A Day That Was All Right

It's amazing to me that we are in the heart of a big European city and all has gone well. (Our last encounter with metropolis was quite the opposite.) We've managed to see a large chunk of Budapest making all the right metro connections, not missing a train connection or tripping over our feet while reading a map and the street signs at the same time. It boggles my mind. What's more, we have been able to scratch off all the things on our list of to-dos (the postoffice, card shop, drug store, map shop, swim suit purchase) with nary a hitch. Budapest, you're a wonderful city!

This is day three for us here, day three of glorious sunshine and Summer temperatures. We were beginning to feel, with the rain we've been plagued with, that we would miss Summer all together. Here I am writing this on the grassy edge of a swimming pool, dripping from my dip; the world is a very fine place indeed.

Budapest is not at all what we expected. Somehow we'd pictured forbidden districts of dark graffiti-infested alleys, beggars and a need for eyes in the back of our heads. But, while there is an awful lot of graffiti, Budapest is clean, lively, exciting. No clutching our wallets while walking or shifting our eyes from side to side behind our blue reflective sunglasses. No worries as we pull out our guide book and look quizzically at street signs.

Street signs and maps though weren't all that drew our attention from the colorfully tiled neo-Renaissance domed chapels or neo-Gothic spires of the Parliament building. Fashion did too. Downtown was akin to a fashion runway. Three inch platform shoes of every variety began where long bare female legs left off. Way, way up near the tops of those legs were mini-skirts, mini-dresses and shorts that gripped exposed cheeks, clothing that would get far more than a casual glance on any American street. Tight, short, skimpy and revealing are in fashion. What makes these outfits (and the figures wearing them) even more striking is the comparison to those of their companions - their overweight, fashionless mothers. Men too join the fashion game. I saw at least two check themselves in reflective glass windows and one across the street posing at a cross walk. Clutching his jacket in one hand, he flung it over his shoulder and arched his body so his shirt (held by only the last button) fell open over his bare chest. Still unsatisfied, he shifted and repeated the action.

To us, the old town castle district was the most fascinating. Fashion here is more traditional, at least among the shop workers. Colorful Hungarian embroidery flowed from dresses and puffy long-cuffed shirt sleeves covered the arms. Some costumes matched the ones on dolls that were for sale at almost every shop. Aside from fashion, it was the Chain Bridge, the Fisherman's Bastion, Matthias Church and, across the Danube River, the Parliament building which captured us visually. Aurally it was the violin music played in the streets, while our olfactory sense was caught by the smell of paprika and peppers wafting from the restaurants.

Lately we've been avoiding big cities. Having a car is more a pain than an asset around one- way streets and streets whose names are only posted high up on buildings where they can't be seen. But Budapest delighted us. We parked our car at a campground twenty minutes out of town and took the trains. When we did eventually drive through the city to reach the highway we needed, we were surprised how easy it was. The major roads were well signed and, even with a bit of road construction to divert us, we stayed right on course. I couldn't even do that in Boston.