GOODBYE BUDAPEST - HELLO OSLO - HOME

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 – LAST BLOG ENTRY

When you visit relatives as gracious and generous as my nephew and his family were, you just don't have time to record how great the finale to our month's trip was. So, a summary, written a couple of days after returning to Tucson will have to do.

On Friday, May 2^nd, we flew from Budapest to Oslo. Before leaving, though, we had quite a few Hungarian Forints to spend, at 225 to the dollar, so we treated ourselves to a splendid lunch in the restaurant accompanied by some excellent, local “prosecco.” Then we went to a candy store, handed over all the Forints we had left, and asked the clerk to pack a box of chocolates to take as a house gift. Currency gone.

My nephew, Joe Jr, his wife Cecilie, and their two sons, Johannes, 18, and Sebastian 14, live in a suburb of Oslo. The boys were in and out so fast that we didn't have a chance to photograph them, but Bob did catch their parents on a walk to the botanical gardens on Saturday. It was early spring there and chilly, by Tucson standards, but conversation never lagged a moment. Of course, a few bottles of wine and Joe's suburb cooking helped that along. It was wonderful spending time with them and catching up.

 







Nothing on the trip back to Tucson was worthy of enshrining in photographs. Oslo to JFK. Long, long, long. A few hours of sleep at a seedy Best Western, up at 5, and off for a very long day of flying home via San Francisco. Don't ask. The happiest sight was our neighbor, Kathy Spiller, who came to pick us up. And then our own house, our own bed, and a deep, deep sleep. 

MAY DAY IN BUDA & PEST

THURSDAY, MAY 1 --- PUTTING THE BUDA INTO BUDAPEST

As far back as the ancient Romans, Buda and Pest were separate cities. The first bridge, the “Chain Bridge,” linking the two cities wasn't built until 1849, and the two parts of the city were joined only in 1873. At the end of World War II, the Nazis destroyed all the bridges connecting the two parts including the Chain Bridge. All that's original of that one is the stone lions.

We took a tram over one of several bridges between the two cities and explored the old city—or rather, parts of what is left of it. Most of the original buildings were destroyed by one occupying nation or another. In the 1950s, the Soviets destroyed most of what was left of the old castle, considering it symbol of the former regime.

 
What we found was largely a fresh, new city made to look like the old one. Here and

there were buildings that looked original, but most, including the public ones were new, which gave them a kind of Disney like quality. It didn't help that the place was jammed with people who hung over every railing and filled every open space to watch the air show celebrating May Day. The first planes were the oldest and most spectacular in their ability to do figure eights and fly upside down. Gradually, the planes that flew over became more noisy and modern, the last being some kind of fighter jet. We kept wishing that our pilot friend and neighbor, Gene Lanham, could have been with us to enjoy the show.

Eventually, we made our way through the crowds, down the hill, and across a bridge (not the Chain Link one) into our own neighborhood. Having “done” Buda,” we were glad to be back in Pest. Tomorrow, it's on to Oslo to visit Nephew Joe and family for the weekend.