Walk up Castle Hill

How is this for a great place to walk?  One evening, Sister Bagozzi called to see if I wanted to go on a walk with her.  So, we walked up to Buda Castle.  It was a beautiful evening for a walk through a huge park and up a bunch of stairs to the castle.  It was very good stair-stepper exercise! 

Once at the top, the first thing you see as you walk down the cobblestone road to the castle is the beautiful Matthias Church.  It was built in the mid-13th century, but frequently restored and remodeled in different architectural styles in fashion at the time.  The exterior is in Gothi style and was added in 1896.  I loved the beautiful colorful tiles on the roof.   

After passing by the church, we came to the Fishermen’s Bastion with a statue of Saint Istvan on his horse.

  I love the detail on this statue!

We saw lots of cool statues of course.  Notice the fisherman holding the fish.

We walked along the top and saw beautiful views of the Duna and Gellert Hill.  I love the cool bridges!

This is a picture of Parliament from the Fisherman's Bastion.  I think it looks like a castle too.   

Looking down at an outdoor cafe on Fishermen's Bastion, with Matthias Church off to the side.   

Here is an up close look at the beautiful colored tiles on roof of Matthias Church.

I liked this little statue!  Such a happy, little guy!  :)

On our way back, we walked by this cute outdoor restaurant. 

Nearby, we found the best ice cream shop where we treated ourselves to our favorite flavors.  I got Dark Chocolate and my favorite Citrom (lemon).  :) 

 

At the conclusion of our lovely walk on Castle Hill, we walked back down all the stairs to the park. As we were walking toward our street, we passed an exercise area they had built there for people to use for free. We tried out some of the equipment to see what it was like and found that it had no resistance like the gyms back home. Still, you can get a good work out if you do it long enough.

 

 I enjoyed our walking workout much more though.   A castle is a beautiful place to exercise!   :)  

Sister Luncheon

We had a Sister Luncheon with us Senior Sister Missionaries and two groups of Young Sister Missionaries.  We took Sisters Skiba and Mackay and Sisters Galleon and Kimball to the Strudle House for lunch.    

Raspberry Soup was the appetizer!

                                         

                                                             Making Apple Strudle

We had fun watching Apple Strudle being made.  First he threw it in the air, then held it up so it became very long. 

Next, he spread the dough on the table and added the apple filling.  Once the filling was on it, he rolled it up and cut it into sections to bake.

After lunch, Sister Galleon, Sister Kimball and I went to Saint Stephens Basilica. It is a huge church - the third largest in Hungary - and very pretty on the inside and out. It is named after the First King of Hungary who did a lot for Christianity in Hungary.  The chapel has a statue at the front that we thought at first was a statue of Jesus, but it was a statue of Saint Istvan. So basically, the whole church is like a monument honoring the King. 

Saint Stephens Basilica

An alter with a beautiful tablecloth inside the church.

   A ceiling section with beautiful paintings. 

More beautiful paintings and statues on the walls.

At the front of the chapel was a statue of Saint Stephen

After walking through the church, we walked up 364 steps to the tower!  After about 200 steps, we came to a flat section and thought we were at the top, but then we turned a corner and there were many more stairs.  Those just seemed to go on forever, but we finally made it.

                                                        Sister Kimball and Sister Galleon

After reaching the top, we walked all around the entire church to see

an amazing view of the entire city of Budapest.

Sister Galleon and Sister Kimball with a view of Parliament to the right of the tower.

One of the clock towers and Sister Hanson with another view of the City of Budapest.

We could see Szent István tér, the one we walked up to get to the church; with Parliament,

Gellert Hill, and the rest of the city in the background.  The view was worth the climb!

Although Saint Stephens was a beautiful building, I was disappointed.  I can’t imagine going to church each Sunday and being reminded of a King instead of the Savior.  It made me think about an account in Mosiah 29 where the people honored King Mosiah so much that as he became old, they wanted him to appoint one of his sons to be a King over them.  When none of King Mosiah’s sons would accept the honor, King Mosiah told them that he would continue to be their king for the remainder of his days.  But, he said, “Let us appoint judges, to judge this people according to our law; . . .for we will appoint wise men to be judges, that will judge this people according to the commandments of God.”  He did this because “it is better that a man should be judged of God than of man, for the judgments of God are always just, but the judgments of man are not always just.”  King Mosiah loved and served his people his whole life and then wanted to make sure they would be safe from unrighteous kings after his death.  He didn’t want them to honor him - he wanted them to honor the Savior.   I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that teaches us what is most important in this life.  Even though they are amazing and fun to see, it isn't the beautiful buildings.  It's about remembering the Savior and trying our best to follow His example of quietly going about loving and serving others. 

Church in the Rock

I went with the Bagozzi’s to the Church in the Rock on the southern slope of Gellért Hill .

At the entrance of the church, there is a statue of St. Istvan with a great view of the Duna.

It was originally a home to Saint Ivan who was a hermit monk who was said to have cured the sick with thermal waters in front of the cave.  It was made into a church in 1926 by a group of monks.  During the communist era, the monks were forced to leave and the church was sealed up with concrete at the entrances.  It reopened in 1989.

The chapel is in this cave area.  Just as we finished our tour of this room, they actually began a church meeting.

I loved this room!  The woodwork was absolutely beautiful!

  On the walking tour, we learned more about the history of it and saw many beautiful works of art.  

Carmen

May 10, 2012
On Thursday, May 10, Sister Smith and I went with Elder and Sister Schnebly, Elder and Sister Bagozzi and Elder and Sister Gudgell to see the opera Carmen. It was so different from what I remember an opera being as a child. Mama sang in one and we went with Daddy to watch it. My first impressions of an opera was that you couldn’t understand anything they were saying and it went on forever. :) Towards the end, I can remember Daddy saying, “It sounds like they’re dying - huh?” As a child, it sure sounded like that to me. :) But, I have to say, as an adult, it was really good! Although, I still didn’t understand anything they were saying, it was very fun watching all of the talented dancers, singers, actors and musicians. We had heard that it was supposed to have English subtitles flashing above the stage, but they were in all in Hungarian. So, Sister Schnebly filled me in on the basic plot. It was a good opera and having it held in the ‘Opera House’, a historical monument built in 1875, made it even better. It was an amazingly beautiful building!

The Amazing Entry



Sister Schnebly and Sister Hanson




The Beautiful Ceiling




The Opera Boxes and Balconies





Top Floor of the Opera House
Sister Schnebly and I visited the top floors during a break in the performance.




Part of Our Group
Sister Hanson, Elder and Sister Gudgell & Elder and Sister Bagozzi




The Remainder of Our Group
Elder & Sister Schnebly

On April 26, all of the Senior couples and sisters got together to tour the Jewish Synogogue in Budapest, the largest one in Europe.

It was a beautiful building inside and out. It was severely damaged during World war II when Germany occupied Hungary. Later when they got their country back, they received millions of dollars from the State and wealthy people in America. After listening to a very nice Hungarian lady give the history of the synagogue in English (it was very hard to understand) we went to the Jewish Cemetery right there beside the synagogue.

According to Jewish traditions cemeteries can’t be on the premises of the synagogue, but during World war II, it was part of the Jewish Ghetto and served as a shelter for a lot of people. Over two thousand of them died from hunger and cold that year and were buried in the courtyard of the synagogue. It was a very sad story. They also had a memorial to Raoul Wallenburg, a Swedish architect who helped to save up to 100,000 Jews by issuing them passports and sheltering them in buildings designated as Swedish territory. However, he ended up getting caught and dying in a Nazi prison.

Part of the memorial was a huge metal weeping willow tree with metal leaves containing 400,000 names of Hungarian Jews murdered by the Nazi’s. They had a very nice museum that told more sad stories. I don’t think I can handle going to the House of Terrors. After our tour, we went to lunch at another new restaurant and then everyone went home. It was nice to get together with all of the other Senior Couples. Memento Park

On Tuesday, May 1st, we went to Memento Park for our Super PDay. This is where the Hungarians moved many of the communist statues and monuments following the fall of communism in Hungary.

One of my favorite statues used to be part of the liberation monument at the top of Gellért Hill. But, because Russia went from being liberator to oppressor, it was knocked down during the 1956 revolution. They replaced it with an exact copy, but it wasn’t left on Gellért Hill. It was moved to Memento park. It is an amazing work of art and huge (23 ft high)!

Another one I really liked was another humongous one. It is a giant charging sailor that was based on a 1919 revolutionary poster.

Another one I thought was cool looking was the Béla Kun Memorial. In it, Béla Kun is seen leading the assault, while waving goodbye with his hat. His ship is being tossed about in a storm. The crowds of people, whose feet are not touching the ground, are coming from nowhere and heading nowhere symbolizing those who were executed during the Red Terror period. This monument was created to mock Béla Kun as a leader, but, it’s a cool looking memorial. :)

The monument to Hungarian-Soviet Friendship was a very nice one as well. At the base of the statue it says, “Szabadságunk és belénk záloga a Magyar-szovjet órok baratsag” which means “The token of freedom and peace is the Hungarian-Soviet eternal friendship.” It’s kind of a sad phrase considering how it ended up. The Soviet’s drove the German forces out of Hungary, which to the Hungarians meant freedom from the danger of holocaust and the end of the war. But, that was not to be. They went from one dictatorship to another.