It’s cooler today, and there is a breeze. Last night we crossed the Danube over to Pest. It’s a touristy thing to do, but we walked down embassy row. There are elegant restaurants and people, and regular tourists like us. There’s lots of arm candy and no doubt some expensive hookers, as embassy rows are like that. (Aside from wealthy Americans and Europeans, are there any more privileged people on the planet than upper eschalon embassy people?)
We crossed over on the Chain Bridge, bombed by the Allies in WWII and rebuilt in 1949. (There is also a seat-of-government type palace on Castle Hill that was bombed and rebuilt after the war.) We just meandered and crossed back on a newer bridge, perhaps Soviet era, as it was Ayn Randian square and practical. (Rand had a thing for 1950’s industrial architecture, with utlitarian square buildings.)
We ate dinner at a hotel restaurant. The wait staff was obsequious, making me think they have been told to be kind to Americans, as we have money. I do hope they seethe inside, as such behavior is undignified. I wanted them to treat us with polite disdain, as they do in Western Europe. That has a better feel.
This morning we made the same trip, and found coffee shops – our motel is pretty barren. We went a little deeper into Pest, and found a McDonalds, where we had a cappuccino. It was very weak, and my wife suggested that perhaps their marketing plan is to deliberately make it that way to encourage you to order an exra shot. That would be the American way.
We saw a lovely statue on a high hillside with a waterfall underneath a while ago, so that is our afternoon plan. Then there is a restaurant down the block that specializes in a wide variety of Belgian beers. I am told they serve food too. Tomorrow is Eurail to Prague where we spend three days before heading home.
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The walk up was to a statue of St. Gerard (Gellert), which overlooks the city and has a fountain underneath. Above is a fortress built at the order of the Hapsburg’s around 1850. It was very hot, of course, but we expected that. We did not expect the entire area of be covered with litter and graffiti. At the top are many booths that sell cheap trinkets. There is also a wax museum that recreates scenes from Budapest under German occupation during the war, which looked interesting. How do they keep the wax from melting?
At dinner we each had a separate meal and shared between us a side dish of corn, green beans and wax beans. In the middle of it all was a big piece of cauliflower. I asked her as I put yhe beans and corn on my plate if she wanted cauliflower. She said “not right now.” at that point I realized that in all of human history that question has never been answered with an enthusiastic “Yes!”
Piece of Mindful 