Forword - Don't Do This
A word of advice folks: do not do major re-configuration of
your computer while you are still jet-lagged and / or short of sleep. I
reinstalled Windows (in English this time) on my new replacement puter
after I arrived home, and forgot to back up my latest data before I did
it. So I am having to re-compose all of the text in this photo-post.
And Post-revival Windows XP is giving me some insubordination involving
poor response to keypad tapping.
And Ubuntu ((9.04 and 8.04.3 both) is failing to connect to my sister's
WPA wireless. Rowrbazzle. "Welcome to the Hotel California." Sigh.
On t'other hand, my people and cat are all glad to see me and
vice-versa. There's worse.
Back to Budapest
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6140.jpg)
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6143.jpg)
Not just a funny-looking little old car: this is an honest-to-goodness Trabant
("Satellite"), aka Trabi. A two-stroke car made in the former
German Democratic Republic, it belched pollution, and ran
all-but-indestructibly. Some years after the Fall of the Wall, the
Trabi became a kitchy symbol of its former country. The standing joke
was that you could double its resale value by filling the tank with
gasoline.
Anyway, somebody in my Buda neighborhood keeps a Trabi and parks it on
the street leading down the hill to the tram stop.
The Fountain at Moszkva Tér
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6154.jpg)
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6156.jpg)
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6157.jpg)
Moscow Square, where many tram lines converge, and the Metro stops
underground, has a large jaggedy metal fountain that is complicated
enough to be interesting. The central part features a
colorful tile mosaic.
Along the Danube
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6176.jpg)
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6189.jpg)
The rest of these pictures are all within a couple of hundred meters
of the Danube, that North to South axis through the heart of Budapest.
We start out on the Buda (west) side of the river, so anything you see
across the river is in Pest.
(Like this big ol' spiky building whose identity I don't think I ever
learned.)
Bethany Square
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6200.jpg)
has a small fountain, a Metro stop underneath, and an old market
building with a new shopping mall inside.
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6207.jpg)
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6225.jpg)
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6188.jpg)
Crossing the Danube by Metro, we are now in Pest.
Anything
across the river (or on a hill) is in Buda.
These teenagers had a fine old time
standing in the path of the sprinklers and giggling when the
water hit them.
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6238.jpg)
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6249.jpg)
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6276.jpg)
A well-dressed metal man stands on a small metal footbridge over a real
pond in a small corner park.
People seem to love having their picture taken with him.
![default title defalt alt text](pix/2009/img_6282.jpg)
Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf