Magyar News, 2002. szeptember-2003. augusztus (13. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2003-03-01 / 7. szám
An American reports on his visit to Hungary in 1988 by Ted Shutt The evening of our departure we, Lou, Les and Myself boarded our plane after the customary pre-flight hassles, squeezed ourselves into our compact seats and comenced eating across the Atlantic! The usual procedure. Drinks complimentary soon after take-off. Then a bit of a nap with lowered lights. Then lights on and everyone awakes, stretches and nibbles at a snack: sandwiches, crackers and cheese, fruit, and choice of drink. This consumes an hour, after which the lights are lowered for the movie. Darkness once more, but sleep is out of the question as we are flying due east and sunshine is streaming in every window. We are flying the Great Northern Route, over Ireland and England, then down the Rhine to Hungary. Breakfast was a whopper. Soon the drone of the engines slows down, indicating we are approaching our destination. It is a smallish airport, set in green fields, poplar-edged winding roads along which midget cars are crawling. Making our descent, we can see a fleet of buses waiting to ferry us to the terminal, and occasional bored-looking soldiers lolling around with rifles slung across their shoulders. They seemed absolutely disinterested as we filed off the plane. Customs, baggage inspection and the like, surprisingly, were kept to an absolute minimum, and in a short time we were tottling along, on our way into Budapest. It was the customary trip from any airport to the heart of a city suberbs with small houses, shops and factories. But it all intensified as we reached the outskirts of the city proper. Soon we were in the busy "Pest" side, a metroplis which to me resembles Paris. The broad boulevards teeming with people, the seven and eight-story buildings in architecture resembling those on the Grand Boulevards of Paris hightens this impression, even the Danube which bisects the city makes "Pest" seem like the Right Bank of Paris, with the "Buda" side being the Left Bank. We crossed by the Elizabeth Bridge, climbed sloping hills with parks and gardens, and drew up at the 18 story circular shaped Budapest Hotel. As our party of about 200 persons entered, waiters glided around serving free champagne, and a little later we were established in our pieshaped room (and bath). After unpacking, and at Lou's suggestion, we decided to treat ourselves the first night to a de luxe meal, selecting the famous Gellert Hotel as our dinning place. The Gellert is the doyene of Budapest hotels, similiar in size, site and &moience to New York's Plaza. The lobby is sprawling, dotted with marble columns and is a fitting introduction to the huge, two-story dining room French windows looked out on the Danube. An acre of tables was set with damask cloths, sparkling crystal and beautiful china. Hardly had we ordered our meal, a gypsy orchestra (complete with czimbalom) tuned up, and all during the meal we were regaled with marvelous tunes. Incidentally, any restaurant of quality in Hungary boasts a gypsy orchestra. The meal was delectable — an enormous tureen of noodle soup, entree, salad, bottle of wine, coffee and dessert (mine the most delicious pudding I've ever eaten) came to the astonishingly low price of $20.00 each, tip included. Imagine what a comparable meal would set one back at the Plazal Next morning (the sunshine was streaming into our eastward-facing window at 4:00 AM) we proposed taking a cruise on the Danube. But we were disappointed to find the boats not running when we reached the quay, so instead we invaded the center of "Pest” and headed for the Fine Arts Museum to view the famous "Crown". On our way we passed an impressive Catholic church and dropped in for a few minutes. A mass was in progress and within minutes I'd made the observation that the congregation consisted of "older" persons, people in their 50's, 60's and 70's. Not a young person in sight. The Crown duly observed, was drawing huge crowds, hundreds of school children being hustled by under the watchful eyes of guards and teachers. We walked to György's house to leave a note, he being the Exchange Student who had been at the University of Bridgeport in '16-11. Heading back to the hotel, on our way to the bus stop, we were fortunate to stumble on an open-air market and we explored it, marveling at the country produce, fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc., which were on sale by peasants who hawk their wares during the day. Fortunately, we also fell into conversation with the wife of a professor from the University of Oregon who had 20 students of economics living in Budapest, and she was obviously pleased to be meeting fellow Americans and regaled us with interesting stories of their stay. Back at the hotel we rested a bit before going down to the lounge to meet Lou's relatives who were joining us. They were his Uncle Frank, Frank's daughter Edit, her husband József and daughter Monika. Soon we were joined by two of Lou's cousins Sándor and Lajos, who had made the long trip in from the village to drive us back the next day. Much talk; laughter and drinks for several hours, until it was time to József, Edit and Monika to head back to their home in the suburbs. Later we were joined by György and then went up to the dining room for late dinner (at 10:30) Again a gypsy orchestra was playing elegantly, and I noticed that guests were still entering the room at midnight. Early next morning Sándor and Lajos showed up for the long drive to the village, but first we stopped at József and Edit's apartment on the outskirts of Budapest. It was set in a park-like area, a tiny two-room flat with a walled garden, space for Driving through the fields in Kelecsény The last horse in the village Page 5
