I'm exhausted. It's very hot and sunny here today and we spent the day outdoors and going to museums and galleries in and out of Budapest. Beata, her daugher, Arpad and Max came to pick us up around 9:30 and we headed out of Pest and into Buda and then on to Szentendre.
Our first stop was at the incredible ruins of the Roman coliseum. Amidst modern buildings and houses, cars and busy streets, there's this fabulous portal into thousands of years ago. The cage areas that held wild beasts for battle with Gladiators are still in tact. I could really imagine thousands of Romans watching as a man gets a mauled to death by a tiger. I picked up a few loose pebbles from the area to put in my garden.
Our next stop was the Kiscell Museum/Budapest History Museum. It was once a monastery, then a school and now houses an exquisite permanent collection of modern day relics, cultural material and art of all kinds. We oooohhed and ahhhhed at every turn. Each room, even without the art and artifacts were themselves breathtaking. All of the pieces were about Hungary, Budapest and created by national artists. I'm wondering if my great-uncle might have a painting or two in some of these museums? The old church is a massive structure that houses some contemporary work. And while I wasn't so hot on the work, per se, I was very intrigued by the juxtaposition of the aged architecture and the modern pieces presented there.
Next, we headed out of town into Szentendre, this charming, truly European village on the Danube. While a little bit touristy, there's tons of shops, cafes, galleries, museums and restaurants tucked into little nooks and niches and some beautiful jewelry, clothes and art at every stop. While there, we went to the Serbian Orthodox church and the church musuem, which was really lovely and complex. We all commented on the hand gestures of the clergy in the paintings - sort of like holy gang signs. We stopped for lunch at Erzebet Etterem and I had some delicious hortobagyi palacintas. They are so rich and satisfying, that I immediately wanted a nap. I fell in love with this black dress from one of the shops, but simply couldn't part with 13000 forints. We tried to visit the Artist's Residency there, where 28 artists live and work and have a gallery, but poop, the gallery was closed.
And after that, we were pretty pooped ourselves. Out in the sun for hours, taking in all the art, architecture, history and culture was pretty intense! And there was so much more to do and see there, but it was unanimous that we head back to Pest for a little rest. I took a short nap and now I'm awake, but still quite tired. It will likely be an early night for me!
I have about 25-30 shots for the gallery show and I need to narrow it down to nine, plus, I have to get my work printed tomorrow so I can matte and frame everything by this weekend.
On Saturday, I'll be spending the day with my Hungarian family - Agoston and Erzsebet. I wrote them an email, using totally horrible Hungarian pronunciation and grammer, but they got the gist of it and Beata is helping us translate with one another. They wrote me the nicest note back, which Beata translated for me and I must share it:
"Dear Kristine! You have surprised us with your Hungarian letter. We are so sorry that we cannot write in English. I hope someone will translate to you. We would like to take you somewhere for a family trip on Saturday. Tomorrow we will talk with Beata, maybe she can help. We love you very much, our little sweet girl! Good night, see you. Agoston and Erzsebet."
So, I'll spend the day with them on Saturday and head to Beata's afterwards for tea. It will be interesting trying to communicate beyond language barriers, but I think it would be tragic if I let this be a deterrent and didn't spend as much time with them as a I can.
That's today. It's been a busy one.
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