More Views from the Opera House

This really is a most marvelous place. And, in spite of its opulence, a very affordable place to spend the evening. Tickets start (for standing room admission) at about $10. While our seats in the orchestra near the front were more, they were still only about 1/10 the price you'd pay at the Royal Opera House in London or the Met  in New York.

The orchestra pit is pretty large and very little of it sits under the overhanging stage. This both fills the space with music and moves the audience back from the stage a bit more than in some other venues.

On this particular evening, this was a mixed blessing. The orchestra often overwhelmed the singers in this performance of "The Girl of the Golden West" (Puccini). There is some much to say about this performance that I'll save it for sometime when we can sit and talk about it (assuming you are actually interested). I'll just say that this performance was not one of our favorites. However, another opera we attended,"The Masked Ball" (Verdi), was much more to our taste. This opera company is capable of excellent work.

The lobby by the entrance of the opera house is very church-like in its appearance with columns and arches abounding. 

The barrel vault over the main portion of the lobby displays another extravagant usage of gold.

A really remarkable place to visit.

 

A Night at the Opera

The time tested method for a start to an evening at the opera is by visiting the restaurant next door for a slice of dobos torte. This delightful Hungarian cake is quite addictive.

Along the Danube not Far from Parliament

In the archeological expedition that turned up the previously unposted 2019 tour of the Parliament building, I also found unposted images of a memorial located on the Pest side of the Danube River. These are posted below.

Above is the view of the Buda shore as seen from Pest. In this view, in addition to seeing St. Matthias' Church (blogged) and the sundry former royal residence buildings, there is church in the foreground on the right facing to the right with its twin towers that faces Batthany Square. Farther to the right, out of the image is Bem József tér where throngs of people gathered on in October 1956 in a march that marked the beginning of the ill fated revolution.

End of the Tour

All parliament building have more than just a meeting room in them. there must office spaces for the MP's and the staff. It takes a lot of people to run a country. Judging from the size of this assembly room, it takes a really huge number of people (or at least that planned for the possibility) to do it here.

Tour Part 4

Here is a bad photo of the ceiling of the large domed room. I managed to sneak in one shot before I was forced to quit trying or be caught. Just in case you have not by now figured out that this is a cathedral to self-rule, here's your proof.

Parliament Tour Part 3

Now you begin to understand why I was confused that I hadn't already posted this tour back in 2019 when it happened. This place is way beyond a simple building providing a place for parliament to meet. This really is a secular church.

We Interrupt this Program with a Special Message ...

 

I interrupt this blog to bring you a special message: We are home now. We arrived a couple days ago and we've now, more or less, gotten ourselves in the right mental time zone. Things are growing in full summer mode (finally) and it is warm (for the PNW... it is in the 70's F).

Do not dismay. The fun of my photography trip to Alaska and the visit to Hungary, Austria, and England continues. Since there is always a time lag between doing things and posting them here, I thought I'd insert this brief notice that we are safely home (no covid, no broken bones, nobody robbed, no traffic tickets, no broken electronics) and slowly getting our laundry and our lives back to normal (-ish). 

The St. John's Wort in the front yard is blooming and putting out berries now. I really like this bush so I thought I'd use this photo to let you know we are home.

The Tour Continues

The insides of this gigantic building are known for the seemingly endless hallways.

Touring the Inside

So, I signed up for a tour of the Parliament building. Inside, it is a maze of corridors, stairs, and rooms of nearly every size all filled with plush carpet, tiled floors, dark wood accents, stained glass windows, and gilded surfaces.

It is a remarkable place. It must surely be inspiring to those who work there, even if they've been working there for some time.

As you can see this is much like a secular version of St. Stephan's (or it is a religious version of this place). It is not hard to image aides walking quickly and quietly along these halls transmitting information from one MP to another. It is a place that demands silence of the occupants.

Even if the decor is some sort of imitation (which it isn't), this place must have cost a fortune to build. It is the largest parliament building in Europe and it must certainly be one of the most ornate.

It makes the halls of power in the US look downright ordinary in comparison.

 

Hungarian Parliament

Before taking you inside to see a little of this huge building, here are a few (more) shots of the exterior.

The Missing Visit to Kossuth Square

Sitting astride his horse, Rákóczi Ferenc, commands a place of pride just outside the Hungarian Parliament. I have tried to digest a short statement of his role in Hungarian history but, alas, it is too complicated for me to do it justice. I'll just say here that he was nobleman who fought to gain greater independence for Hungary from the Hapsburg empire in the early 1700's. Although his efforts failed, he set important precedents for future attempts. More details can be found on Wikipedia.

A Walk About the Old Jewish Quarter

Even though the buildings in this city have taken a beating from two world wars, and the soviet occupation, there are still many beautiful places to be seen in a stroll through town. There are many art deco treasures such as the one above to be found.

Stopping in for a Bathe

The Szechenyi Baths is a great place to visit when you are in Budapest. It is clean and very well run. I buy my tickets online ahead of time and getting in is easy. It is 29 Euros to get in and for one Euro more you can to rent a changing room.

'Long About Midnight

Our efforts in attracting birds paid off handsomely long about midnight on this day of our photographing adventure. We set up in a field alongside the road near a couple of logs for bird perches. You need to remember that this happened in early June and the days were very long here at 64.5 degrees north. The sun barely set...it dips below the horizon (well, at the below the hills to the north of us) a little bu 1:30-1:45 am and is back up again by 3:00 or 3:30 am. By 11:00 pm the sun is very low and is mostly just sliding along near the horizon and the low angle light is a special time to photograph.

The Art of Bird Finding

Photographing birds in the wild is a hit and miss game. The first thing you need is to know where the birds like to be and what their habits are. You've got to meet them where they are. Next, you've got to be there at the right time. This involves varying amounts of luck. Yes, you can choose, as we did to be in the right place at the right time of year. But there is still the problem of being within photographing range of a birds at any particular moment.

Palette Cleanser: Alaskan Birds

There are several sorts of loons that are found in Alaska in early June. However, only one of these, the Red Throated Loon is found in the smaller ponds. This is, as I have been told by our tour guide, because the Red Throated  is lighter than the other loon and can simply take flight from a standing (sitting) start. The other loons, being heavier, need a "runway" to get up to speed before they can fly. This opens possibilities for the Red Throated in feeding and nesting in the smaller ponds that the other loons do not have.

More Reminders of 1956

My notes are not complete by this point in the tour... getting tired and hot. But I believe that this is a now some sort of community center. It was clearly once a high school since it says this up at the top. However a high school in Hungary is probably not the same as one in the US. Could have once been part of the Obuda University with is not in the yellow building to the left.

District 8 Art and Architecture

Near the Rákóczi Market Hall is this wonderful doorway. This restored building clearly has some beautiful details that have been restored.

From District 7 to District 8

In this part of town, there is lots of reminders that you are in the place where the 1956 revolution occured. One of these reminders is the reproduction of the Time magazine cover from 1957 declaring the Hungarian Freedom Fighter to be Man of the Year. You will notice that the flag has a hole cut in the middle. The Russians had added a red star to the middle of the Hungarian flag to indicate that it was a colony of theirs. The revolutionaries cut out this star.

Back Out on the Street

There is also a tradition here of posting stickers to express opinions and make protests. This has the advantage that you can prepare the statement in private and then post it quickly, unobserved.

Above there are two observations on the world. the one at the top is simply making fun of Andy Warhol's famous can of Campbell's Soup (In case you can't quite read it, it says " Warhol's Overrated F*king Art"). the lower one is more complicated.

More Remnants of the Holocaust.

As we pass through this hallway in the old, worn building, we come to a courtyard that is completed on the other three size by refurbished buildings (or sections of this one block-sized building. In this courtyard is a wall. "The" wall.

Street Art and Interiors

This is an unusual work of street art. Mostly, we are used to see murals or the occasional statue, standing free in a square. This one celebrates a rare human being, Carl Lutz. Wikipedia tells the story...

Walking Tour of the Old Jewish Quarter

I hired myself a private walking tour about Districts 7 (the Jewish Quarter) and 8 to see some street art and learn a few things. My guide, Attila Hofle, was a great companion and guide. I can highly recommend him (visit Budapestflow.com). One of the first places we walked to was Rumbach Sebestyén utca where we find this grand synagogue. Designed by Otto Wagner in a moorish style, the interior is octagonal.

Ethnographic Museum - 2

This lavishly carved and painted Sicilian cart was acquired by the museum in 1848. The same type of cart is still found in Sicily today in parades, wedding and other festivities.

The Ethnographic Museum

When we were in Budapest last, the Ethnographic Museum was closed. It was in the process of packing up everything and preparing to move it to the modern new digs across town in the park near Heros Square. It is not finally open. There is a large building filled with meeting spaces and presumably rooms filled with items and places to restore them. while what we saw was pretty amazing, it seemed like a small display considering the size of the building.

Above is a traditional Hungarian coat made of thick, fulled material and wonderfully decorated. This coat was displayed at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair. It was commonly worn over the shoulders with the sleeves empty.

The Ceiling of the Church of Anthony of Padua

Always the ceiling. This is place where the details, almost invisible from the floor, abound.

The Church of Anthony of Padua

There is an intensity to the beauty here. No one color dominates the scene, yet there are colors everywhere that draw the eye. The details draw you into the scene and into the right frame of mind.

Dobo Istvan Ter...The Church of Anthony of Padua

Back in the Dobo Istvan Square, we find the Church of Anthony of Padua. If it looks like we are moving from one church to another...well we are. It is very warm in the sunshine and the streets are filled with folks here for a some sort of street fair (lots of stalls selling things we don't need and "musicians" playing things are really don't want to hear). We've already eaten so ca can't find an excuse for visiting a restaurant again. Thus, we head to the churches to see what we can see.

Before we move ahead with more photos, let me pause to wish all my US friends a happy 4th of July. While there a great many things about which to be unhappy about in the US at the moment, there is still hope that we can redeem the mess and recover the country we all know and love. Keep your fingers crossed and work hard to reclaim our future. Now back to the regularly scheduled programming.

More of the Cistercian Church of Saint-Bernard-et-Saint-François-de-Borgia

Unlike St. Stephen's Basilica or the Opera house in Budapest where the gold ornamentation is wall-to-wall, this place uses gold as an accent with the heavy lifting done by things in gray and white.

Cistercian Church of Saint-Bernard-et-Saint-François-de-Borgia

Eger is a city of churches, many of which we did not visit. It was a warm, crowded day and we ran out of steam pretty quickly. But this unusual one caught my eye.

A Visit to Eger...Walking the Streets

One place we wanted to go on our previous trip was the town of Eger. It is about a 2 hour train ride away and rumored to have many things worth seeing. The first such thing we saw as this statue of Dobo Istvan in one of the central squares.