the pagan tribes for Christianity in 896 and founded what would eventually be Budapest.\u00a0 That year and its numbers have great significance to the citizens of Hungary.\u00a0 As a result, there\u2019s an age old law that no building in the city can be higher than 96 meters.\u00a0 St Stephen\u2019s dome tops out at 96, making it the largest Roman Catholic Church in the city.\u00a0 The Parliament building is also 96 meters tall, representing the balance and equality of church and state.\u00a0 But I’ve posted Parliament shots already so here’s St. Stephen’s Basilica:<\/p>\n
The church began construction in 1850 and it took 55 years to finish.\u00a0 The dome was a problem and has collapsed twice \u2013 once during construction as the architect was either a bit of a boozer or ill and made some bad calculations.\u00a0 The second time was in World War II, when like a lot of structures in town, the dome was destroyed.<\/p>\n Inside, one can see a famed relic \u2013 the right hand of St. Stephen.\u00a0 When he was canonized, the Roman Catholic Church dug him up and while most was just bones, his right hand had been preserved and mummified so now it\u2019s on display as a religious artifact.\u00a0 It\u2019s creepy and I don\u2019t understand why we do such things\u2026 but I went and took a photo.<\/p>\n I thought this sign was a weird right hand pointing out the direction I needed to follow to find, well, the right hand.\u00a0 Turns out it’s a shushing “please be quiet in the church” image.<\/p>\n While the \u201ctourist stop\u201d signs are actually warnings to \u201cdo not enter\u201d they might as well have been notices of tourist traps.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n From there we walked the road to one of the most famous of modern Hungarians \u2013 Uncle Charlie.\u00a0 Charlie was a rotund, jolly police officer, friend to young and old, and lover to many a lady.\u00a0 The lengend goes that his statue is said to be good luck if you rub his belly\u2026 and it\u2019s doubly favorable if you twirl his moustache, his patented move to woo the ladies.\u00a0 But be careful \u2013 stand on his right side if you\u2019re a woman of good moral fiber.\u00a0 If you stand on his left, it means you\u2019re a lady of the night.<\/p>\n FYI \u2013 Uncle Charlie is actually a statue from 2008, the figure modeled on the artist\u2019s grandfather.\u00a0 To be fair, his grandpapa was a policeman but it\u2019s unclear if he was the Don Juan of Justice or not.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Elizabeth Square is named for Queen Elizabeth.\u00a0 Not QE of England, Queen Elizabeth of Astro-Hungary, a nation formed in the 1840s during the one time in Hungarian history that they didn\u2019t lose a revolution or war; in this case it was more of a draw, enabling them to get parity with Austria.\u00a0 As it was a double-monarchy, Queen Elizabeth split her time within the borders of two countries.\u00a0 Her nickname was Cici, and apparently she was a big fan of the Budapest, and of this park area in particular.\u00a0 Was it because it was where she had her secret rendez vous with her lover, the Prime Minister?\u00a0 Probably, as who historically isn\u2019t sleeping with whom on this free tour?<\/p>\n In any case, Elizabeth Square \u00a0is also home to the Budapest Eye.\u00a0 As my guide said, \u201cI\u2019m not going to lie, we just copied the London Eye\u2026 but it\u2019s small and so no one cared.\u201d\u00a0 Fair enough.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a big fountain to Danubius, the god of the Danube.\u00a0 The sprites under him represent the three longest rivers in the country thereafter.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a quick note on the Hungarian language.\u00a0 I previously mentioned this but the fastest way to learn what linguists have called one of the top three toughest languages to learn in the world (Slovatkian is apparently ALWAYS the gold standard number 1 toughest but Hungarian vacillates between silver and bronze).\u00a0 You take three shots of unicum.\u00a0 But I actually think our guide said we should drink p\u00e1linka <\/em>which she said was to Hungary what vodka is to Russia.\u00a0 P\u00e1linka<\/em> is apparently a flavored fruit brandy with all kinds of variations.\u00a0 Point is after three shots of Hungaraian liquor, you\u2019ll swear you speak the language like a local.<\/p>\n Oh, and there\u2019s 44 letters in the Hungarian alphabet.\u00a0 The longest Hungarian word is Megszents\u00e9gtelen\u00edthetetlens\u00e9gesked\u00e9seitek\u00e9rt <\/em>which is 44 letters long (I don\u2019t know if it has all the letters of the alphabet or not) but it means \u201cfor your [plural] continued behaviour as if you could not be desecrated.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know how to parse that definition let alone how to say the word.<\/p>\n Hell, I can\u2019t even say humuhumunukunukuapuaa<\/em>, the Hawaiian fish with the 21 letter long name, which is pronounced as \u201cwho moo who moo new coo new coo ah poo ah ah.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also apparently a Hungarian word with 28 letters that means “you should put less cabbage in than you have to.\u201d\u00a0 I can\u2019t find that on google though.<\/p>\n Anyway, here\u2019s some handy phrases Regi our guide on the walking tour gave us:<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n I\u2019ve previously written about my disappointment with various Hungarian dishes and drinks.\u00a0 But I did finally today have what Regie called \u201ccommunist pizza.\u201d\u00a0 Its real name is l\u00e1ngos<\/em>, a deep fried dough that you can put various toppings on.\u00a0 The classic is just cheese on it but I went with cheese and mushrooms.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n The oldest underground metro in CONTINENTAL Europe is in Budapest.\u00a0 Regie kept emphasizing the “CONTINENTAL Europe” designation on a few things; she said this is a sure sign that there\u2019s an older one in the United Kingdom but since they\u2019re not on the continent, well\u2026<\/p>\n The metro was built in 1896 to help with congestion brought about for the Budapest exhibition honoring the 1000th<\/sup> Anniversary of the founding of the city.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Back on the Pest side, this is the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n Some things invented\/discovered by Hungarians according to my tour guide:<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n This is the famed Chain Bridge.<\/p>\n The story goes that In the 19th<\/sup> Century there were no permanent bridges in Budapest, only temporary ones.\u00a0 A rich Pest man got news he father was sick in Austria and dying.\u00a0 It took three weeks for the ice to break and for the man to get across to Buda to then get to Vienna.\u00a0 By that point, his father was dead.\u00a0 He promised to build a permanent bridge to honor his father and thus the Chain Bridge was envisioned and constructed.<\/p>\n There are four lions on the bridge.\u00a0 Guide books will say the architect was so proud of his work on these lions that if anyone found a mistake, he\u2019d immediately throw himself off the bridge and commit suicide.\u00a0 A boy walking with his mother one day said, \u201cBut the lions don\u2019t have any tongues.\u201d\u00a0 And thus the man jumped off and killed himself.\u00a0 This is just an urban legend for a variety of reasons.\u00a0 The lions DO have tongues they\u2019re just hard to see from below \u2013 you need to climb up and see them.\u00a0 And the architect didn\u2019t commit suicide.\u00a0 But it\u2019s one of the most famous stories told in Budapest.\u00a0 It just happens to be a lie.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Heading over the Chain Bridge, you cross the Danube from Pest (pronounced, please, \u201cPestH\u201d not \u201cPest.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cPeople who says Pest are pests\u2026.\u201d)<\/p>\n The Buda Castle which is on Castle Mountain is neither on a mountain nor a Castle.\u00a0 It was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt as a historical museum and houses the national library amongst other things.\u00a0 It\u2019s a Castle built on lies.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n The Liberty Statue, which I walked up to on the day before the Marathon (I\u2019ve never been a smart man), sits atop Gell\u00e9rt Hill, which rises 235 meters above the Danube.<\/p>\n The Soviets erected it as a present to the people when they liberated the country from the Nazis.\u00a0 According to Wikipedia<\/a>, the original plaque said:<\/p>\n A FELSZABAD\u00cdT\u00d3 which can be translated to read, “To the memory of the liberating Soviet heroes [erected by] the grateful Hungarian people [in] 1945”.<\/p>\n Over the following years, public sentiment toward the Soviets decreased to the point of revolution, which was attempted and temporarily succeeded in 1956 and subsequently damaged some portions of the monument. After the 1989 transition from communist rule to democracy, the inscription was modified to read:<\/p>\n MINDAZOK EML\u00c9K\u00c9RE<\/p>\n AKIK Translated from Hungarian: “To the memory of those all who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n ***<\/p>\n A few notes on the differences between Buda and Pest.\u00a0 Pest is flat while Buda is hilly.\u00a0 Buda had been a historical royal port for centuries and it\u2019s considered the more desirable and therefore pricier property\u00a0market.\u00a0 The Buda side is pretty snobby about it.\u00a0 They can often be heard saying things like, “The only good thing in Pest is view of Buda hills.”\u00a0 Sigh.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a fault line running under the Danube so there are a lot of thermal hot springs.\u00a0 As a result, there are a number of bath houses in the city.\u00a0 I maybe should\u2019ve tried going to one as they\u2019re open to the public (for a fee) but it just didn\u2019t seem like my thing this trip.\u00a0 I enjoyed the Blue Lagoon in Iceland so I\u2019m sure it would\u2019ve been fine but\u2026 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I skipped it.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Having climbed up Castle Mountain, we took in the view.\u00a0 The famed Budapest Funicular was closed for repairs but Regie said she thought it was overpriced for the trip anyway so we lucked out.\u00a0 I skipped the one in Zagreb so I probably would\u2019ve skipped this one too.\u00a0 One of these days I need to look at doing the one in Los Angeles<\/a> though.<\/p>\n In 1806, this building was built for Count Vincor Sandor and thus is now known as S\u00e1ndor Palace<\/em>.\u00a0 I was bummed to google this later as I thought Regie said \u201cShandor palace!\u201d and I thought it was based on the name of Ivo Shandor, the architect in Ghostbusters<\/em> (the real one, the one from 1984).\u00a0 Today it\u2019s the official residence for the Hungarian President.\u00a0 But like that office itself (the real power is with the Prime Minister), the palace is more ceremonial than anything else.\u00a0 There\u2019s a changing of the guard every hour but it\u2019s mainly for the tourists.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n The most popular statue on the Buda side is of Andr\u00e1s Hadik.\u00a0 And in actuality the fame comes from his horse\u2019s, um, testicles.\u00a0 The legend says that in Communist era Hungary, when rock music was banned, kids would look to screw up their courage to try and evade the Secret Police to get to the club and would therefore rub this horse\u2019s, well, there\u2019s no other way to say this, they\u2019d rub the horse\u2019s balls.\u00a0 Apparently it comes from the literal translation of \u201cclubber\u201d in Hungarian which is something akin to \u201cballs of horse.\u201d\u00a0 True, not true?\u00a0 Who knows.\u00a0 But those testicles are rubbed shiny bright that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n End of semester exams coming up?\u00a0 Students make a pilgrimage.\u00a0 Anyone who needs a bit of luck in fact.\u00a0 Supposedly it\u2019s illegal to climb up and touch the balls but here\u2019s a shot of a father hoisting up his daughter so his wife could snap a photo.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Just around the corner is the Matthias Church.<\/p>\n Originally named the Church of our Lady when it was built in the 13th<\/sup> Century, it was renamed after King Matthias made Budapest a renaissance center in the 15th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 Matthias was a big fan of the place \u2013 had his coronation and BOTH of his weddings here.<\/p>\n In 1526, the Ottomans occupied Budapest and tore off any Christianity symbols to rebrand the place as a mosque.\u00a0 Upon their exit 150 years later, the place was retrofitted back into a catholic church.\u00a0 The colorful roof is due to the porcelain tile work of the Hungarian artisans.<\/p>\n In 1896, to commemorate the 1000th<\/sup> Anniversary of Hungary\u2019s founding, the area was commissioned to be renovated once more.\u00a0 The Fisherman\u2019s Bastion was added, a series of watch towers where in medieval times lookouts would watch for fishing boats to come in.\u00a0 There\u2019s some great views from here.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n One of the things I had listed on my to see list was the Heroes’ Gate.\u00a0 It turns out it was right nest to the marathon expo and start line so I got to revisit the place when it was a bit more lively.\u00a0 Nestle was out in full force was a cadre of foam mascots.\u00a0 But the costumes felt like a feverish addict’s version of the characters.\u00a0 If heroes’ gate was just ahead, this was heroin’s gate.<\/p>\n The Heroes’ Gate was all well and good – but like Piccadilly Circus being a lame “circus” with nary an elephant or ring master in sight, the Heroes’ Gate is really just a big square with imposing phalanxes of statues of, well, Hungarian heroes.<\/p>\n Just through the gate one could find the grounds to the Hungarian agricultural museum.<\/p>\n It’s a charmingly medieval structure… and is also home to the famed statute of Anonymous.\u00a0 Legend says if you hold onto his pencil you’ll be made a great writer.\u00a0 Given this blog post either it’s another unlikely urban superstition or maybe it takes awhile to have an effect.<\/p>\n This is also where I met another terrible citizen ambassador for Hungary. This guy was husking with his violin right beside Anonymous.\u00a0 Twice he asked me where I was from and I told him as I was waiting to take a photo.\u00a0 He’d ask other people and play a quick snippet of a local tune soliciting tips and offering to take a funny photo with you.\u00a0 When I got a chance to snap a photo with Anonymous. A nice guy offered to take it for me.\u00a0 As I’m sitting down, this fiddler jumps in front of the camera and asks me where I’m from. I tell him I’m just trying to take a photo– and then he starts cussing me out, saying how awful the English are, rants and raves in Hungarian,’says I haven o respect. He heads off in a huff, still cursing and gesticulating with his bow threateningly. The nice guy snaps my photo, I thank him and then decide screw it.\u00a0 I say to the angry violinist, “now what did you want to ask me?”\u00a0 He again curses me, but this time sheepishly and quietly.\u00a0 I tell him he should be ashamed of the way he behaved but I hope he had a better day hereafter.\u00a0 It was an awful experience but only the first of the day’s dealings with indignant Hungarians.<\/p>\n For dinner I was debating what to do and ultimately settled on a food truck alley that offered an assortment of options.\u00a0 I picked another lanos, this time with roasted red peppers.\u00a0 The guy working the truck ignored me for two minutes while he continued grating cheese.\u00a0 Then after I ordered he scolded me for standing too close to the truck and told me to come back I five minutes.\u00a0 When I did, he demanded proof I paid even though he was the one who took my money.<\/p>\n I’m just about done here.\u00a0 I’m headed to the crappy Airbnb and turning in early.\u00a0 I’ll run a marathon tomorrow.\u00a0 Then I’ll look forward to leaving here on Monday night.\u00a0 I’ve decided after being scammed out of money several times over that I’m skipping the London Heathrow hotel as I think an asteroid might strike it if I stay there.\u00a0 Instead maybe I’ll do one of my airport terminal walk-a-thons at midnight Greenwich Mean Time.<\/p>\n For now though, to bed and to run.\u00a0 Enough, enough.<\/p>\n After 150 years of occupation by the Ottomans, after a series of events long after that, and after a bloody decisive battle, two cities divided by the Danube River, Pest on the East bank and Buda on the West, united in 1873.\u00a0 This new supercity was called Budapest. \u00a0 What follows here is a m\u00e9lange.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/a><\/a> <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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