got into budapest safeley and met up with my old friend mark. his daughter was born six weeks ago.
i used to go to school with mark in massachusetts. he is orginally from hungary and moved back to budapest after he graduated. still as opionated as ever, mark rules. he sold me the drumset i play today for fifty dollars. a crazy drummer, he's been in lots of bands. one of his current projects is Human Error.
he made sure to feed me Hungarian delicacies (some eggplant spread and some crazy delicious raw meat) in his home and hooked me up with his friends ezther and fernando (super nice, generous hosts), who have a house where i've been staying.
pretty much the backyard. that house in the picture frame is the one i'm staying in. in Buda, the area is pretty residential but only a mile away from the city center. also, the particular area of Buda i am in is called "Pile of Blood", something to do with the war which took place there five hundred years ago with the Turks.
i want to find a way to fit this in somehow. being in Hungary since the beginning of August, i've been more and more curious about not only the history of the country, but history in general. also, i think that travelling is one of the best ways to engage with such a subject, both as a lived experience and as an impetus for further invesitgation.
brief history of 20th century Hungary that i've gathered:
following the Second World War, Hungary feel under the rule of the Soviet Union, thus under communist command. considered a ''satellite state'', as in a previously independent country influenced or controlled by another, Hungary as it is now understood was ''The People's Republic of Hungary'', along with a small handful of other territories serving as buffers for the Soviet Union. these countries were considered to be part of the Eastern Bloc. also, following World War Two was the Cold War, a state of perpetual conflict and political tension primarily between the Soviet Union and the United States.
this was greatly impacted by the year 1989, when a revolution took place that drastically altered the political landscape and dynamics of power. participants of the uprising called for a demolition of one-party systems. after four decades of autocracy, the first multi-party elections were held in Hungary, with the Hungarian Democratic Forum winning out. a gradual ease towards capitalism and a free-market ensued.
Hungary now strives to maintain as well as develop an individuated global charcter independent from outside dictation or hegemony. at the crossroads of Europe, Hungary seems to want to be recongnized as one of the great nations of the west.
Budapest, the capital city, is building up it's claim as one of the major European cities. seperated into Buda and Pest by the Danube, the city is a comingling scape of urban modern and old history. Buda has a lot more hills and is calmer and more residential while Pest is a lot more active and where most government and commerce occurs.
the two different parts of Budapest are connected by a few different bridges for both cars, pedestrians and, for some, trains, the most beatiful bridge being the chain bridge.
also, dward (my brother!) got here yesterday.
after dropping his stuff off at the house, we explored the city into the evening. not only was it great to finally see my brother and start to fully realize this idea we have had, it was also awesome to take him around the city, being part of his first experiences with all this crazy European architecture.
he took this picture of me. ive stolen some pictures from his camera. behind me is the parliamnet building.
this is the Budapest Alagut, a pretty major tunnel in and out of the city. it is underneath the castle district.
an old illustration i found.
you can get to the top of the tunnel through some footpaths. it's directly across from the chain bridge. here's the view.
the city really lights up at night. pretty magnificent.
dward has jet-lag.
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