Budapest.1 (Throw a Look in Here!)

After my time in Geneva and Slovakia, I went to Budapest to visit Elizabeth Bennett. She showed me both Buda and Pest (Budapest was formed by combining these two cities in 1873). We stayed in Buda--Buda is on a hill, with a much smaller old town, but with a lovely view over the river that separates it from Pest, which is bigger and flatter.



Elizabeth Bennett and I walked around as much of both parts of the city as we could, admiring the architecture (both of us are partial to Secession architecture, of which there is a good bit, as you might imagine).















I loved the opera houses' vaulting with its tiny decoration.



















The coffee houses in the city were as nice as any I've ever seen--only Vienna's coffee houses could rival Budapest's.

We went to see several coffee houses, as Elizabeth Bennett is quite addicted. One thing I like very much about her is the charming phrases that she uses--when we would come to a new place that she wanted to show me, but quickly, she would say, "Throw a look in there."


Here is a view up to Buda from Pest.








This is all that remains from a church that was bombed during WW2. Only the tower and a single window remain.










This is a gate to the Royal Palace. I didn't think that the Royal Palace itself was particularly lovely (plus there was a habit in Hungary of hanging large banners advertising exhibitions over the building; I think we do it in DC, as well; either way, it doesn't lead to wonderful photographs).








These were the handles to an enormous door to the grounds of the Royal Palace.










This is a small portion of an enormous fountain at the Royal Palace of a rural hunting scene.










This bird, overlooking the river from the palace was huge--the picture doesn't really capture it. It was so large and a little cartoonish. I liked it quite a bit. I think that souvenir shops should have sold small replicas of this statue, because I certainly would have bought one.








Matthias Church.







The Parliament building. I couldn't leave it out. A) It is really lovely. B) The Hungarian people who I met are incredibly proud of this building. It is on nearly every single souvenir you can buy.







On a boat trip to a small city that is north of Hungary with Elizabeth Bennett I ran into one of Wystan's colleagues, as well as the professor who, at that very moment, Wystan was housesitting for back in the U.S. Quite surprising!