“After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.”
Oscar Wilde
I wake up with a hangover.
Thankfully I drank last night so the risk/reward balance is intact.
We head out early for a walk to beat the heat and the crowds.
The weather is perfect, blue skies and cool breezes. Warm already, but not hot.
We follow the Danube to Országház, Parliament House. Taking in this ancient Gothic building I can’t help but compare Országház to Parliament House in Canberra, and be despondent.
“Architects give us temples in which something marvelous is obviously going on. Actually, practically nothing is going on.”
Kurt Vonnegut
We continue along the river heading for Margit-sziget.
After the spring gardens in April, I was not expecting a great deal from the summer gardens. It is hard to match the intense beauty of tulips, hyacinths and jonquils we found last time.
Budapest does not disappoint. The gardens are filled with marigolds, echinacea and salvia. While spring has a sparse beauty, where the trees are naked and the flowers are soloists in the garden, summer flowers are team players, but no less beautiful beneath the shading branches.
“Life, now, was unfolding before me, constantly and visibly, like the flowers of summer that drop fanlike petals on eternal soil”
Roman Payne
We head toward Zërgë Coffeeshop for some breakfast and coffee.
It is quiet as we move through the familiar streets. The places are the same but the season frames the architecture differently. Everything is supple when the trees are green and not barren.
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Bagels and coffee at Zërgë Coffeeshop. More comfort in the familiar. We didn’t need to repeat the order, they knew what we were having.
We head home to kill some time while we wait for the Magyar Nemzeti Galéia to open.
And Shell falls asleep.
I was hoping to visit Magyar Nemzeti Galéia on our last visit. Unfortunately, it was closed due to Easter.
It is entirely possible Shell will sleep until Monday.
“Daytime sleep is like the sin of the flesh; the more you have the more you want, and yet you feel unhappy, sated and unsated at the same time.”
Umberto Eco
We head off at about 1.50 pm.
Fair warning, it gets picture heavy from here.
We are fortunate to have two exhibitions to view with the permanent work.
The Retrospective Exhibition of Margit Anna (1913-1991) is an incredible journey through pain and loss. The evolution of her work is amazing and it is a privilege to see it on display in one place.
There was also work from her husband, Ámos Imre.
1935 – 1940
1940 – 1960
1960 – 1985
The work of Ámos Imre.
A confession, which is not really necessary … if you take a closer look at my paintings, you may notice that this is a bitter biography. No one is bitter at birth, but you become bitter if fate ordered you such a hard life that is equal to a war to pass through.
Although tormented and broken-hearted, I feel I have won, since I have been fighting throughout seventy-five years. I was punished with survival, my heart has become callous, I cannot feel love or joy, I do not have plans anymore, I rather exist than live … Well, I am, and I try to find solace in knowing that nothing lasts forever.
Margit Anna
The second exhibition was by Sean Scully, Uninsideout.
Some of my favourites from the permanent exhibition:
Lászlo Medyánszky, Head of a Tramp (1900) & Géza Peske, At the Summer House (early 1900s)
Sándor Bihari, Lunch (1890s) & Victor Vasarely, Sextans (1979)
Armand Schönberger, Café Scene (1924) & Georg Baselitz, Dinard 1929 (2023)
Bela Uitz, Analysis on a Purple Background (1922) & Lajos Tihanyi, Man Standing at the Window (1922)
János Vaszary, Morphine Adddict (1930) & Béla Kondor, Occurence (1967)
A great day.
We head home and relax before dinner.
Dinner tonight is TATI Farm to Table. The farm to table concept has become cliché these days, but the team at TATI has an actual farm outside of the city and makes a genuine effort to source most of what they cook from the farm.
“You can’t just eat good food. You’ve got to talk about it too. And you’ve got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food.”
Kurt Vonnegut
TATI does not disappoint. One of the best meals I have had. Equal to The Supper Club in Bangkok and superior to The Nicole in Istanbul.
We start with smoked sturgeon and goulash.
For mains, chicken paprikash and rolled pork belly. The pork belly is served with the most delicious pea purée I could imagine.
We share a dessert of cottage cheese dumplings. The dish might sound mundane, but it is stunning.
Finally the wines, which sadly were disappointing. The list was entirely made up of natural wines. At the risk of being repetitive, natural wines are entirely over rated and often just an excuse for faulty bottles.
The exception was the dessert wine, Hungary’s interpretation of botrytis.
2021 Barcza Furmint (Sòmlo, Hungary)
2021 Pécseli Chardonnay (Tokaji, Hungary)
2022 Somló Kincse Hárslevelű (Sòmlo, Hungary)
2022 Barcza Blankó Cuvée Olaszrizling (Sòmlo, Hungary)
2016 Hètszõlõ Sárgamuskotály Botrytis (Tokaji, Hungary)
We walk home, not as drunk as the night before. We are entertained by an American woman completely losing her shit, shouting and ranting at her partner. The high point was when she started to engage with the general public. Wonderful stuff.
“Despite all my rage
Bill Corgan
I am still just a rat in the cage.”
Don’t forget to visit the shoes on the Danube x