Easter in Budapest

21 April, 2006. 11.24 am. Trnava, Slovakia.

For the past few weeks I have been rather busy, having taken on several new teaching assignments, but last week, Kevin (a friend from my MA days at Trent University) came to Slovakia for a visit. He arrived at the Bratislava airport on Tuesday 11 April and was greeted by Miro, who once again went out of his way to help me (since I was teaching all Tuesday evening and couldn't meet Kevin at the airport). On Wednesday Kevin (who taught for a year and a half in South Korea) came with me to Obchodna Akademia, where he met many of my students and co-workers. Of course, my students were happy to meet another Canadian/native speaker, so they were on their best behaviour--if only they'd be so well-behaved for me all the time! Wednesday evening Kevin and I were joined by Noah and Beth (two of the American missionaries in Trnava), Zuzana and her boyfriend (a current student and old friend from Modra), and the Ralbovska women (Viera, Janka, and Lenka) at Trnava's best restaurant, St. Lucia Chicken and Steak House.

On Thursday morning our car rental arrived (a 2006 Skoda Fabia) and we were on the road to Budapest. On the way, we stopped in Modra for a quick tour and to pick up some fine wine, and paid a short visit to Miro and Marek at their architecture firm in Bratislava. By early evening we were in Budapest, having had surprisingly little difficulty in navigating the Hungarian city's streets and finding our hostel in good time. Once settled into our room, we thought we'd take a walk around the downtown. Within 5 minutes (and I'm not exagerrating) we were accosted (or propositioned?) by two sets of "bar girls" and a man offering "perversion, sodomy, and pornography" on the street. What an introduction to Budapest! Strangely enough, during the day this same pedestrian street is filled with tourists, families, and cafe patios!

Friday was a little bit rainy, but we did a lot of walking on the Pest side of the city and saw the architecturally famous Hungarian Parliament and the Bascilica of St. Stephen. We then took what should have been a short drive to Szentendre to see the Hungarian Open-Air Ethnographical Museum--but we got a little lost on the way. Our map was tremendously detailed, but with bad traffic, detours, and so many strange Hungarian street names, we got a little turned around at times. Nonetheless, we found Szentendre and spent a nice afternoon wandering around the museum (a lot like Backus Mills, or Beaver Creek, for readers from Ontario). On Saturday we visited the Hungarian National Museum, which despite providing tremendous detail, somehow failed to tell a coherent story (and completed skipped over 1956!). I was a little disappointed. We then walked across to the other side of the Danube (to Buda) and wandered around the Royal Palace and Castle District. Here Kevin and I were both tremendously disappointed and felt cheated by the Buda Castle Labyrinth. Don't bother with this attraction if you are ever in Budapest! The Lonely Planet Hungary (which although useful is not very accurate in its assessments) described the Labyrinth as an historically significant system of caves below the Castle District--in reality it was a cheesy rip-off, complete with fake frescos, cave drawings, sculptures, and goofy descriptions....

On Sunday morning, before departing Budapest, we visited Statue Park (Szoborpark), which was a highlight for me. This is a park made up of old Communist statues of Lenin, Marx, Bela Kun and heroic workers, that once adorned the streets of Budapest but which were removed after 1989. Although it is located in the suburbs, it is well worth the effort to get there. http://www.szoborpark.hu/

Every evening we had a fantastic meal in Budapest and I feel that I'll have to go back to this fine city because there was just too much that I didn't get to see. On the way back to Trnava we stopped briefly in Visegrad and Esztergom, Hungary, got a little lost (due to a poor Slovak map) in south-central Slovakia, and had lunch in rainy Nitra.

After a late night of wine drinking (thanks to Vladana and her husband in Modra for some fine wine!), Kevin and I were treated to a detailed tour of downtown Trnava by Viera on Monday morning. I was grateful for Kevin's visit. Hard to believe, but this was the first time I'd stepped outside of Slovakia since I arrived in November!

In two weeks I'm due to spend a long weekend in Prague....

Kevin in Budapest.

Brendan at Szoborpark, Budapest.