Faces of Rakoczi ter

On Monday morning, bright and early, actually 10:30, which is bright and early for the construction industry here, construction officials, they were wearing red hard hats, barricaded the street in front of the market. The crew at Csiga Cafe was caught off guard and there was a flurry to move bicycles that were chained to a light pole that was now inside the construction barrier. There was alot of conversation about the project: how long the new barricades would effect business, basically blocking half of the sidewalk as well as restricting traffic on Rakoczi and Vasar utca. Weather this barricade was a new form of Berlin Wall dividing Rakoczi ter into East and West. But that's not what this blog is about.

The positioning of the new barricade created a sort of "cattle shoot" that forced people walking to the market to pass directly in front of the door where I sit for my morning coffee. These people are always visible. Making daily trips to the market is the common practice, freezers are rare and refrigerators are tiny and the markets are designed around selling small quantities of your daily provisions, one egg is 27 forints, about 14 cents, you can buy bread by the slice, freshly cut and what an aroma. There are small bags of salad mix. Our current favorite is grated tok with fresh dill. The "o" in tok should have two dots over it so the pronunciation is touk, sort of. Tok is a giant squash, light green in color and vaguely tastes like zucchini. You buy it freshly grated on an ancient wooden mandolin, the kitchen tool, not the instrument. It is sold my the kilo, 580 forints, about $3.00. The dill costs an additional 20 forints, about 11 cents. Where/when did the cent sign go away from the keyboards? Anyway, you can toss it with a bit of oil and vinegar even add a bit of paprika paste to liven it up. I sauteed an onion and a head of garlic in oil, added a bunch of the grated tok, a bit of water and cooked it down. I then pureed it and it was a wonderful soup, creamy and tasty. I got off the subject again...the people and the "cattle shoot."

I sat with my camera and shot these photos, the great faces of Budapest, everyday people going to the market, a trip most make everyday. My favorites are the couple; they have loud discussions as they walk and argue about each purchase in the market, the man with the ALDI bag, he is quite short but walks with strong determination, the young girl with the "New York Never Sleeps" shirt, check out the guy checking her out. You pick your favorite.

Flea market in the park

There is another flea market that is in the big park. We had looked for it several times but had never found it, it's a big park. Andrew and Agnes said they knew exactly where it was and they volunteered to go with us. They didn't know where it was either but we kept following the bottom feeders and eventually found it. It is different than the Echere flea market, the vendors pack up everything each weekend night so the booths are smaller and the offerings more portable. The vendors varied from well dressed antique dealers to grubby used clothes sellers. There was a guy selling a 1981 Lada, a nicely restored example of Soviet technology. He was asking 800,000 forints, about $4300. There were more country people here, I think the booths are cheaper and you can rent a spot for the day. The setting is an amphitheater where there are concerts. The area where you might set up your lawn chair to enjoy the concert is tiered and adapts well to the flea market application. A little tricky walking but not bad if you pay attention.

We had a nice time, I bought a couple of t-shirts and Lisa bought some beads. We'll go back.

We returned to the flat around 3pm. We are sitting at Csiga Cafe, Lisa is reading and I am, well, doing this.

The photos are of the flea market, the 1981 Lada and Nellie, one of our favorite people at Csiga.

My 101st post

It’s time for a blog report. Yes, I know it has been a few days since any information has slipped out of Eastern Europe but it’s been a bit quiet here. It’s not that we haven’t been doing interesting things; writing proposals to journals, cleaning the stove, watering the plants, soaking feet,(I have a nasty planters’ wart that is driving me crazy) mopping the floors, re-writing proposals to journals, limping to the market, making paprikash, more foot soaking and more re-writing proposals to journals. Interesting but just not blog able. But wait, did I say “making paprikash,” maybe you could expound on that, that would be more interesting than the foot soaking.

There have been numerous discussions on this blog about food, and, I am determined to leave Budapest with the mastery of at least 2 traditional Hungarian dishes, goulash and paprikash. There has been a lot of research conducted on these subjects, we have eaten goulash in every country we have visited and have found that the recipe varies from country to country. Red and soupy in Hungary to brown and stewy in Czech. Goulash is similar to chili in that the recipe varies from country to country and grandmother to grandmother. More research must be conducted to come up with the definitive Hungarian recipe although I have determined you start with a bunch of root vegetables and it has caraway in it. The rest is rather vaque. Paprikash, on the other hand seems to be somewhat standard but I know by saying this I will cause a debate among my Hungarian readers.

Last Thursday evening our friend Barbara Guttman invited us for dinner and she make paprikash. Through arm twisting and looking over her apronned shoulder I have determined the secret recipe she has in her head. Barbara is ½ Serbian and ½ Hungarian and she learned the recipe from her Hungarian grandmother, it’s not written down and has a lot of dashes’ and abouts in it but here is the basic recipe.

Large pot, 4# of white onions chopped fine, cook the onions in oil and a bit of water, cook them for a long time, add more water if needed, keep cooking the onions, still not ready, when they are finally ready remove the onions from the stove, add several scoops? of special paprika only found in some small Hungarian village deep in the Carpathians, return to the fire and add 2# of tomatoes and cook for a long time, you shouldn’t need to add any more water as the tomatoes add liquid. This is the basic recipe for paprikash.

Barbara made paprikash with forest mushrooms and it was spectacular. But with the basic recipe you can add many different things, beef, chicken, potato even peas. We made ours with chicken and potato. You just add the final ingredient you desire at the end. The paprika adds so much flavor you don’t need salt and you can add a lot of it. Paprika of course varies and the Hungarians are very persnickety about it, we have heard of annual pilgrimages to buy a special paprika. This recipe will take some practice and continued development. It’s very healthy, hearty and flavorful.

Goulash on the other hand…still a complete mystery but I am determined.

Other notes…Clayton is in DeKalb working with Dad. We enjoyed his time here and we hope he did as well. We met our train friends Andrew and Agnes for dinner on Friday night and are going to the flea market with them this morning. They are an interesting couple, they are retired and traveling the world. They are originally from Hungary but have been in California for over 30 years. They have sold their house and are living out of suitcases.

We have finalized our plans for the return trip. We will be back in Budapest from Oct. 12th (D and D's Anniversary) thru Oct 27th so plan your Fall vacations now. It looks like we will be able to use the same flat so we have plenty of room and plenty of towels. Lisa will be busy but I will be available for tours.

Enjoy a few pictures; a unique t-shirt combining a motel and a motor oil, tree lined Andrassy Boulevard, recipe needed for these cookies, dinner with Agnes and Andrew and dinner at Barbara's with a woman who only spoke Flemish, from Flemland I guess.

My foot is better, thanks for asking.

Why are there no mosquitoes?

The early morning aromas are drifting thru the open window here on Vasar utca. The breeze is cool after a brief shower cooled things off last night. You can sit here in the open window and the cooking smells are intriguing. This morning I smell salt port and paprika. Occasionally the smells are a mixture of kitchen and diesel fumes with the kitchen generally winning. You may recall we are on the 1^st floor, which is actually the second floor by American standards, so we are about 15 feet above the street. We hear the various noises that accompany city life, great loud arguments that we have no idea what the subject is or who wins; the sounds of the delivery trucks that start arriving at the market at 5 am and the strange clop of one ladies shoes as she heads to work at 5:30.

One of the great benefits of Budapest and likewise Vienna and Prague is the complete absence of mosquitoes. I see mosquito spray in the markets, similar to our OFF but some scary German brand. German brands are always scarier. But in the time we’ve been here, over 2 months already, we have not seen a mosquito. There are bugs, a few flies but nothing like we experience in the US. There are no screens on the windows and everyone leaves their windows open at night. The generally accepted theory for keeping the buildings cool is to close everything up during the day, inner and outer windows and doors, then open everything up in the late afternoon. We have ignored this and keep our windows open if we’re home. We did test the theory on our Vienna-Prague trip. We had closed everything up when we left, we arrived home about 11:30 and heat of the warmest day of the summer in Budapest was still lingering. We opened the door to the building and the difference was at least 10 degrees, the flat was nice and cool also, the 18” thick walls keeping the heat out.

This bug thing is worth looking into. Those of you who have traveled more extensively than we have may have noticed this in other European cities. Clayton said there were no mosquitoes in London but the fact that it was December may had had a bearing.

It has been rather warm for Budapest, everyone is complaining but it’s actually very nice, the humidity seems low. We’ve had a nice couple of days recovering from the hectic pace we set in Vienna and Prague. Throw in the full day at Terezin and we figured we had walked over 10 miles the 5 days we were gone. A lot of it up and down stairs that don’t seem to match the modern mans stride. We headed out to the Echere Flea Market on Saturday. Clayton was curious and Lisa hadn’t been there either so she tagged along. Lisa bought a few beads, I bought a rug from a guy I felt sorry for, great colors and design, a little tattered but a nice Romanian weaving.

On Monday we were invited to lunch with Aniko and Peter. Their girls were at Day Camp so they had the day free. We had a nice lunch at an interesting Hungarian restaurant. They had many unusual items available in a buffet arrangement. We enjoyed sampling a few things we had not tried yet. Everything was made in house and they had videos playing of the preparation of each of their specialty items. As soon as a video would play we would go look for that item. Fun. They also took us to a nice park on the Danube. It was an old industrial site that is being converted into a park with several pavilions, a restaurant and a swim beach. It was a nice day. Clayton has been downloading movies for us to watch in the evenings. Her heads home on Wednesday. It has been a nice break for us having him here.

Here are a few photos. Clayton on the Danube, Lisa and Clayton with Aniko and Peter, fishermen catching what looked like smelt. An old Bayliner used as a Budapest Police boat.

Budapest-Vienna-Prague-Budapest

A few notes from our Vienna-Prague trip. The train travel was impressive, on time, clean and reasonably inexpensive. The sights you see from the tracks are a unique view of Eastern European back yards and old industrial parks. The old and probably abandoned railcars from the last century are lined up for miles along the sidings, and paint a picture of the history of European train travel. Some of the cars are ornate and colorful, right out the pages of an Agatha Christie novel; others are drab and socialist looking, their varied paint schemes long faded. The cities look like the cars, drab but with these bright red clay roofs that never fade. Hungary, Slovakia and Czech (yes, they simply call it Czech, not the Czech Republic) (at least the Czechs do) (the maps and the flags say Czech Republic) country sides look alike while the small towns of Austria look more postcardy. Vienna was beautiful, clean, expensive and easy to see most of it in 2 days. The people are stiff but helpful, the food was nothing special. We didn’t venture away from the touristy areas so we had no opportunity to see the back streets. The Metro was as clean as Budapest’s. Prague was visually similar to Vienna, great buildings, big plazas but the atmosphere was completely different. Every night was Saturday night, loud party filled streets and bars, lots of drinking until early morning, maybe even late morning. The streets are clean but by late afternoon the trash cars were overflowing with beer bottles, plastic water bottles and general trash. This would not be allowed in Vienna; some Hapsburg descendent with serious dental problems would rush out from the castle and sweep up. This, by the way, is a historical fact; there was so much inbreeding with in the Hapsburg dynasty that a majority of men with Hapsburg genes have obnoxious under bites.

It is the general opinion among the other travelers we talked to that Austria is better at hospitality than Czech simply because they have been at it longer, the hotels were friendlier, I think the desk clerk at the Zipser Hotel in Vienna clicked his heels together when he greeted us, I think, not sure. The place in Prague was a little more laid back, here’s your key, if you lose it we charge you 50 Euros. There was a big sack of fresh towels and a roll of TP outside our door when we returned each evening, which was nice.

I think Czech is still getting its democracy legs, a little like Hungary. They are enjoying their freedom.

The Jewish Museum in Prague was packed; it’s a rather compact area of several different sites that are all called the Jewish Museum. We were able to see some of the children’s art work from Terezin. They have over 4000 pieces that they are still cataloging and preserving. Hopefully Lisa will continue to work with them as she continues her research. We may return to Prague in August.

Here is a list of some of the towns we passed thru between Budapest, Vienna, Prague and back to Budapest: Probably not in the correct order: Tatabanya, Gyor, Mosonmagyarovar, Hegyeshalom, Breclav, Brno, Pardubice, Pecki, Kolin, Recany, Prelovc, Kostenice, Zamrisk, Cholen, Bezpreva, Smer, Ustl, Svitany, Breszova, Rajec, Blansko, Bratislava and then it got dark and I couldn’t read the station signs.

There was a lot of wheat still in the fields, about ready to harvest. The announcements on the train were in German, English and the language of whatever country you were in. There were a lot of apricot trees all along the tracks, the further North we went the farms got smaller and there were large pine forests. It seemed there was a church or castle on every hill.

Photo Notes

Czech is the true home of Budweiser. Anheuser Busch has been suing this little brewery for years and has not been able to restrict the use of the original name to Czech only, boycott Anheuser Busch products. Anyway, Clayton enjoyed an original Budweiser at the train station in Prague.

The sidewalks in Prague are amazing; they are constructed of 2” X 2” cubes of marble. Beautiful, functional, easy to pull up for under side walk repairs, provides endless design possibilities and are slick as…..when they are wet.

Clayton and I hiked to the Prague Castle, lots of steps. Photo opportunities abounded.

The river is crowded with lunch time tour boats.

They were filming a movie right outside our hotel. When we walked to dinner Wednesday night we had seen a bunch of workers painting a building and working on the inside, there were big baskets of fruits and vegetables as well as a guitar and a cello sitting on the sidewalk at 8 pm. We thought it was a bit odd. It was all explained when we found ourselves walking thru a movie set. You can see the rails for the camera in the lower right.

Tired of typing, Clayton and Lisa are making rabbit stew and we have been enjoying the watermelon with horseradish we discovered in Vienna. Have you tried it yet?? Why not??

Day trip to Terezin

We traveled to Terezin today. I was an interesting trip from start to finish. Every travel book, Czech travel web site and online reservation form said the bus left from the International bus Terminal, it didn't. The bus left from another bus terminal across the river. We had allowed enough time for these possibilities but it was still frustrating. In the Czech Republic we have found a lot of people speak English, the menu's are in English and the jazz singers sing in English but all of the street and highway signs are in Czech. We got directions to the other bus station, buy a Metro ticket, go 2 stops. We found the info booth, go thru a tunnel to the other station where the buses are, we were in the Metro station, not the bus station. We met a group of frustrated Spanish travelers who were having the same frustration so we joined forces and finally found the ticket lady. It really went smoothly after that. The Spaniards are headed to Budapest so of course we told them about Birs Bizstro.

The bus left us on the side of the road but with the instructions of the ticket lady we knew which way to walk. We headed to the Small Fort.

Terezin is basically a 15th century fort that would gave slipped into historical anonymity had it not been for WWII. As concentration camps go it was the place to be. The influential and government officials were often sent there. It was the camp the Nazi's showed the outside world, they made documentary films about Terezin. Don't get me wrong, it was still a terrible place.

The city is surrounded by a very extensive wall and series of gates and bridges, the museums are nice, actually not to dark. They have emphasis on the efforts of the residents to continue teaching. Art seemed to be a major subject. The entire town was flooded in 2002 and you can still see the effects. There is a major tree planting program underway. There were quite a few tour buses with a variety of passengers, high school age kids, seniors and a bus load of monks.

We met several sweet little docent ladies, their English was limited to "no photo." They pointed to a guest book and asked us to write something in it.

We ventured down a 500 M long tunnel that snakes under the defensive walls of the fort. Lisa wanted to see the girls dormitories where many of the art lessons were conducted but the building is privately owned and was not open to the public.

There are several restaurants and we chose one from a blog post and it was just OK...it overlooked the moat and the Jewish Mortuary. We checked out a couple of Antik shops, very expensive but fun to browse in.

We found the bus stop on the square and the bus arrived on time. We were back in Prague at the Ungelt by 5 pm.

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant we saw near the Jewish Museum. We tried their home made sausage, a combo platter of game, white and pepper sausage.

Prices here are sneaky. You really have to pay attention. They ask you if you would like bread with the sausage and then charge you for it. Waiters walk around with mugs of beer and quickly replace your 3/4 empty mug with a full one. Beer is cheaper than bottled water and the waiters say they are not allowed to serve tap water. They try that in Budapest but we're to smart for that.

We walked back to the Ungelt in a big thunderstorm. The lightening strikes in this area of tall church spires was fantastic. The power was out for a minute or two.

We will spend the morning and afternoon at the Jewish Museum complex, and may find time to go over to the castle. Our train leaves at 15:33. Back to Budapest.

The pictures are of the ticket lady, the cute Spaniards, a wall in Terezin, the restaurant and streets of Terezin.

Prague, Czech Republic

We are heading to Terezin this morning on a bus, providing we can find the Prague International Bus Terminal, an easy 20 min walk from the hotel. If any of you are bored just look at a map of Prague. Parts of the city has been here for over 2000 years and they are still revising the maps. I personally think the street department comes out and night and moved streets. Everyone, including the street workers and policemen, walk around looking at maps.

Yesterday was very nice. While Lisa worked at the Jewish Museum Clayton and I hiked to a market. A long walk along the Vltava River took us past river boats and small cruise ships and a river lock.

In the evening we checked out the jazz festival going on in the Old Town Square, good jazz, mostly in English and good food but expensive. We walked across the Charles bridge to look for the John Lennon wall and on the way walked by the Pad Lock Bridge which was actually more interesting.

The picture on the Charles Bridge documents Lisa's commitment to work with local artists, later today she is scheduled to consult with a guy that paints tigers on velvet.

Off to breakfast in the basement and then to the bus.

Here are some pics from yesterday.

Morning up-date

It is such a pleasure to have great internet access. We have been limited by expense in Budapest, the broad band card we have costs by the minute or something, the internet was spotty at best in Vienna, but here....Prague....ahh...Prague.

Lisa and I were out early, had breakfast in the basement of this building, Ungelt Square. The restaurant is in a deep basement with a stone spiral staircase that goes 2 floors down. The room has high arched ceilings and exposed stone walls, it was built in the 12th Century as a warehouse for goods coming into the market. The apartment we are in is in a newer part of the building, the desk clerk was proud to say it was remodeled in 1888.

It is about a 5 minute walk to the Jewish Quarter where I dropped Lisa off at 9:30. She had an appointment with the librarian to become acclimated with the facility. I came back to Ungelt to drag Clayton off to check out more of the city. I think we are headed to a market area and then to the Charles Bridge. We will meet Lisa at 12:30.

I will post these pictures of the apartment sans the second bedroom, he was still asleep.

Prague Update

Here are a couple of shots from Prague. Fancy chandelier, relaxing in the posh living room, out the window and lost in the Old City. There were cigarette machines on the street corners in Vienna.