Every year in Budapest, on this weekend, the city celebrates the birthdays of every building which turns 100 years old. Some of these buildings open their doors to the public, so we can all have a good nose around inside and see what they look like.
Budapest has some great buildings, it is one of the reasons I love living here. Some of them are very ornate and beautiful, and some are very grey, rectangular and practical. But every one has its own personality, and history, and so this weekend seemed like a good opportunity to get to know our own neighbourhood in District XIII a little better.
Yesterday, we decided to take a little walk around, so I could get a few snaps of our Újlipótváros, and I could show you where we live. Unfortunately, we left the list of which buildings were the centurions at home, so we decided not to discriminate but show you all the ones nearby that we like.
This one is included purely for the paintjob:
All of these buildings are within a 5 minute walk from our place. At first, for me, it was quite strange living amongst 6 or 7 storey buildings. Not ever having lived in a city, it can seem quite imposing and claustrophobic to begin with, but you soon learn to take the time occasionally just to look up, and appreciate the beauty in some of these old places.
Getting a feel for how our neighbourhood looks?
This piece of Communist 'art' is just around the corner from us. At first glance it may look like a couple of guys arm wrestling, being jeered on by a crowd, but they are actually changing the wheel of a car. It is on the side of a building that used to be the garage of the Communist party. The building itself is still a garage today.
Some of these buildings, such as ours, have courtyards on the inside, and they can be really quite scenic also. This is one of the 100 year old buildings this year:
The interior style is very common here, metal railings on corridors overlooking all your neighbours. What isn't so common, is the unusual artwork going on inside this one:
Yes, that is an orange naked man, standing next to a giant gnome, alongside a spoonheaded guy with forks for hands, guarding his pet sheep. Yeah I don't know what it means either.
This is actually the front of our building, not the entrance we use to get to our flat unfortunately, ours is less scenic, but you can see our balcony in the top right of the picture.
These ones are of the courtyard inside our building.
Our little kitchen balcony, where we (try to keep alive) grow rosemary, thyme, tomatoes, etc. can be seen from here, it's the small one with two little window boxes hanging on the side.
In the evening, we headed on over to B's parents place, as we often do at the weekend. I am not exaggerating if you hear me tell tales of the bountiful feasts that we have partaken in there, and last night was no exception.
Moonlit grill party, there was steak, lamb burger AND chicken, grilled mushrooms, courgettes, and of course, a drink or two as well. Thanks to G&E as always for making such an awesome meal, and fun evening!
Today, we knew of a special program in our area that was happening as part of the 100 years celebration. A free 'corridor concert' on Gogol Utca, where some of the residents (and some non residents) were putting on a show of opera singing and music. We both had a feeling that it might be good, and it didn't disappoint.
A couple of the people singing turned out to be professionals, and they were really excellent. It was a completely unique event, everyone watching from different levels on the inside of the building, with the singers singing from either the ground floor, or sometimes coming up one or two levels and singing from the corridors.
We really had a great time, and it just goes to show that sometimes, the best things in life can be free. You just have to take the opportunity when it presents itself.
This last picture, the guy is singing 'If I Were A Rich Man', in Hungarian. I didn't understand the words of course, at least most of it, but his performance could have been in Swahili and everyone would have still understood.
And that was our weekend, it was a good one in District XIII. We even got free doggy hugs.
Since the half marathon, I have managed to get out for three or four small runs, to get the old legs moving again. I have to say my body was completely exhausted afterwards, so it has been hard to keep momentum going, but I am trying to persevere and keep training for the marathon. I fear if I stop now, I may never start again. So if you are feeling generous, and want to give me even more incentive to keep on runnin', please think about donating to a worthy cause:
And now I will sign off, with a gang (courtyard) serenade for you. Apologies, the video is not the best, as they were singing directly underneath us, but the music can be heard, so enjoy:
Wonderful! Lovely to get a feel for the city, especially the video :-) xx
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