Mátyás church (part 2)

Because I loved it so much, another photo of Mátyás church. The roof tiles are porcelain.
This is the last of the Budapest photos.

Köleves restaurant

 

We ate our best meal on Monday at Köleves (Stone Soup) restaurant, a few blocks from the apartment. I 

ordered the daily vegetarian special, which was a creamy onion soup and mascarpone and vegetable risotto 

for 1000 Hungarian forints, a little more than $5. Zak had eggplant stuffed with jasmine rice and pear, seasoned

with star aniseed for 1680 forints ($9).

Subways

Though we mostly got around by walking, we did ride all three of Budapest's subway lines. This is a car

on the M2 line, with great 1950's styling.

Széchenyi baths

We visited the Széchenyi baths, one of the many thermal baths in Budapest, on Monday. This is the ceiling

in the entryway. I put away my camera in the locker room, but Google has plenty of good photos of the baths

themselves.

Building decoration

I felt like I spent all five days walking around looking up. Every surface was decorated in most of the buildings

we entered, and the exteriors of buildings often held sculptures or other decorative features on the third story or above.This is another building on Andrássy ut.

Hungarian State Opera House

We attended a performance of The Brothers Karamazov by the Eifman Ballet from St. Petersburg at the 

State Opera House on Saturday. Our box had seats for seven, but we had it to ourselves.

(November 2012 addition)

This post has gotten, by far, the most attention of any of the posts on this blog.  
Here are a few more photos from our evening in the Opera House.

Three chairs fit across the front of the box, two were on a platform (left side of photo), and two filled in the gaps, I suppose.

Our view of the stage and orchestra, when leaning onto the front rail.

Our view across the auditorium.
 

Museums

In addition to the Hungarian National Gallery, we also visited the Hungarian National Museum on Saturday and the
House of Terror (pictured above) on Friday, an excellent museum detailing the disturbing history of the Hungarian Arrow
Cross Party (Nazis), and their successors, two communist terror organizations, from the late 1930s through the mid-1950s.

Mátyás church

 

Every surface of Mátyás church is decorated with geometric patterns. It is stunning.

Buda at night

A view of Buda across the Danube. The Palace, on the left, houses several museums including the Hungarian National Gallery, which we visited on Sunday. The beautiful Mátyás church is on the right.

Café Vian

We ate at Café Vian in Franz Liszt square on Sunday evening. As soon as the weather permits, restaurants begin

to set up their outdoor tables and chairs with blankets. Europeans love to eat outdoors.

Franz Liszt

 

2011 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hungarian composer and pianist, Franz Liszt. This statue sits in 

Franz Liszt square, where we ate two meals.

St. Stephen's basilica

The basilica, heavily damaged during the war, has been restored to its golden glory. Stephen was the first king

of Hungary, reigning from 1001 to 1038.

City in transition

Budapest is a city in transition. Many buildings appear not to have been repaired since the war. With the fall

of communism 20 years ago, the city is slowly modernizing and cleaning itself up. This building was a couple

blocks from the Opera house on Andrássy ut, a broad avenue of mansions and boutiques.

Parliament

Budapest straddles the Danube River, with Buda to the west and Pest to the east. We visited the Parliament 

building twice to take a tour, but were unsuccessful both times. 

Dohány synagogue

We rented a great apartment through airbnb across the street from the Dohány synagogue, at the edge of the
old Jewish quarter. The synagogue is the largest in Europe, able to hold 3,000 people.

Budapest week: Swiss Air

We flew to Budapest last Thursday to meet up with Sonja, a friend from Washington, D.C. Swiss Air is

pretty great: they served cheese sandwiches, drinks and milk chocolate on our 1.5-hour flight.