Yehuda

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Hungary Photos 4

Some pictures outside of Budapest. As I said, the Balaton region is rather dull; it's the standard against which all other vacations spots should exceed. Were there no other places magnificent, exciting, or spiritual, Balaton would be a fine place to visit. And as I also said, even Balaton is endurable if you get lost off the guide book.

Many houses are made of thatch roofs. They now have plastered undersides. This is a ceramics house outside of Keszthely, on the south side of Balaton.

Here's the potter, working on a bowl.

These kitchy mushrooms are kinda cute.

These are hand painted egg shells. Similarly decorated shells can also be located in other stores in the area.

Examples of his ceramics.

More examples.

Across the street from the ceramics shop is a furrier. This stuffed fox stands watch outside the shop.

The furrier shop.

A view of Balaton Lake. The water is somewhat greenish and slimy. There are places where it costs money to access the shore, and places where is costs money to park near the shore, but we found a place off the main track (in Balatongyorok) with both free access and free parking.

Ducks resting on the shore, nearby.

Ducks in the morning, ducks in the evening, ducks in the summertime.

Wildflowers near the shore.

A snake near the shore. It moved once, so I know that it was alive. I didn't know whether Hungarian snakes are poisonous or not, so I didn't disturb it.

Another potter at his craft.

Nearby to the potter was a glazier, another craft at which Hungarians in the area appeared to be proud.

A castle in Keszthely. Part of the castle has been turned into a hotel. The grounds were open, but the castle was closed.

Back of previous castle.

Rachel on an old fort, overlooking Lake Balaton.

A medieval fort at Szigliget, near the lake, but still being restored so not in the guidebooks. The castle was built in the 1200s, and then handed to different families as gifts throughout the ages, staying in the same family for a hundred or two hundred years at a time.

In 1698 the ammunition stocks were struck by lightning and the whole fort destroyed in the ensuing explosion.

A door in Szigliget town.

An unfathomable thing behind Szigliget. Is it a swing? An upside down boat?

View of the lake from a cafe near some artist's workshop.

Rachel at the cafe.

A peninsula in the lake near Tihany.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Hungary Photos 3

Still in Budapest.

The inside of the Great Dohany Synagogue (see the outside in one of the last sets). Oriental influences and general architecture reflect the work of a church designer who had never done a synagogue before.

Stained glass skylight in the synagogue.

Dome over the aron kodesh.

Rachel standing in one of the two speech pulpits, about one third of the way down the aisle in the synagogue. Why two? Some story about competing Rabbis and politics. I'm not sure how both could have given a speech at the same time, however.

Stained glass memorial installation by an Israeli artist.

Monument to Raoul Wallenberg, as well as many other noted righteous gentiles from WWII.

Weeping willow installation, commemorating some Hungarian Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Leaves on the tree.

One of several calligraphic works in the current installation in the attached museum to the synagogue.

Budapest subway.

Front of the Budapest parliament.

Statue in front of parliament.

Random building across from parliament.

Random statue near parliament.

Random statue on Margaret Island. Margaret Island sits in the Danube, between Buda and Pest. It's accessible by walking. It's essentially a nature preserve, with parks, some hotels, some music areas, and so on. One of the nicest places to walk or bike around.

Rachel and I rented bikes for an hour to do the island. Two single bikes were cheaper than a double pedal contraption, for some reason. They also rent golf cart type things.

In the Japanese garden on the island.

Rachel on her bike.

In the Japanese garden on the island.

Some sort of Roman ruins on the island.

Me on my bike.

Riding into the Rose garden on the island.

The zoo on the island.

Rachel lying in the Rose garden on the island.

Random statue near the Rose garden.

Fountain near the entrance to the island. The water spurts in different ways: low, high, sideways, and so on, in a regularly changing pattern, all to the sounds of classical music from some speakers.