Steph and Alan's visit

The last time Steph and Alan visited us together was over 7 years ago. Since then Alan had been over here a few times on his own and we saw Stephanie once about 5 or so years ago when she attended a conference over here.  So, we looked forward to their visit with great anticipation and were not disappointed.

Incendies

But before that, just a few notes about the days before they arrived.  On Monday night I went to see a play, which shook me up considerably. It has been a long time that I was that touched by a play, which was very painful to see, but extremely enjoyable all the same. Its title is Incendie, its author is Wajdi Mouawad, a Canadian of Lebanese origins and its story is addressing one of the most shocking aspects of today's world. Civil war, hatred, religious strife, emigration, immigration and a myriad of other ills that the 21st century visits upon our heads.  The direction was by Róbert Alföldi, one of the best directors the country currently has. He was the resident director of the National Theatre, when the current regime booted him out, for just the simple reason that he couldn't be bullied by them. He has never been out of work ever since, which is not surprising.

In the Pilis

On Tuesday, Roy's stitches came out, and they seem to have healed since.  His biopsy results have also arrived, which I will still have to discuss with the surgeon, but it looks as if that is OK as well. Let's hope that my sketchy Latin has not abandoned me this time.

On Wednesday I went hiking with my friend Jutka to the Pilis Mountains and we managed to pick up 4 caches as well. The weather was gorgeous, we went by public transport, so we could have a linear route and we saw some lovely views in nature that was just waking up after the long and cold winter. The terrain was very steep and rocky, but thankfully most of our trip was downhill.

Steph and Roy on Friday

The one slight hiccup was that one of the caches was down such a steep, rocky mountainside that I was definitely worried, that should I slip, I might end up at the bottom and in not a very good condition.  Just around the big rock there were hardly any trees or bushes one could hang onto and the ground was very dry and slippery.  Still, we found it and managed to climb back up to the proper trail afterwards.

Ignác Semmelweis

Then Alan and Steph arrived on Thursday and a very busy, but enjoyable week started. On Thursday night the three of us (Roy is not an opera lover), went to see Otello in the Opera House. The production was pretty good and I enjoyed all aspects of it, except this modern predilection for practically no lighting on stage.  Most of the opera was played in semi-darkness, which probably represented the heavy tone of the story pretty well, but I would have so much liked to see what went on the stage a bit better.

On Friday we had a long day in town, doing a museum visit and some sightseeing with Steph and Alan. We started with the Semmelweis Museum of the History of Medicine. This place was new to all of us and we found it absolutely fascinating. The location was a lovely old renovated building where Semmelweis was actually born. There was a lovely old pharmacy inside the museum, lots of old pots for medicines, some old bits of equipment and many documents too.

A pretty tree in the botanical gardens

Then we headed to the Botanical gardens on the other side of the river, which was also pretty good, considering it was only the last day of March. Lots of lovely flowers, magnificent magnolia trees, herbs, bonzai and a profusion of cacti come to mind.

Wekerle telep

The day was concluded by travelling out to the Wekerle Telep, which is a lovely architectural area of an early 20th century social housing project. I have been there before just once, when I geocached there, but it was nice to see it again.  The other two places were totally new to both of us, as well as our guests.

Roy and Steph in the pavilion in the back garden in Bér

On Saturday we went down to Bér where we could see that even there the spring has arrived. Quite a few of our fruit trees were in blossom and the forsythia was covered in flowers. The roses were also beginning to bud and the bulbs were poking their first green shoots through the ground.

A trip to the Mill, this time, was not as successful as usual, as in spite of warning them several times way ahead that Steph is gluten intolerant, they poured a lot of soy sauce on her pasta which had wheat in it. The environment around the mill is still gorgeous, but in future I will make sure that any friends and/or visitors with any special dietary requirements will be catered for at home. With the best will in the world, you can still not trust restaurants to be totally on top of what is in the bottles that they use.

Roy, Steph, Alan and Hollókő Castle

On Sunday we returned to town via Hollókő, where we walked up to the castle and then down to the old village, which was just as lovely as usual.  Steph got herself a lovely walking stick and I treated myself to a wicker window box.

The compulsory Hollókő photograph with the Church in the background

On Monday, which was Alan and Steph's last full day, we were very busy again. Our first stop was the big Main Synagogue, but we only looked at it from the outside. Then we walked to a lovely old bookshop, which was large and where Alan bought me a really beautiful present of a collection of gorgeous, black and white photographs of the city from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Alan shopping in the Central market

Then we walked on to the Central Market, which is a quite a sight in and of itself, but we also did a bit of shopping there, before moving onto the boat station to catch a river boat up all the way to Roman Shore, where I used to spend my childhood summers. The weather was absolutely perfect, just a bit of a breeze to keep the unusually early heat down. The only disturbing factor for a while was a couple of loud Russian women and later a group of even louder Dutch teenagers, who suffered from what Roy calls - verbal diarrhoea. Thankfully, they got off after a while and then it got nice again.

Parliament from the boat

We spent an hour and a quarter on shore, when we walked to where I used to spend my summers as a kid. We also had lángos and chips and a drink at a buffet, as this time we didn't prepare a packed lunch.  En route back down the river we got out at Margaret Island and walked about for an hour or so there.  Unfortunately, the city decided to dig the entire island up to reinstate some paths and do some improvements, which would have been OK, had they not decided to do it now and all over the whole island everywhere.

Still, in spite of that, we managed to see some lovely places, plants, trees, lakes etc. The island hopefully should be finished soon, as in the summer that is the only really large place in that part of the city where those people living in apartment blocks can get to sit on grass and breathe good air, surrounded by the river, trees and beauty. 

Magnolia on Margaret Island

Alan and Steph have departed at 11am today and looking at the clock should have landed over half an hour ago. In a few minutes I am off to the Erkel Theatre for a performance of Don Giovanni, so I say good-bye until next week.