Six Senses Friday VII: Budapest

Castle Hill District Folk Art Festival

SEE:
- row after row of artisan stands on Castle Hill where continuing and reinterpreted folk art traditions are shown and sold  by artisans at the Folk Art Festival
- bustling city streets
- green Buda hills studded with houses, castles and museums from across the Danube
- a Latvian woman make an intricate paper cut in front of my eyes
- a dramatic sunset outside my room last night from the balcony where I am staying in Budapest

HEAR:
- my housemate in Budapest rehearsing on his trumpet every morning and evening...instead of finding it intrusive or distracting I really enjoy the sounds
- airplanes flying low, taking off and landing over the neighborhood where I am staying
- an expressive and strong old woman folk singer's song
- Liszt's Piano concertos,  inspired to listen to his music after seeing an exhibit on him at Budapest's Ethnographic Museum

TASTE:
- my friend's homegrown, homemade plum preserves
- juicy watermelon and peaches as I enjoy eating fresh fruits of the summer season
- gulping down fresh squeezed lemon, lime, orange aid with mint...refreshing while spending the day out under the hot sun
- marzipan torte

Szechenyi Thermal Bath

SMELL:
- sulfur coming from the water of the thermal baths I visited this week
- funky city smells as I walk through metro stations and over street grates
- suntan lotion
- plum cake and fresh bread baking in my friend's oven

TOUCH:
- antique embroidered table clothes and linens
- peeling blanched tomatoes as I make a tomato soup for my friend from the many tomatoes coming in from her garden
- hands in the dirt, weeding a garden

Danube and the Buda side of Budapest

FEEL:
- the sun beating down on my head mid-day as I walk around Budapest
- annoyance that I can't find the bus stop that would bring me really close to the house where I'm staying. Instead I take the tram which makes for a longer walk...but hey, a little more exercise won't kill me!
- speeding through tunnels underground on the Metro
- inspired by my young, trumpet playing housemate... he wakes up and practices for an hour and practices for an hour before going to sleep then plays a couple more hours at school. Makes me want to get back to my piano playing and regular vocal warm-ups.
- about ready to come home and get back to the drawing board...literally.

Great Market Hall, Budapest

Dahony Street Synagogue