Notes and Observations from Budapest - Part 1

We've been here about 10 days. Here are a few observations. 

Public Transportation 

We have been getting around exclusively on public transportation, no taxis or Ubers. This consists of trams that run on tracks around the city and in a couple of cases, point-to-point. Subways - there is an extensive subway system that serves both the inner city and radiates out to the suburbs. For everything else, there are buses, buses and buses. 

One of the older trams that runs along the Danube

And one of the newer trams.

Have you ever had that fleeting wish to just jump on a subway and ride? Something a kid would do or a couple of septuagenarians.  One beautiful thing for us is that all of these are free for seniors over 65. Both residents and non-residents (including foreigners,) ride for free. Thank goodness they don’t call us seniors. They call us pensioners here which is just as bad! But the benefits... and planning your trip is easy with either Google Maps or the BudapestGo app. 

Last night we went to dinner out near City Park. When we finished, we pulled up Google Maps and discovered that the bus stop was 100 meters away and it dropped us about the same distance from our apartment. 

One particular subway line is our favorite. The M1. It is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro subway. It was completed and dedicated by the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph in 1896. It was the first electric powered subway in Europe. It is obvious that it was built by digging the whole thing out from the top and not by tunneling. After some quick research, we could see this method is called the cut-and-cover method. Walking down the steps, you can see both the upper ground surface and the roof of the subway itself. Almost at the same time. Probably only 6’ to 8’ feet of earth over the subway and it supports the roadway for Andrássy Avenue. 

A pano shot of the M1 Opera Subway Station 

Two short old cars are all that will fit at the stations. The stations are small but clean and the beauty of the subway tiles is evident. It’s only about 100 meters from our apartment to the entrance so it is often a starting place for us. 

We also like starting on the 4 or 6 trams. These operate in a circular pattern around the inner city about every 6 to 7 minutes. Wherever we need to go, we can almost always connect via the 4 or the 6. Also about 100 meters from our apartment. 

We ventured out into the suburbs late last week to visit IKEA. Walking through IKEA, you would never know you are in a different country. Identical to the store we have shopped at in Denver except prices are in Forint instead of US Dollars. 

The Old Apartment 

The places we've stayed are all different. We had twice previously stayed in the same apartment and are friends with the landlord. That unit was unavailable, so we're staying somewhere new. Perhaps that change left us some of the anxiety we were feeling when we arrived. When you stay in the city, you are in an older building, probably over 100 years old, that has been updated with some modern conveniences but loaded with quirks. The heating is provided by baseboard radiators fed from a boiler. This time of year, it is not on. There is air-conditioning retrofitted to the buildings with the condenser unit on the patio. It's not central, but a single unit or maybe two to cool an apartment. Maybe it will cool the apartment, maybe it won’t. If it won’t then the windows are wide open and you’re praying for a breeze. You’re also hoping that noise off of the street is less tonight than it was last night. We're acclimating to the apartment that is loaded with a mix of the old and the new and situated directly above a busy terrace. 

The front of the apartment doesn't look like much, but like all real estate, it is about location, location, location.

When we first got here, we discovered that the washing machine would walk about three feet during the spin cycle. We can live with pushing it back into place and appreciate a 1,000 RPM spin cycle. 

With only a washer and no dryer our clothes are line-dried, usually on a drying rack inside the house. After the first twenty washings, the towels have the feel of sandpaper and line-drying doesn’t help that. 

Always something drying

A fun story from a prior visit to Budapest. We were in an apartment trying to turn on the radiator to get some warmth. You do that by turning a valve that allows the water to flow through. The valve broke and Malcolm immediately stuck his finger onto the open pipe to stop the water. Just like the little boy with his finger plugging the dike, Malcolm stood there, holding back the water flow, until we could come up with a solution. The temporary solution was a wine cork, stuck into the pipe, until we could turn off the water to this part of the system. You have to be creative. 

Don't let these stories of the apartment make you think we're disappointed or unhappy being here. That is not the case. When you can sit on your balcony, seven floors above the street and hear live classical music coming out of the Academy at almost any time, how can you not be happy.

Checkout at the Grocery Store 

The word for the day is Martinet. After you look it up, you’ll get it. 

You remember that cafeteria Martinet when you were a kid. The one who made sure things kept moving and everyone stayed in line. She’s now working checkout at the Spar grocery in Budapest! If you ever lived in the south, you know what we’re talking about. You stand in a checkout line, tapping your fingers on the cart, while the person in front of you carries on a long conversation with the clerk about the sale going on at the five-and-dime. It teaches patience as you listen to mundane stories and events. Budapest has a cure for that impatience.

The checkout clerk is seated. The conveyor is slightly lower than we’re used to seeing. The only observable movement is hands grabbing stuff off the conveyor and slinging it to the other side as it miraculously never misses a ring at the scanner. Using the same protocols as in the US, you place a divider between your groceries and the person in front of you and you rapidly load the conveyor. Our process is Malcolm loading the conveyor, Susanne is stationed on the receiving end, and the clerk, well, she’s between us seated at the other side of the conveyor. Items fly through the scanner fast. They look like F1 cars flying by. Once they come out the other end, Susanne is packing them back into the cart as quick as she can. As soon as the last item is scanned, Malcolm is positioned at the credit card reader, card in hand, and makes sure payment occurs. We tried paying with cash once, but the cashier didn’t have time for Malcolm to get the correct amount of currency counted out. There’s minimal tolerance for not being ready. The Martinet is there with a stern look to remind you that time is of the essence. Quickly, we scurry to a separate bagging station where we can load our own bags from the cart at our own pace. After a couple of deep breaths, we put our backpacks on, collect the rest of our bags and walk out of the store like we’d cheated death again. An experience to be repeated a couple of times a week. Sorry, but no pictures, we've each got dedicated tasks to complete and there's no time for that. 

The Haircut from Hell

Malcolm here. I went into a barber shop today asking for a trim. Over the last few years, I have noticed the trend for haircuts to be short on the sides and back and longer on top. I thought this was a good direction for younger people. Never for me. After this trim, we have a good chance to see how it looks on me. We are not impressed. I am good for the summer. In fact, as a kid, I used to get a buzz cut at the start of summers, so I guess I’m drifting back into childhood. It’s probably been 65 years since my hair was this short. Where was Zsuzsa when I needed her Hungarian!

Change is good for you! The beauty of hair, no matter how you lose it, is that it does grow back. We're getting into a groove and having fun. Sorry, no pictures of the haircut directly but we're sure it will show up in some selfies.

Random Thoughts

Public art is everywhere. This particular statue is of Imre Nagy who was the leader of the failed 1956 Revolution. 

Art in a park in one of the suburbs.

This weekend is a three-day-weekend. Whit Monday is a recognized national holiday in Hungary. Any holiday in Budapest is a reason for a festival of some kind. And they are happening all around. 

A couple of years ago we evaluated a move to the continent. For several reasons, it was not feasible, and particularly not feasible at our age. So, we have settled for a couple of months a year. But as we sit at a sidewalk cafe, with a cup of coffee, our minds drift into what might have been and then into what could be as we contemplate more trips to this place we love. 

These translation apps are so good when there is no other way to break down the language barrier. Occasionally we’ll use it to get the pronunciation of a word. We have found that Google pronunciation will often differ from the way the person we are talking to talks. 

Oftentimes, what we see from the streets is a beautiful, but old building. Walking down one street, we saw this open corridor that some workmen were transiting. The outside of the building was just another old building. But Susanne strolled in like she owned the place and captured this shot of the courtyard. You never know what's behind a wall.

 

Left is from an entry door that looks like a garage and right is the courtyard.

In the Balkans, we found a greater percentage of people who spoke English. English is still the common language here, but there are fewer people speaking it. We’re finding in Budapest that many of the service staff, like in the US, are not from here and Hungarian is not their first language. Yesterday our dinner server was from Romania and both his Hungarian and English were second languages. Susanne’s excellent Hungarian is often a strain to use with someone who speaks broken Hungarian. 

Google Translate has a feature that allows you to turn on your camera and point it at a sign and it will read it. It’s great when you are at the store and are trying to get some cinnamon rolls. It will tell you that the pastry you are looking at is cinnamon and not chocolate. 

Buses can be so much more fun around town if you just hop on them. The subway may be the most direct and fastest, but the buses have windows to the world. They show you streets too numerous to walk. There’s safety inside of the bus that walking doesn’t give you. 

We stopped for a snack one afternoon at the Apostolok Restaurant. It's been around since 1903 and originally operated under the name "Beer and Wine Hall Dedicated to the Apostles." Its secret back then was that it was the exclusive Hungarian distributor of Lowenbrau beer from Munich. What a concept for opening a beer and wine hall.

 

 

Even the inside of the 'Beer and Wine Hall Dedicated to the Apostles' looks like a cathedral!

Hortobágyi palacsinta - a crepe dish filled with meat. Let's call it the Hungarian Burrito!

 

Pork steaks served in Lecho and paprika pepper stuffed with cabbage and pickled.

We’re constantly converting Hungarian Forint (HUF) to US Dollars. Fortunately, the exchange rate is $1 = Huf 300. So, move the decimal over two places and divide by three and we’re fairly precise. That dress in the window is HUF 30,000 which converts to $100.00. When we ordered breakfast this morning, after realizing that the grocery stores are closed, that avocado toast with poached egg special is HUF 3,600 ($12.00.) You gotta do what you gotta do.