Nearby in Budapest

We have arrived in Budapest and are getting settled in our splendid new house. The owners are marvelous people and their house is really beautiful. But ½ a block away is a truly enormous apartment block surrounded by more large apartment blocks. And beyond this is a big, nice shopping center with Tesco, McDonalds, Starbucks, H&M, etc. all within walking distance.

But these apartment blocks are impressive and oppressive. There is such a Soviet era quality to them I took a few images to try to pass along the impression they make. There are all long exposures to erase the people (except for those standing pretty still) and the traffic (almost completely). I thought the juxtaposition of buildings full of people with streets without any would make a good contrast.



The image below is a long exposure panorama. As I swung the camera around to the closer sections of the building the shapes are distorted in spite of the images stitching together very well. Still, I like the perspective this image gives. This is the building that is just up the street from our house. It is truly gigantic.

The tracks in front are for the trams that service the area and connect to one of the underground stations downtown. The overhead wires supply power to the electric trams.

Looking down the street in the other direction, there are again large (although smaller that that last one) apartment buildings that line the street. the image below is a 15 minute exposure that eliminates all but the merest hint of the two trams in each direction, the multiple buses (again in each direction) and the dozens of cars and people from the frame. This emptiness seems to fit with the imposing size and sameness of the never ending rows of windows each like the last.

In spite of living in what seems to us to be depressing quarters, the Hungarians are a friendly people and a remarkable number of them speak at a least a little english. Many speak a lot. Our home owners warned us that the drivers don't always respect pedestrians but so far we've found them to be pretty courteous. Certainly better than New Yorkers!