So like a lot of people who live in a big city, I don’t care for the tourists.
But unlike a certain new tour company:
I don’t want them dead!
Yes, that’s a bus. And yes, it’s in the Danube. The tour company is advertising this feature of the tour as the first of it’s kind in Europe. I can think of a few reasons why no one else has done it yet.
It’s been a weird few weeks of weather here in Budapest. I’ve spent falls a lot of places now, from the Ohio valley and Indiana forests to Georgia pine country and the Hungarian plains. And I’ve learned to accept that the weather is not going to be how I remember it growing up in Ohio, which I must argue has probably one of the best autumns in the whole universe. It’s been sunny and cool in the mornings now, and sunny and warm in the afternoons. And in the evenings the sun skirts down the shingles of the old cotton mills and electric works and a magnificent orange settles right at my eye line where I watch it from my balcony. And still, I can’t help but want a few storms. It must be the Ohioan in me that thinks, in those moments of beauty, where’s the rain?
We had a few clouds here and there, but nothing too significant. The picture above is from two weekends ago when a huge system moved across the Danube and into the heart of Pest. It was awesome to watch. We didn’t get any rain at all, from where we sat two blocks down, but we could see the whole storm bunch and move across the city.
A complication of the no-rain — coupled with the fact that this is a pretty old city with more than its share of particles floating around the air –is that my allergies are going haywire. To top it off, you can’t get a good, heavy dose of speed-laced cold medicine anywhere in the country, something that you know is working because your heart feels like it might explode at any minute. (Mom– please send mucinex asap).
But I’ve taken it in stride by playing many rounds of Cranium. For those of you who have never played Cranium, you need to leave your computer right now, drive to the nearest store, and buy. it. immediately.
Even though these things have nothing to do with Hungary or Budapest, it is what I have been doing over the last few weeks, so I thought, why not, I’ll post it for everyone in the world to see. If it isn’t already obvious, I am the world’s worst drawer. The picture above is my attempt to draw “lipstick.” Now, granted, I had to keep my eyes closed while drawing, it’s still pretty awful.
To make matters worse, Györgyi is apparently one of the world’s greatest clay free-sculptors. Riding Saddle, no problem!
No one guessed or appreciated my sculpture of the DNA double helix.
Anyway, that’s all I have to write about. I’d love for it to be the case that I would always have glamorous tales of travels to recount, but just like everyone everywhere, I have weekends where I’m stuck in at home, playing games for geeks, and waiting, patiently for a few fall storms.
The sun was out this morning at 5:30, and despite the horrible humidity, there was relief in the early warmth. It also seems like at least here in Budapest, the Danube is gathering back into place, though you can see from these next few pictures that the road is still closed down here. Further NW of us, the flooding has been a bit more severe. In Austria, several little towns have had some challenges and in the eastern part of Czech Republic there have even been some deaths associated with the waters. Here is some video from the BBC from yesterday about the flooding in the region.
These particular docks, past the Elizabeth Bridge, have been empty all summer. Mostly I see men fishing from them in the morning, or young couples in the evening sitting there watching the sunset. To the left is Margit Island, which is built up enough to protect it from these flood waters, and in the distance is the Árpád bridge, the longest bridge in Hungary (2km). It was named after Árpád, the son of Álmos and second “grand prince” of the Magyars. But construction was delayed on it because of WWII and when construction finished after the war, the communists were in charge and so for a time, the bridge was known as Sztálin híd. I probably don’t need to translate that one.
Suffice it to say that the smaller riverboat cafe/restaurants are not open for business right now.
Unless you have a kayak.
Unfortunately for some travellers, some of the larger boats are also hotels. In those cases it seems like the hotels have built little makeshift planks, which is the only word I can think of these little bridges because they remind me of the bridges we used to construct back in the old days when our summer entertainment was entirely wrapped around building treehouses and bridges made of scrap wood and downed vines to cross the forest creeks.
Traveling is an adventure, after all. And probably by this weekend most of the storms will have passed and the rakpart road will re-open. This time a year, almost nothing can quiet the little jewel of Central Europe.
On Saturday the Danube finally spilled over the rakpart and inched its way toward the banks of Pest. By the time we were finished running on Margit Island, the water had fully crested, and though it was still early (6 am), many people were out and armed with their cameras.
The water is no where near as high as it has been in past years, but it’s still quite a sight to see. And I think, from what I’ve read, it’s still rising since it is still raining in the Alps.
We tried to take some pictures with Barnabás in the water, but I swear, he is the BIGGEST priss when it comes to getting dirty. Here is the only series I have of him:
um, what's that jes?
i'm dying. it's coming for my leg. take the pic. take it.
ahhh, oh god it touched me. get me out of here.
So, we didn’t make him sit there for any longer.
Despite the weather and the storms still coming through the city, the way that the river was rocking at the banks was really peaceful. I took a 30 second video to show you what it looked like as the waters were breaking. It’s funny how quiet a big city can seem during these mornings.
a portrait with friends
There is so much happening in the next few weeks I’m having a hard time even keeping my days straight. I’ve been busy with consulting work, but also with editing and sending out agent query letters. And all while the spring is charging toward summer and before I have a chance to catch my breath I’ll be back in America for a few weeks. Until then, next week is Szeged, the following is an oil conference, the following is a short vacation in Croatia, and the following is a wedding. And then it’s only about eight weeks until I’m at home, eating at Rocknes, Primos, watching the Indians, and drinking Great Lakes Dortmunder.
Sigh. Now, back to Budapest.
On Sunday I walked out to the rakpart to take a walk with Barnabás and I was really shocked by the lack of cars down by the river. We crossed the usually packed road and went by where the house/restaurant/touring boats dock during this season. I wanted to take Barnabás down the steps to the water to see what he would do, all while keeping in mind how Katherine Hepburn fell into the canal in Venice and had a permanant eye twitch, which is only to say that I didn’t want him to actually go into the Danube because it’s probably similarly dirty. Of course he tired to, getting his whole lower body (and new food cast) wet in the process.
I had totally forgotten that it was the day of the Margit Island races. I think there was a fun run, a 5K and a 10K. I don’t think there was a 1/2 marathon, but there could have been.
It started with just two front runners following a police car and motorcycle. And since we didn’t take our chance to cross back over the street to walk home when we had the chance (before the pack caught up), we had to wait about thirty minutes for the other 9,998 people to run by.
It was nice, actually. Perfect time of morning. I wish I would have looked into it because I was feeling really envious of not running the race, especially because with those roads close down, the view would have been incredible as you got toward Margit Bridge and then back onto the island. Oh well, there are more races this spring and summer, so once everything else settles down, I’ll make more concrete plans. Until then…back to the grind.
