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Germany, Czech Republic, and Hungary
May 19-30, 1994
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[Text by Liza unless flagged with Robert's name...]
Thursday, May 19 – Los Angeles to Berlin
We’re cruising along in the comfy Lufthansa 747 at 10,100 meters,
1050 km/hr, watching “air show” on the video monitor, a geographic
information system showing us graphically where we are, heading,
ground speed, altitude, and time and distance remaining in the
flight. It’s pretty nifty; the maps are simple, but do show
major cities and some terrain information. The wide-angle
map is a so-so rectilinear projection, rendering Greenland
enormous and out of proportion, but the subsequent two or three
zoom-ins aren’t too bad. And along the bottom it displays
the location tracking our flight on radar. Technology can be
so cool , even if the airplane icon on the map is so big that it
makes it seem the plane is 100 miles long.
At any rate, I’ve eaten my dinner (shrimp, salad, cannelloni) and
enjoyed some nice Bordeaux wine, which seemed to be a reasonable
follow-up to the Hamburg pilsner I started out with. I’ve
been talking to Robert about the differences between interpolation
and extrapolation (we’re prone to having these kinds of
discussions), and wearing out rapidly, thanks to my anti-jetleg
maneuverings this week. This morning I was up at 3:00 am,
and managed to get a good load of work done before the sun
rose. Groan – I don’t even want to think about work (not
hard) except to say I hope I didn’ t break anything trying to wrap
up so much Solaris 2.3/BIS stuff before leaving.
There’s lots to think of besides work now, anyway. Edson
Smith brought us to the airport shortly before 2:00 pm, and after
a quick check-in (LACSA could take some lessons from Lufthansa),
we had a great Bon Voyage visit from Luci, Maureen, and
Margaret. The three of them are so fun and really got me
into vacation mode in a hurry. I’m hoping to get something
nice for both girls on this trip – we’ll see!
[Robert] It’s fun to be on Lufthansa and get semi-immersed in
German language and culture from the onset. And as an added
bonus, Frank from my Russian class is on this flight, bound for
Moscow to sell Herbalife products; what a surprise! Small
world, as they say.
8:45 left to go in the flight. Sleep would be a good idea
about now.
Over two hours into the flight and I am completely at peace,
listening to Rossini’s Barber of Seville (excerpts), drinking
white wine and reading the Süddeutsche Zeitung (a nostalgic
choice!). I am very happy to fly with Lufthansa because I
feel immersed in Germany, even before boarding the flight.
Exercising my German is therapeutic all by itself. I feel
centered by the logical order of things German, both culturally
and emotionally. After a terrible incident like the
robbery/murder of German tourists in otherwise placid Idyllwild,
it’s nice to find a sane, comfy Germanic world aboard this
flight. I’ve hardly noticed that we are flying at all.
First, I’ve been immersed in news in German, delicious food,
classical music – I am transported into a teutonic heaven that
reassures me that the values of man, while perturbed by special
interests, ignorance, and blind hate, can be overcome by the logic
of common sense.
Well, enough bombast for now; after a little more white wine
(something along the lines of a Liebfraumilch), I’m ready to
unwind into blissful sleep, to while away the boreal passage and
cross the Atlantic, to be greeted by Europe and breakfast!
Friday, May 20 – Berlin
After six good hours of sleep, video “Flyrobics” exercise, a
filling breakfast, and hot towels, we’re now within one hour of
Frankfurt. We’ve wrapped up parts of breakfast for later
consumption and are now tracking our progress on the video map,
past Newcastle-upon-Tyne (under York control) along the North Sea,
approaching the continent. The fiftieth anniversary of D-Day
is only three weeks away; hard to believe it’s been so long since
much of the continent was referred to as Festungeuropa, or
“fortress Europe”. At any rate, I’m feeling great, the sleep
and my time-shifting efforts seem to have paid off! We land
at Frankfurt at 11:30 am local time.
In Berlin! Our connecting flight out of Frankfurt was a bit
later than we thought, but still we got to Berlin by 2:30
pm. And after 30 minutes trying to get change and the right
bus fare cards from the obstinate Fahrkarten machine, we finally
got we needed, and took the bus to the U-bahn, U6 to
Friedrichstraße, then the S1 out towards Wannsee to the
Mexikoplatz stop. Our hotel, the Landhaus Schlachtensee, is
a former villa (or so they say) on Bogotastraße, surrounded
by beautiful mature chestnut and linden trees and singing
birds. And the S-bahn station is only about two minutes away
on foot.
We had a message from Loni Hagelberg (an old friend of Garry’s
when he lived in Berlin in the late 1930’s) when we arrived at the
hotel. Robert called her and arranged for us to see her
tomorrow evening. Now we’re trying to plan out the rest of
the day before we both fall fast asleep. At least, Robert’s
trying to plan it out; I’m watching “Moonlighting” on television,
in German of course.
Saturday, May 21 – Berlin
Amazing what ten hours of sleep in a comfortable bed with a big
down pillow and a hot shower will do for you – that is, once you
can figure out how to work the shower. The birds are singing
away this morning outside the window; starlings mostly, but also
blue tit, black redstart, and the occasional hooded crow cawing
loudly. And now we’re off to breakfast; would it be a
continental, or something more?
As it turned out – something more. Bread, cheese, meats,
eggs, etc. etc. We filled ourselves up and set out on a
12-hour excursion. First stop, the Hauptbahnhof, where we
bought tickets for a day trip to Leipzig/Halle on Monday, and
through to Prague on Tuesday. We changed some money, then
went back to the Alexanderplatz with its television tower that
dominates the skyline. Funny thing, since we changed S-bahns
at Friedrichstraße, we’ve been in “East Berlin”, but the
transition completely escaped me until Robert pointed it
out. The visible signs of the division are gone, mostly; the
buildings look in need of some repair, but there are lots of
people and cars about, a TGI Friday’s restaurant on one corner of
the Alex, lots of activity. We went to the Berlin University
bookstore, where I found a Langenscheidt Russian-German phrase
book and a little book of Russian folksongs. There was a
huge language section in this bookstore; it figured that eastern
Berlin would be the best place for Russian/German books!
We tried to visit the Berliner Dom, but a service in progress
stopped that. Next stop was the Museuminsel, “museum
island”, also in the (former) “east” sector. Picking our way
past the construction for the Neuesmuseum (“new museum”), we
first visited the Pergamonmuseum. Wow! The
reconstructed Greek Pergamon altar, the centerpiece of the museum,
was a sight to behold; it was difficult to tell at first that much
of it was “fake” to fill in between the real pieces of the temple,
brought from a now-Turkish mountaintop to Germany in the late
1890’s by avid German archeologists.
We also visited the National (art) Gallery; that was interesting,
especially their collection of Manet, Monet, and Renoir.
Later we walked down the broad Unter den Linden to the
Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). The old boulevard with
the cobblestoned walkway down the middle shaded by the leafy green
linden trees was easily the most beautiful part of Berlin we had
seen so far, and it’s so hard for me to believe that this was
walled off from Westerners for so many years. Unlike the
quiet that must have ruled when Germany and Berlin remained
divided, the street was lively and bustling today with vendors,
many selling Russian “souvenirs” – navy hats (supposedly from the
Baltic fleet), pins, and toys (Trabant cars, matrushkas, etc.).
Onward to Loni Hagelberg’s house for dinner, just off the
Kurfürstendamm, western Berlin’s counterpart to Unter den
Linden. Loni was lively company! She had some
photographs of her with Garry in 1939 (he was one envelope in a
box full of neatly packaged photographs of her beaus); also one of
Garry and his first wife Louise, in Los Angeles in 1944. We
talked and enjoyed a very good dinner (complete with a nice
Gewürtztraminer wine and fresh Spargel , or white asparagus)
on old Rosenthal “Maria Bund” china . Her china dates to
1910; ours, courtesy of Ernst Neustadt, must be almost as
old. Loni mentioned a Rosenthal shop on the Ku’damm, so
following our visit we strolled over and down the Ku’damm to the
Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche. No sign of the store,
but much glitz and activity were evident; no wonder the “Ossies”
were awed when they came over in droves to explore following the
fall of the Wall. Personally, I thought the Ku’damm was
overdone; it’s almost as if the west Berliners, stuck on an island
in a Communist sea, walled off from the rest of Germany by Erich
Honnecker’s “anti-fascist protection barrier”, were trying too
hard to prove that they were free and happy and having a good
time.
Finally we’re back at the hotel, and I’m beat. Robert’s
already snoring, so I think that’s it for me (and for my poor
tired feet, too).
Sunday, May 22 – Berlin
I wonder what drives us to tire ourselves out so on
vacation? Today we had thoughts of an easy day, beginning
with a short walk to the park at the nearby Schlachtensee.
Somewhat unfortunately, that short walk turned into a 5-mile,
3-1/2 hour walk around the entire lake. We shared the lake
path with many bicyclists and joggers, enjoying the birds and fine
weather, so all in all it was a worthwhile outing.
After a brief rest back at the hotel, we headed out to
Charlottenburg to see the Schloß. The art gallery and
gardens were free today (it’s a national holiday, “Pfingsten”),
but compared to buildings and gardens we’ve seen in Salzburg and
Vienna, this was nichts besonderes. So we cruised over to
the Egyptian Museum (also free today), full of many fine ancient
Egyptian artifacts, including the famous colorful bust of
Nefertiti. A mid-afternoon Spargelsuppe (asparagus soup) and
Königspilsner beer gave us enough energy to get back over to
the Ku’damm, where we finally settled on a baltic restaurant
called Skopje for dinner. Exhausted, we were wiped out again
by 8:00 pm.
Monday, May 23 – Berlin-Leipzig-Halle-Berlin
The IC 813 “Wetterstein” is rolling smoothly through the
countryside, taking us on the first leg of a day trip, Berlin Hbf
to Leipzig. Robert’s keeping an eye out for raptors (buzzard
and kestrel sighted so far) while I watch the green trees, fields,
and railroad catenaries blur past. The gentle motion of the
train is very relaxing after the last two busy days.
I’d half expected the rail lines to be bumpier, considering we’re
in the former DDR, but it’s not. We’d already heard that
there would be no ICE (hochgeschwindigkeit, or high speed) runs
through the east until 1997 or so due to the rail
conditions. But perhaps Berlin-Leipzig being well-traveled
explains the ride’s comfort. Leipzig to Halle – well, that
could be another matter.
We both have window seats on the train, albeit in a smoking
compartment. Luckily nobody is in here with us actually
smoking, and having the window down cleared the mustiness
somewhat. We weren’t scheduled to be on this particular
train, hence no seat reservations, but instead were scheduled to
be on the direct train to Halle that left from Berlin/Lichtenberg
at 8:04. We realized we couldn’t make that very easily, plus
we wanted to see Leipzig, so we paid the IC supplement and caught
this train at the Berlin Hbf instead. We bought some more
postcards (hoping to mail them the next day) and a copy of Pravda
(Pravda), then boarded the train and settled in for the several
hour ride to Leipzig.
* * * * *
Leipzig – hmm, now there’s a city that looked as if it had been
behind the Iron Curtain for 50 years. Although to be fair,
it was raining, rendering everything gray and dismal, and with the
holiday few people were out. The famous statue of Goethe was
in good shape, as was the Markt, but the Neues Rathaus was
dark and dismal and in desperate need of repair. The gothic
St. Thomaskirche looked better, beautiful really, with an
impressive and reasonably modern (late 1980’s) statue of Johann
Sebastian Bach outside. Bach himself is entombed indoors in
the choir area.
Having exhausted Leipzig’s possibilities, at least those within
reach in 90 minutes, we boarded a Nahverkehrszug to Halle an der
Saale, arriving there in 30 minutes. Halle is where Garry
grew up. It’s a bit large to explore on foot in a short of
amount of time, so we opted for getting to the city center to see
the famous statue of Händel, then up to the Getraudenfriedhof to
look for the graves of Robert’s great-grandparents, Adolf and
Augusta Weissler. What a hopeless task; the cemetery was
large and mostly overgrown, and we had no real idea where to
look. We searched for about 40 minutes through the mud and
tall, rain-slicked grass, to no avail. We didn’t make it to
the Nordfriedhof, where Robert’s grandparents Otto and
Margret Weissler are interred; it was simply too far on foot and
also quite large. Instead we just ran back to the
Hauptbahnhof in time to catch the direct train back to
Berlin/Lichtenberg. It was disappointing to come so far and
fail, but at least we did see part of where Garry used to
roam. We’ll have to come back and explore more thoroughly,
but I can’t help but think that Adolf and Augusta are lost to us.
We had dinner tonight at the local Italian restaurant on the
Mexikoplatz, which we reached after a confusing set of S-bahn
transfers – one train only went to Warschauerstraße, the
next only to Alexanderplatz, then to the Hauptbahhof, then to
Mexikoplatz – were the weird short runs due to the holiday, or
some odd holdover of reunification? No idea.
Tuesday, May 24 – Berlin to Prague
We abandoned the thought of a stop in Dresden off our 8:45 IC to
Prague in favor of staying in our reserved seats and arriving in
Prague in the early afternoon. Getting around in Prague
wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Most
signs were in several languages, usually including one or more of
German, English, and Russian.
The only hard parts were (a) getting on the escalators – sort of
the pedestrian equivalent of making the jump to light speed; (b)
figuring out how to get our rail passes validated (a crabby woman
at Holesˇ ovice Nádrazˇ í stamped them, but more out
of annoyance, it seemed, than out of any urge to be helpful), and
(c) getting Metro tickets. The signs on the ticket machines
included instructions in (poor) English, but it was exceedingly
unclear that one needed exact change (6Kcˇ , or multiples thereof)
in order to get tickets. A very nice old woman stopped,
explained in sign language, exchanged coins with us and got us the
tickets – she more than made up for the rail pass crab!
The thought of struggling with coins for the next two days was
annoying enough that we went and got two-day metro passes, good
for today and tomorrow. A bit of overkill at 85Kcˇ
each , when single rides are 6Kcˇ , but that’s life. Of
course, if I’d thought about it more, we could have probably
gotten enough tickets with three 20Kcˇ coins, plus the
passes aren’t good for the day we leave – foo!
Having finally gotten ourselves to our hotel, the U Páva in
the Malá Strana, we spent the late afternoon wandering
around Prague Castle, collecting concert brochures related to the
Prague Spring Music Festival as we went along. We had dinner
outdoors along the river, watching the mute swans go by – very
peaceful. They call this area the “Venice of Prague” and it
wasn’t hard to see why, with the beautiful stone bridges arching
over the serene waterways.
We’ve only been in Prague a few hours, but I can tell that I like
it. It is more colorful than, say, Leipzig, there is more
activity, and there are definitely more tourists. It helped
that today was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, too.
[Robert] Our concern over leaving early for Prague was unfounded
as we departed the Landhaus Schlachtensee, having polished off
another fine breakfast of speck, ham, salami and camembert on
Bauernbrot and Vollkornbrot, and made all our S-bahn connections
to get to the Hauptbahnhof. With time before the train
departed, I got a couple “brezel” to go. Then we got aboard
the IC train and settled into our reserved seats. Along the
way, a few interesting birds were glimpsed at 60+m/h. The
route carried us through the Sächische Schweiz with its
steep, but amply wooded cliffs. As we crossed into the Czech
Republic, I noted that no passport control reached us. I
also noticed that the unending parade of construction in Germany
gave way to a country of more limited means.
However, aside from a rough first impression at the train station,
Prague has impressed us with its beauty and art. The view of
the city from castle hill is phenomenal! The bustle and life
in Prague were of some relief after the stark, austere cities of
Leipzig and Halle. Perhaps our gray days in Germany unfairly
characterized it; I hardly recognized (east) Berlin with all the
new construction. But Prague had nothing but sun
today. What a contrast to my visit in 1979 with Russ!
Plenty of restaurants, helpful citizens. And the serene
outdoor cafe setting by the Vltava is comparable to the Riverwalk
in San Antonio – a great way to close the day.
Wednesday, May 25 – Prague
After a much-needed 12-hour sleep in our beautiful hotel room, we
set out to explore Prague. First stop was the Staremeˇ
stská Námeˇ stí, the “Old Town” square, one
quick metro stop away across the river. This put us a short
walk from the Josefov, the ‘Jewish Ghetto’. We visited
the Stary´ Zˇ idovsky´ Hrˇ bitov, the Old
Jewish Cemetery. What a sight – some 12,000 graves piled
atop one another in 12 layers, dating from the 14th century
to 1787, crammed into a relatively tiny plot of land bordered by
high walls and buildings. The gravestones look like dominoes
that have been thrown into a heap, most tilted crazily, bearing
markings that have disintegrated with the passage of time. A
light rain was falling, and delicate flowers lended color to the
chaos. And overhead the tall trees were full of rook and
jackdaw nests whose occupants scolded one another and the visitors
to the cemetery.
A less natural form of disintegration was evident in the Pinkasova
Synagóga (Pinkas Synagogue) adjacent to the cemetery.
Within the synagogue, during the 1950’s, the names, birthdates,
and dates of deportation (as good as a death sentence) of 77,297
Bohemian and Moravian Jews (out of a population of ~90,000) were
inscribed on the walls, organized by family name. Following
the Six Day War in 1967, then-Czechoslovakia broke ties with
Israel, and shortly thereafter the names were plastered over as
part of a government-sponsored “renovation”, ostensibly to repair
water damage. Now that the Czech Republic has broken free
from the constraints of communism (not to mention ridding itself
of the Slovak Republic, too), the names are being painstakingly
restored, painted by hand on the smooth white walls in red and
black. What a monumental task – seeing the names reminded me
of the Vietnam memorial, where the names serve to give faces and
identities to the numbers who died, personalizing the war in a way
that statues and other monuments cannot. And to think that
the data is still available... simply amazing
.
Following that sobering experience, we set off to do a little
shopping and church viewing. We took another metro ride to
Mustek, which put us between the shopping districts of
Národní trˇ ida and Námeˇ stí
Republiky. By and large the quest for gifts for Mo and
Maggie was tedious and disappointing, although we did get to see
more of the Staré Meˇ sto and Nové Meˇ sto in the
process, including several beautiful baroque churches. One
church had a sign that announced that the Knights of the Holy
Order of the Red Cross, founded in the 13th century, were renewing
their charitable and hospital mission after being “closed” for the
past 40 years. Yet another sign marking communism as a small
blip in history.
By early afternoon we’d bought a small crystal bud vase (for ~$30)
for ourselves and some crochet doilies for the girls, and then
ensconced ourselves in an outdoor Bierstube in the Staremeˇ
stská Nameˇ stí for some Pilsner Urquell vom
Faß. The cobblestoned sunlit square is a wonderful
representation of Prague as a whole: the dark foreboding Gothic
spires of the Tyn Church sit opposite pale pink and yellow baroque
façades, with the white baroque Sv. Mikulásˇ e
Church anchoring one corner. The modern Jan Hus Memorial
sits in the square, and vendors hawking handcrafts – embroidery,
crochet, tatting, brass bells, ceramics, metal figurines, leather
goods, marionnettes – line one side of the square. From our
resting spot beneath a green and white Pilsner Urquell umbrella we
listened to a small band, complete with banjo, playing American
folk music, while Sonny & Cher (“I Got You Babe”) and Michael
Jackson (“Dangerous”) hissed on the radio on the bar. We
watched a trained dog act perform for the tourists and other
visitors. A crazy jumble of old and new, preserving the past
while charging headlong into the future – definitely, as Robert
noted, “Prague springs eternal”!
Our Prague exploration day ended with a magnificent Classic Organ
concert in the Sv. Nikolaus Church, a short walk from U
Páva in the Malá Strana. The concert, which
cost us 300Kcˇ each, featured two works for brass quintet
and organ bracketing alternating organ and brass pieces, including
Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor and a heavenly brass rendition
of Händel’s Hallelujah Chorus. Hearing the works while
viewing the pale rose-marble baroque splendor of the church was
truly memorable!
An excellent dinner at the U Páva restaurant followed (I
had “chillies goulash”), and we investigated early payment of our
hotel bill, as we have a 7:47 train to catch in the morning and
wish to be out by 6:45. To our pleasure the woman at the
reception desk noted that we could pay in the morning, and even
arranged for us to have an early breakfast (normal breakfast hours
are 7:30 - 10:00).
We wrapped up the long day by packing our things, spraying water
all over the bathroom in the typically European curtainless
shower, and settling down to sleep. Robert is worrying about
whether our European East rail passes are any good, and I’m
wondering how hard it will be to manuever in Hungary considering
the Hungarian language resembles nothing with which I’m familiar!
Thursday, May 26 – Prague to Budapest
Another day, another train – this time the Czech railroad (Cˇ D,
formerly Cˇ SD), carrying us from Prague to Budapest via the
Moravian cities of Brno and Brˇ eclav, and the Slovak capital of
Bratislava. At the onset we quickly settled into our train
routine: Robert watching for good (large) birds and me writing,
although truth be told I spent more time staring out the window at
the beautiful scenery. We passed through rolling verdant
plains fringed with red and orange poppies, punctuated by blocks
of evergreens, rock formations, and vivid golden fields of a plant
we couldn’t identify from the train, but which formed beautiful
solid swaths of color which shone in the sunlight.
Our rail passes were accepted with nary a raised eyebrow, to
Robert’s obvious relief (I knew it!) and we started out with an
entire second class (eight-seat) non-smoking, unreserved
compartment to ourselves. I didn’t expect that to last too
long! No first class car on this train – made the purchase
of first class rail passes kind of silly. But maybe, we
thought, we’ll have a chance to get a first class ride (and make
these silly passes worth the money ) if we take a long day trip to
Vienna out of Budapest.
Despite that minor annoyance, I’ve still enjoyed our rail
excursions immensely. The Czech-run railroad, of course,
wasn’t quite up to German or Swiss standards. The interior
of the second class compartments was mostly clean, with cheap
green vinyl seats bearing a few hastily stitched repairs, and the
order of the seat numbers makes no sense (46-44-48-42,
45-47-43-41). Smashing eight people in such a compartment
would be a real feat, too. The WC’s at either end of the car
were simply atrocious, something to avoid if at all
possible. But we couldn’t complain too much; such a trip
would have been considerably different just five years ago.
I imagine things will continue to get better with time and perhaps
some foreign investment. We did see a couple of obviously
new, spiffy Cˇ D passenger cars in one station. Upgrades are
expensive and will happen gradually; you can’t fix 40-50 years of
neglect and inertia overnight.
* * * * *
In Hungary, home of the ubiquitous Magyar Posta! – a source of
endless confusion for Liza the young stamp collector who took a
year to figure out that Magyar is what the Hungarians call
their country and themselves. With only a couple of hours
left in the journey, we still had the compartment to ourselves;
most of the passengers who boarded in Brno and Brˇ eclav
disembarked at Brataslava, leaving this and the other passenger
cars mostly empty.
The past few hours have been, by and large, enjoyable.
There’s a lot to be said for train travel, namely that it gives
you a view of the landscape that you miss entirely by plane, or
can’t pay attention to in a car because you’re watching the road
and the gas tank. If you have the time, it’s a wonderful way
to travel.
Of course, it was not all perfect. We needn’t have worried
about that excess, unexchangeable 450Kcˇ ($16-17) in our
pockets; we gave it all away in the train’s dining car in
separate, expensive visits by Robert and I. His 250Kcˇ
resulted in a salami sandwich and beer; my 200Kcˇ bought me
a very unexceptional and greasy goulash (meaty fat lumps in a
grease sauce wth some decent noodles resembling spätzle) and
flat mineral water. Adventure in dining!
While I waited for Robert to return from his meal (the dining car
is an adventurous four cars away, no take-out), I had an
interesting sign language exchange with a young, friendly Slovak
official. He spoke no German (or English), and I don’t speak
Czech/Slovak. After pointing at suitcases and his clothes,
and refusing my passport and ticket, I finally decided he was a
customs official asking me if I had anything to declare.
“No” sent him on his way, with both of us looking relieved we were
able to figure out what the other was saying.
When I returned from my so-called lunch, I found Robert in the
throes of a full-blown allergy attack – damn!
And then, unavoidably, there was the pleasure of visiting the
bathroom at the end of the passenger car. Fodor’s describes
train bathrooms in Eastern Europe as “notoriously rank”; they
weren’t kidding! You wouldn’t think a hole that deposits
human waste onto railroad ties throughout the countryside would
smell so bad. Then again, who knows how much Scheiße
has tried to slide down that chute since the last cleaning.
* * * * *
Got a new stamp on the passport! After virtually
non-existent border rituals into Germany, then to the Czech
Republic and later from Czech into Slovakia, finally Hungarian and
Slovak border guards both checked our passports at Rajka, and the
Hungarians stamped them. I guess the end of the Cold War
infinitely outweighs having interesting border crossing
experiences, but the almost total lack of control or even interest
was remarkable.
The landscape flattened out considerably once we passed into
Hungary. The ride certainly wasn’t smooth; it was easily the
bumpiest we have been on, making it difficult to write. But
the bumps served one good purpose: they snapped us out of our
motion-induced lethargy.
Friday, May 27 – Budapest
After 24+ hours in Budapest, we’re (again) exhausted. Our
hotel, the Hotel Taverna, is a very modern high-rise (well, ten
floors) in the Váci Utca pedestrian zone. The
Váci Utca and Budapest remind us of the Kärtner
Straße and Vienna, being an international crossroad with
something for everyone, from the very Western and self-indulgent
Estee Lauder and Clinique shops, to the exquisite pastries and
coffees outdoors at Gerbaudes, to the Hungarian folkart shops
selling embroidery and other handcrafts, to all the little
eateries in between. We’re a very short walk from the
Danube, which separates the beautiful Buda hills from the Pest
plains. And the people (at least on the Váci Utca)
seemed to represent a real cross-section of Europe; walking along
we could hear a number of languages, with German and English
predominating.
Yesterday after riding the Metro from the Budapest Keleti train
station to the nearby Deak Ferenc stop, and shedding the many
people we drew like magnets inquiring whether we needed
accomodations, we settled in at the Hotel Taverna and took a
stroll on the Váci Utca, exploring the surroundings and
visiting McDonald’s (the largest I’ve ever seen!) for a
coke. No diet coke in sight; hasn’t caught on here yet, I
guess. We later sampled the Eszterhazy and Sacher tortes at
Gerbaudes (only 100 forints apiece) and plotted today’s
(Friday’s) plans.
Morning found us enjoying breakfast, after which we walked to the
Hertz office on the Regi Posta to get our rental diesel Fiat
Tipo. Once loaded we hurtled out of the city, over the
modern Elizabeth Bridge and into the Buda hills. We had a
map, but it was all but useless. Thank goodness for Robert’s
built-in compass! We made some wild turns, shooting up
streets, making at least one illegal (against the light) left
turn, and getting honked at by a few irate fellow drivers.
Somehow we made it to exactly where we wanted to be – Hars Hegy
park. The forest there was light and airy, and despite some
wind and school troop or two, we saw Great and Middle-spotted
Woodpeckers, Willow Tits, and Great Tits. Later we drove
towards the Pilis hills, toward Kesztölc, where the birding
just got better and better: Bee-eaters, a Lesser-spotted Eagle (we
think), Crested Larks, Red-backed Shrikes, Goldfinches, Gray
Partridge, and Treecreeper. The bee-eaters were a real
treat; after swooping and diving a few minutes, a pair sat on a
nearby branch, their colors resplendent in the sunlight –
wow! Definitely the highlight of the day.
Late afternoon we managed to navigate our way back into the city
(a lot easier than getting out!) and parked in a garage just a few
blocks away from the hotel – no small feat. It was possible
to park on the street – on the sidewalk, actually – but space was
so tight, and we didn’t want to risk getting completely boxed
in. Better to pay 480Ft a day, we thought, to get into the
garage. And it wouldn’t be a repeat of our London parking
fiasco; this garage had daily rates and was open “non-stop” .
Two Gösser beers each at dinner, along with fried camembert
with cranberries and pusztagulyas, and I’m ready to
collapse. Tomorrow, Hortobagy!
Saturday, May 28 – Budapest & Hortobagy
We shot out of town this morning, our Fiat taking its lumps on the
cobblestones, as we headed to Hortobagy Nemzeti Park (national
park), some 150 km east of the city on the great Hungarian puszta
(steppe). A few km out of the city we hit the M3 autobahn,
as smooth as any US interstate (or better!).
Much of the “good” parts of the park are protected areas with
restricted entry, such as the Hortobagy-halasto (“great fish
pond”), but we managed to see some good birds nevertheless,
including Red-footed Falcon and Marsh Harrier. And the nests
of White Stork were conspicuous in the touristy village of
Hortobagy.
Getting back to the city around 6:00 pm, we took a short walk,
experimented with using an ATM to pull out another 5000 Ft, and
then promptly used 3200 Ft on an excellent dinner at the
restaurant DuBarry along the Danube. It was very pleasant to
sip another good beer, watch the river traffic pass, and enjoy
Hungarian-style beef in a tomato-and-onion sauce, with the
imposing castle in view across the river. To the left lay
the modern Erszbét-hid (Elizabeth Bridge) and to our right
the older, more stately Széchenyi lánchid (Chain
Bridge), complete with massive stone lions at either end.
And further over to the left, on the top of the hill, is the
beautiful Szabadság Szobor (Liberation Memorial)
monument. Erected in 1947, it honors the 1944-45 siege of
Budapest and the Russian soldiers who fell in battle; it depicts a
young girl whose hair and skirt swirl in the wind, holding a palm
branch over her head. It may have originally signified the
Russians liberating Budapest from the Germans, but now it seems a
fitting memorial to Hungary as a whole being free from the yoke of
Soviet oppression. Seeing the statue overlooking the city in
the approaching twilight is quite moving.
Sunday, May 29 – Budapest
Well, I celebrated too soon about getting through this trip
without illness! Damn. Woke up this morning with my
old pal turista and a fever to boot. Robert and I went out
to Szentendre for some birding in the hills, but I spent most of
the time in the car, after getting a good look at a Syrian
Woodpecker. Otherwise, the birding was disappointing, and I
could tell Robert was frustrated by the inspecific instructions in
the Hungarian birdwatchers guide (“head left into the hills”).
So we cruised on back to the hotel where I collapsed for a few
hours, watching television, eventually rebounding a little.
We went for one last walk along the river, crossed the Danube via
the Széchenyi lánchid and went up the funicular to
the Castle Hill area. What a crazy scene! Vendors
hawking handcrafts, Dunkin’ Donuts and Coca-Cola everywhere, and
the oddest assortment of music; one group was performing the
musical “Grease” in Hungarian, a man sang “Alexander’s Ragtime
Band” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (from the movie
“Mary Poppins”) in German, and a really interesting dance troup
performed folk dances.
We picked our way through the crowds and went to the St. Matthias
(gothic) Church, whose interior was more byzantine than gothic;
almost moorish, really.
Alas, by this time I was beginning to lose it, so we went back to
the hotel briefly, then out to McDonald’s for dinner while I tried
unsuccessfully to fight off the shivers. How miserable to
end up like this, but at least it’s the end of the trip and not
the beginning or middle.
Monday, May 30 – Budapest to Los Angeles
We got ourselves out of the hotel by 5:00 am and struggled a bit
to find our way out of the city to the airport; the map isn’t too
clear sometimes and the street signs are hard to see, and after a
few quick turns I’m lost and a failure at navigating.
Robert’s sense of direction eventually bailed us out, and we
arrived at Ferihegy Airport Terminal 2 by 6:00 am. We had to
leave the car in an Avis spot instead of Hertz, as there weren’t
any other spaces available. Hope they figure it out; we left
a note with the key and documents.
Our hop from Budapest to Frankfurt took about two hours, and we
made the connection without incident. No fun flying when you
don’t feel well, but I think my fever broke. We’ve got about
five hours left in the flight from Frankfurt to L.A.
So, to wrap up, a few thoughts and comparisons.
When we set the itinerary, my focus was Berlin; Prague and
Budapest didn’t sound too appealing to me. Robert wanted to
go to the latter two cities more than I did.
I did enjoy Berlin, but even nearly five years after the tumbling
of the Wall, it’s evident that Germany has a ways to go. I
was thrilled by the ease of travel and the sense that the city was
whole again, but was turned off by the endless graffiti and
construction. (You could tell that the city had been leveled
during the war.) I liked Unter Den Linden much better than
the Kurfürstendamm, primarily because it was stately and not
so glitzy. The Mexikoplatz was pleasant; I’d stay there
again when we go back, whenever that might be. I could
definitely have done without some of the people; it may be
possible to walk across Berlin Alexanderplatz unimpeded, for
example, but some of the leather-jacketed skinheads that were out
and about made it a little less enjoyable than it might have
been. But while Berlin might not have been what I expected,
it was a good travel experience nevertheless, and it made me want
to read Len Deighton’s spy novel “Berlin Game” again now that I
can recognize the landmarks!
Heading southwest to Prague, our moods lightened with the weather,
and I found myself enjoying the beauty of the city and its Old
World charm immensely. Tourists were more in evidence (it
seemed that most tourists in Berlin were other Germans getting a
look at their once-and-again capital) and it was definitely
pleasant to wander around on foot.
And Budapest – easily the liveliest destination, and as I’ve
already noted, very reminiscent of Vienna. So much so that
we abandoned our idea of a day-trip by train there. The fact
that people spoke either German or English helped a lot. I
tried to learn a little Magyar but it’s so different from anything
we know that it was difficult to get a handle on it.
Most surprisingly useful language? Russian! Although I
couldn’t speak it, I knew enough of the basics to read signs and
such, and could recognize the equivalent words in Czech.
We’re both looking forward to seeing Luci and maybe the girls at
the airport, and to giving them their gifts. I have dresses
for each purchased in Budapest, plus the doilies from
Prague. Hope they like them! I’m also brought home for
me a tablecloth and embroidered doilies from Budapest and some
brocade pillow covers from Prague – a few more items to put to use
around the house and remind us of the experiences we enjoyed these
past days.