Intro

In 2005 native Elginite and Hungarian American John Takacs moved to Hungary to teach English to school children, reconnect with his homeland, absorb some European culture and generally escape for a little while. Two years later I decided to do the same thing sans the teaching, crashing on John's couch in Budapest for two weeks before the lease on his Soviet apartment ran out and John headed back to boring old U.S.A. I couldn't pass up the chance to see the beast in his natural environment, and I really couldn't pass up a free place to stay in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We had a great time. John's brother and soon to be famous philosopher Pete (Peta) and his girlfriend Shannon were there visiting at the same time along with John and Pete's childhood friend M.J. The Soviet dorm was a little crowded, but our patience (and the toilet) held up admirably. We divided our time between culture, entertainment and relaxation - which is how I'll divide up these pictures. There also are quite a few random/bizarre shots because John and I tend to bring out each others eccentricities - hence the inordinate amount of cooking pictures. Cheers.

Culture

So this is where I've posted pictures of museums, statues, architecture and what not. I saw many of these things, and then I took pictures of them. My pictures aren't as good as those you might find in an illustrated guide book or in the vast dimensions of the Internet, but they're mine, and you won't see pictures of me impersonating a communist statue in any damn guidebook, although now they're on the Internet. The communist stuff was the most fun. My favorite picture is the one of John being oppressed by the boot of a communist soldier. John's dad fled Hungary in 1956 after participating in a failed revolution. John hates communists almost as much as Bush hates Iraqis. John was glad to learn that all the communist statues had been rounded up and thrown in a field. He was somewhat disturbed that I wanted to see this statue park more than finer, more dignified attractions like castles and opera houses. I also visited the TERROR museum, which used to be the headquarters of the communist and Nazi secret polices. It had a tank inside and a detention cell that was about the size of an upright coffin. Unfortunately, picture taking was not allowed. And we did get around to the more historic attractions, as you shall see.

Opera house

Castle Hill

View from above

Zoo entrance

Museum of Fine Arts

Foreshadowing

My favorite painting ever

St. Steven's Basilica

This place was supposed to have the mummified forearm of Hungary's first king but there was a private service and we couldn't see it. John got mad and cursed the lord in his own house.

John a top the basilica

A lot of Hungarians spent a long time building this parliament building. The word that comes to mind is "spikey."

This place is called Hero's Square. The driver on our bus tour said all of the most famous Hungarians have statues here. John shook his head and pointed to himself.

Entertainment

In between visits to museums and statue parks we managed to sneak in a beer garden or two. After a night on the town Hungarians like to visit public pools and lay in the sun, a cultural trait I embraced.

Absinthe bar

John's friends Jeremy and Noami

Late night gyros

Public pool on Margit Island

Public pool in downtown Pest

Public pool in the famous Gellert Hotel

We took a train to western Hungary to see the Volt Music Festival in Sopron. It rained the morning before the festival so we got all gussied up in rain gear only to have clear skies all night. Pete and Shannon just pretended that galoshes were the new fashion trend.

One of John's private students invited us to a party on some Roman ruins. Disrespectful? Maybe. But I have a hunch the Romans were doing something similar back in the day except this time people's heads weren't getting chopped off.

Roman after party