“Look up,” is what we were instructed to do some twenty-five years ago when first we came to Budapest. And those words remain to this day as something of a mantra to be given to friends and visitors who arrive as strangers to this most captivating of cities.
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| A typical apartment building on the Pest side of the Danube. |
So it was earlier this week we had occasion to be in the main post office of our district. Now, this is something in the past we would avoid unless absolutely necessary. Notwithstanding the long queues, a legacy of the previous, socialist regime, all too often we would finally arrive at the window only to have the curtain swept across, indicating the position closed, with no other possibility but to rejoin another line. Even then there remained the concern of having the correct papers for whatever transaction we hoped to effect. Never was purchasing a postage stamp more difficult.
But all that, as with so much else, has changed. The post office counter staff have obviously all graduated from charm school, the endless queues are replaced with a numbered ticket system and, armed with our ‘ID for Foreigners’, we romp through the business of the day.
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| Falk Miksa utca - a tree lined street close to the Parliament. |
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| Architectural detail in Falk Miksa utca. |
Anyway, less we digress further, we positively skipped out of the post office in near record time and, taking full advantage of the warm sunshine, headed off in the direction of the numerous antique shops to be found in Falk Miksa utca, one stop away on the 4-6 tram.
Alas, either we were too early in the day (it seems that the opening hours of antique shops do not conform to a regular pattern) or, in anticipation of the long weekend coinciding with All Saints’ Day (a public holiday in Hungary), the owners had decided to absent themselves. Whatever, as our American friend would have said, “What are you going to do?”
Answer, nothing, beyond enjoy the day. Which we did, wandering through some of the streets and squares we had not visited in some time, looking up as we went.
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| The Parliament, glimpsed through the trees. |
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| Vigadó tér with the recently restored concert hall. |
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| Once the headquarters of a shipping line, soon to become an hotel. |
One of the joys of Budapest is the proximity to the Danube which, rising in Germany, snakes its way through Hungary on its journey towards the Black Sea. The panorama, as part of a city landscape, is surely like no other and, particularly seen at night, can never be forgotten.
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| Looking up to the Liberty Statue and the Citadel positioned high above the Danube. |
A city by a river has always a particularly interesting layout and views, I think. And looking up is an advice I have been following myself for many years, often rewarded with amazing glimpses of detail one would never notice otherwise. Something I also do in terms of looking up - or down - or across:
ReplyDeleteWhen I am inside a building, say, a boring-looking office block where I have a meeting with a client, or the waiting room of my optician or dentist, or even something as banal as the toilet in a shopping mall, I make sure to look out of the window, usually to enjoy an unfamiliar perspective of a familiar street or square.
By the way, your Morning Room looks very inviting.
Darling Meike,
DeleteThank you for your comment.
We can certainly see from your own blog posts that you notice details in whatever direction, up, down or sideways, that they may be. It is, as you say, intriguing that even in the most surprising of places or situations one can discover elements wich add a magical element to the everyday.
Our Morning Room catches the morning light year round, so hence its name. In recent years it has become a gallery space with a baby grand piano for entertainment when we can persuade someone to play.
Dear Lance and Jane, I really like your answer to the question of what you will do: Nothing, except enjoy the day. It is a perfect answer.
ReplyDeleteYes, and you have to look up while you are there, because you can see wonders.
Thank you for sharing this answer with us, which is useful for everyone.
The view of Budapest during the days and at nights is beautiful. I have seen both, and it is good that you can see them while walking.
All the best. Éva from Sopron
Darling Éva,
DeleteThank you for your comment.
Budapest at night really is a magical place as you say. indeed, whenever we wonder why we live there we go out and look at the Danube panorama at night. With buildings lit, the river shimmer and the inky black sky, it is definitely a place of utmost beauty.
We are masters of the art of doing nothing which we like to couple with thinking a lot. We feel lucky to not work and have each day present itself as a blank page on which a new adventure can be written.
What a beautiful area! I would love to be able to explore it one day! I see postal workers are the same all over. Our postal workers here are some of the rudest people we encounter second only to Secretary of State workers. Thankful to be able to conduct most of my business with them online!
ReplyDeleteDear Jeanette,
DeleteThank you for your comment.
It was a big cultural difference coming to Budapest and experiencing the postal system. Like you, we were very much used to dealing with things online but, even buying a stamp here is a complicated business and requires a personal trip to the Post Office.
Long ago we gave up using the postal service and made sure that we told everyone we knew in the UK not to send items to us in the post as they regularly "disappeared".
However, at least the ticket system speeds things up and our local Post Office has some very kind workers.
How could anyone look DOWN in such a place of beauty and history, when there are such art and architecture and PEOPLENESSES to be met? The timeless forests of marble and stone wear their centuries like a shining cloak, with such grace and interest and welcoming vistas---oh, to imagine the former footsteps in all those halls and stairways!
ReplyDeleteI must say, my own only brush with anything through a legal lens was the recent morning when I was a bit reticent to go and do that pesky driver's license renewal---after "a certain age" we have to appear personally, and I so hoped they wouldn't have me proving myself in one of those parallel parking ordeals---I haven't ever had need of such a necessity, and my little ordained path through grocery, Post Office, a pick-up restaurant or two, and the big medical pavilion suffices for all our needs. But #12 in that huge room of chairs was the most gracious lady, smiling and deft and quite pleasant for the five minutes of reciprocal Look-Through-This and Here's my Card. Niceties all around. So go most of my adventures in my small, circumscribed itinerary to keep us in good health and humor.
Your denizenhood of such a wonderfully kept, beautifully laid-out city is something I'd ride three streetcars and a balky mule to simply STROLL and LOOK---such magnificence sends me backward into Dick and Jane territory with my eager grabs for more. And I like to think that these are almost exactly the wonders and sights seen by our Sweetpea---a high-school SENIOR and member of the Concert and Marching band, whose travels in Summer sent them on what our dear mutual friend ASD called "a lovely arc through Europe," as they were invited to perform at the Louvre and in London, Germany, Switzerland, and Prague. She was entirely rapt with the architecture, and with all the "streets with so many statues." What a lovely place you were born to, and how fabulous your choices of home.
Darling Rachel,
DeleteThank you so very much for your heartwarming comment.
We were delighted to think of Sweetpea travelling in an "arc through Europe" and venturing behind what we knew of as the 'Iron Curtain' and now we refer to as the 'Lace Curtain'. The architecture here and in Prague, a near neighbour, is truly remarkable and well worth a close look. So many fascinating details but often tantalisingly out of reach.
And, how wonderful to learn that Sweetpea is musical. We are fortunate to have a thriving musical life in Budapest with many concert halls and orchestras. No marching bands yet though!!
Yes, strolling and looking are favourite pastimes for us. How perfect it would be to do this arm in arm with you.
I should be DEEEELIGHTED to walk with you two---thrice arm-in-arm on wide streets. I claim Middlespot, for my customary posture in any museum, antiques store or gallery is always with both hands behind my back a la Samuel Pickwick (I am told I have his good humor, appreciation of good food, and great curiosity for all things to be learned).
ReplyDeleteI can visualize---my usual walking garb---clogs with socks (shhh) and all pink apparel, between you two fashionable strollers tucked out for a DEE-YOR fitting and the Ritz for tea.
I'll meet you anywhere you can bear to be seen with such a bumpkin.
Darling Rachel,
DeleteWhat a marvellous idea. We could all three be in head to toe pink!! Now, that would be something of a sight in Budapest. Or, we could be green, red and white in the colours of the Hungarian flag. Whatever, it would not matter as we would have our conversation to keep us warm and completely entranced. No time for looking up, for sure!!:):)
No Dior gowns or suits here and we have yet to grace the Ritz [although we have a friend who LIVED in the Ritz for YEARS but that is quite another story].
For now, we can be content that, once more we are connected virtually...how we have missed you.
Hello Jane and Lance, You are a happy pair--I can see that neither of you are cursed with vertigo, or you would not recommend looking up with such enthusiasm. Even some of your upward-angled shots bothered my sense of balance. However, my dislike does not extend to John Philip Sousa's "Looking Upward Suite" (all three parts of which can be found on Youtube--I highly recommend the renditions by the U.S. Marine Band).
ReplyDeleteTaiwan has also adopted the numbered ticket system to most wait-in-line situations. I don't think it makes it much faster, but at least there is not the frustration of always being stuck in the slowest line.
--Jim
Darling Jim,`
DeleteThankfully, we do not generally have a problem in looking up although these days we take care to move our heads rather more slowly than we once did. We are sorry to hear that you suffer from such problems, these things can really make one nervous about the great outdoors.
We have never heard of the music you mention, but we shall be sure to find it and listen. Marine bands have long held a fascination for us, so much precision and the instruments are always gleaming. How they coordinate playing the instrument, looking at the music and walking in perfect step is a mystery!
We have never visited Taiwan but at least we are prepared for the ticket queuing system. Believe us when we say that it has been a lifeline here in the Post Office which resembled a rugby scrum previously.
I've always thought Budapest would be an interesting city to visit. After seeing your photos, I know they would.
ReplyDeleteDear Jeanie,
DeleteThank you for your comment.
Yes, we can certainly recommend Budapest as a city with great architecture, a fascinating although rather sad history, a café culture and a beautiful situation on the banks of the Danube. The language is impenetrable but that adds to the experience. Perhaps one day you can be tempted to visit?
When looking up you do see some wonderful and amazing things, especially if there are tall buildings, trees and so on.
ReplyDeleteThe Post Office, that seems a great idea, take a ticket. The Banks down here used to have a similar system with seats once, but, alas no more.
It's pleasing you enjoyed your walk looking up.
Take care.
Darling Margaret,
DeleteThank you for your kind comment.
sometimes it does pay one to look in a number of directions in order not to miss the tiny things that can make life so interesting and beautiful.
You may be pleased to know that the banks in Budapest have both a ticket queuing system and seats...lots of seats. This is because the service is so slow that one can almost be in there all day for the simplest of transactions. In addition, presumably to pay for the seats, the banking charges are horrendously high. Online banking from the comfort of an armchair is our preferred choice.:):)
Hi Jane and Lance - good to be here with you. I'd have loved to see Budapest .. but sadly never got there and now I'm unable to travel far - if at all ... but that's life. Living vicariously is fine!! Someone here one day was telling me about their trip to Buda or Pest - can't remember which - but they were determined to tell me about the horrors of the war and I asked them not to ... she carried on - put me off! & I was cross: very cross!. However some of my favourite books are by Patrick Leigh Fermor ... when he narrates his walking travels across that part of the European continent. Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteDarling Hilary,
DeleteThank you for your comment and we very much appreciate your being here too!
We can understand the difficulties you have of travelling and, like you, we do find that virtual travel on the Blogosphere does compensate in some measure. We very much enjoy being transported to all corners of the globe from our armchairs.
We too very much enjoy the writing of Patrick Leigh Fermor and rather think of him as an Indiana Jones type character who seems to attract adventure wherever he goes. We have a collection of his books and added to them when a friend wrote about Fermor's experiences when passing through Hungary.
Buda and Pest are on either side of the Danube and are quite different in character. In broad terms, C18 Buda and C19 Pest so there is lots to see and enjoy and we shall hope to bring you more on these pages.:):)
Dear Jane, I thoroughly enjoyed visiting your blog. A very interesting read with very nice photos. It is lovely visiting other countries through your splendid photography. Thank you very much for visiting me and following my blog. I tried to do the same here, but I got a 'failed to publish' message unfortunately. I have had a similar problem with others, but I will try again on my next visit.
ReplyDeleteDarling Denise,
DeleteThank you for your comment.
We are delighted that you found something of interest to read. If you have never visited Budapest, then we can certainly provide you with a number of insights into this strange and beautiful city.
And, thank you for trying to Follow. Blogger always seems to come up with strange quirks which give problems. At present we seem to lose part of our Reading List.... ah well, try, try again as the saying goes!!
Lance and Jane, I am happy to have found your blog again as I seem to recall reading it in the past or maybe a past life? Going to the post office to buy a stamp postal seems like it was a complicated process, so good to read it’s easier. While your plan to visit the antique shops did not work out, spending the day exploring and wandering seemed a perfect alternative. Also, we were able to see the results.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my blog and to answer your ? My name is Dorothy and Beatrice is an alias from when we started years ago and it has remained.
Darling Dorothy,
DeleteThank you for your comment and the name clarification. Just writing this makes me think of magical yellow brick roads!!
Yes, we started our blog many years ago and we were in contact then. Unlike you, we have been distracted from the Blogosphere and have had many absences. So, it is particularly wonderful to reconnect with our blog chums from those early times.
Buying a stamp in Budapest is indeed complicated. First they are only to be bought in a Post Office. Secondly, there is a complicated system for working out the cost of the stamp depending on the size of the letter, the country of destination etc.etc. which, seemingly, only an official Post Office employee can work out!! And, finally, the 'stamp' is what in Britain we would call a mark made by a franking machine and, obviously, that is only available in...yes, you have guessed....the Post Office.:):)
Forgot to ask, what does the name of your blog mean? The name of ours was what we whimsically called our VA home, which was not an inn, but a purposeful misspelling of penguin.
ReplyDeleteDarling Dorothy,
DeleteThank you for the clarification of your blog title.
Yes, as you now realise, Hattatt is our surname. As it happens, we are the only Hattatts [with 4 t's] in Europe so that is our claim to fame and from which there is no escape!
Jane and Lance, Please ignore my previous comment as I realized it is your last name. What was I thinking?
ReplyDeleteDarling Dorothy,
DeleteNow I have written this magical greeting three times. Should I now make a wish?!:):)
Some fantastic architecture from way back when where you live.
ReplyDeleteDarling Kirk,
DeleteThe architecture all across Budapest is wonderful. In Pest, where we are, the architecture is mainly C19 when there was an enormous house building boom. In Buda, on the other side of the Danube, the buildings were mainly destroyed in the war but they have been rebuilt faithfully to their C18 origins. So, very different styles across Budapest.