Budapest courtyard

Michael Simmons' courtyard, originally uploaded by Jordan Moss.

I'm reviewing some of my Budapest photos and this is one from a courtyard in Pest. None of the elements are beautiful by themselves but together at dusk they are.

Devin @ Queens University, Belfast

Devin @ Queens University, Belefast, originally uploaded by Jordan Moss.

This is from the last leg of our trip in Belfast. Devin just got a new pair of sunglasses and she happily hammed it up for me as we strode through the Queens University campus in search of a playground.

We're home

After a much delayed flight, we arrived in NY at 3 am on Tuesday May 27. Mom and Dad picked us up at the airport at that insane hour! We were very glad to see them (and I don't think they minded seeing us either).

More from Ireland ...

We're in Co. Mayo, Ireland now -- have been here a few days after our lovely time in Belfast. A highlight of our stay there was one of those double-decker (with open top) bus tours. We had a terrific guide with a great sense of humor who showed us everything from the shipyard where the Titanic was built to the politically intense landscape of the Shankill Road and the Falls Road, where there is now peace, but a giant wall still slices through peoples' backyards dividing one community from the other. The colorful murals that are commonplace on both sides depict starkly opposing political positions, but all connote a bitter battle that has gone on too long. As the guide said, it's not fair to expect cordial relations after decades of animosity and violence, but a few years of peace is certainly the beginning of a foundation for reconciliation down the road.

Four years ago, when we were here in the Republic of Ireland last, the Celtic Tiger was in mid-roar, but four years later, you can see the final product of a booming economy in a vastly changed landscape with large, stately homes with stone entranceways and the like cropping up on former and current farmland everywhere. The economy is suffering some now, and things are slowing down, but the building continues in many areas.The other big change here since our last visit is the service economy. Virtually everyone who has served us in a restaurant or convenience store is a foreign national from one of many different parts of the world. Here in Ballyhaunis, Mayo, there are many African immigrants.

Tomorrow we head back to Dublin for a few days before heading back to New York on Monday. We won't have much internet access there, so this may be one of the last posts until we return.

But we'll probably post a little more when we return -- to fill in some of the experiences we never got to report ...

Scenes from the farm

Following up from the previous post, here are some highlights from our 4 days in Cavan with Margaret's family.

Devin on Devenish Island near Enniskillen (which is actually in Northern Island). Aunt Cora took us on a boat trip on the Erne River, and we made this stop at Devenish Island, where there are signs of the ancient monastic society that lived there in the 1200s.


An anicent -- and unusual -- Celtic cross on Devenish ....


Devin and her cousin Serena (almost 5) with freshly lain eggs ...


Devin holds one of the baby chicks just born on Aunt Cora and Uncle Vincent's farm ...

Blogging from Belfast ...

Hi everyone ... We're in Belfast (Northern Ireland) now doing a little sightseeing after spending 4 wonderful days in Co. Cavan (Republic of Ireland) with Margaret's Aunt Cora, Uncle Vincent, and the whole extended Rudden clan.

Devin had a blast at Cora and Vincent's farm where she saw some baby calves up close and held some new baby chicks and successfully transported a fresh egg all the way down the gravel path to the house.

Yesterday at Uncle Aidan's she petted a pregnant donkey, who's about to give birth any moment.

Margaret and I also had a rare night out at a local pub (Thanks for babysitting, Aunt Cora!) where we got to see Margaret's 21-year-old cousin Damien playing guitar in a band.

Cora lent us her GPS device which helped us find our B&B in Belfast and it's a beautufl day today and we're about to go to the Botanical Garden here. And then tomorrow we may head off for a day trip to Giant's Causeway before spending a few days with the other wing of Margaret's faily in Counties Roscommon and Mayo.

We have lots of great pix, but it's harder to load them on the road.

Hope you're all well, and we're looking forward to heading back home in a week's time.

Love,
Jordan, Margaret and Devin

Those Darned Croatians

I've wanted to see the inside of the magnificent Parliament building here. They have daily tours -- we had tried once to get tickets a few weeks ago but arrived too late. So, as we only have a couple of days left, we tried to get in yesterday. I rushed back from dropping Devin at school (her last day!) to meet Margaret at Parliament and when I emerged from the Metro, she told me that Croatian officials were visiting today and, so, no tours!

So, it wasn't meant to be -- just one more reason to come back her some day.

Here's a photo I took from across the river the other day of Parliament and there even more to each side of the building than is in this frame, believe it or not. For a country that has struggled so hard with its despots, monarchs and dictators, it has probably the most impressive temples of democracy in Europe. Consider less than 20 years ago, perched on top of the central dome was a red star representing the Communists.


The disappointment with the tickets was actually the beginning of one of our most relaxing, enjoyable days here. We bought the International Herald Tribute (which is published by the NY Times) found an outdoor cafe on a main square nearby (where the American embassy is), ate srambled eggs, and granola with yougurt. We divided up the paper and read like 6 articles each, stopping occasionally to read each other a snippet of the latest world outrage (like the US trying to strongarm the Poles into letting us put a deeply flawed missile defense system on their sole -- luckily the Poles are driving a hard bargain, wanting billions to modernize their air force in return). The air was crisp but almost warm, the sky was blue and it was just what the doctor ordered.

Then we decided to go to the Palace of Arts, a relatively new museum here with modern art, some of which Margaret had seen the other day. There was this interesting exhibit on Fluxus, an anti-art art movement of the 60s -- the "happenings" you've probably heard of were a part of this.

Then it was off to have coffee with Michael Simmons, a dynamic American human rights worker who has made Budapest his home the last five years. We had met up with him about a month ago at a documentary about the Roma (gypsies) and we had a really nice long conversation with him about his human rights work and politics in general. We really enjoyed our time with him and only wish that we had met up with him earlier in our stay here. If we have one regret on this trip, it's that we didn't more intentionally make contact with people we had been referred to by friends much earlier in our stay. Here's a photo of Margaret and Michael.


After our visit with Michael, we headed up one last time to Buda to pick up Devin from school. She was in the playground with all the other kids, and we all said our goodbyes. Her best pal, Mallika gave her 9 Indian bangle bracelets as a going away present. Here are Devin's three teachers -- Robert, Rita and Kevin (holding Devin).


And that evening we had dinner over Jodi Jensen's house. She's the one who invited Margaret to give a lecture on the American election at her institute last month in Kosseg, on the Austrian border. I never did post photos of that trip but it was really one of the highlights of our time here. We had a lovely leisurely dinner at Jodi's and Devin left with an armful of books and toys that Jodi gave to Devin from her teenage children's stash.

Here's a photo of Jodi, Devin and Margaret ...


So, maybe we have the Croatians to thank after all for setting on our day on such an enjoyable trajectory.

One week to go ....

A week from now we'll be leaving Hungary for Ireland, where we'll travel around for two weeks to see Margaret's family and some sites along the way. Probably somewhere in Northern Ireland will be on the itinerary. We shall see ...

The time (two months) has gone by incredibly fast, but we feel like we've seen and learned and experienced a lot, though of course there's always much more to see and do. We'll miss Budapest, but we're both glad that, before too long, we'll be back in our natural habitat.

We've had an event-filled few days, as we've showed Uncle Pat some of our favorite sights and discovered some new ones. Here are some highlights ...

Devin and I had a father-daughter day on Saturday. We found a playground we hadn't been to yet (Szent Istvan Park), in this kids' travel book I found recently called "Benjamin in Budapest". It's got everything a kid would want to do in Budapest. (I've become an appreciator of European playgrounds, which are much more interesting and much more respectful of kids' abilities than almost any I've seen in NYC. It probably helps that you can't get very far with lawsuits here.)

Anyway, Szent Istvan (St. Stephen) was not one of the most exciting playgrounds I've seen here, but Devin was happy as a clam with her pail and shovel in the sand for more than an hour. It's nice and different to be with her one-on-one. There's nothing you can do but focus on each other. Margaret is often Devin's preferred playmate when the three of us are together, and I probably don't work hard enough to engage her imagination.

After about 90 minutes, Devin had to go to the bathroom so we stopped into this lovely upscale cafe across the street, plunked down our sandy implements at a table, went to the bathroom and then returned for some tea, and apple juice and pastry.

Here's a little video interlude from Devin ruminating on my teapot ...




After a little more playground exploration, we braved a brief rain shower and headed toward our favorite taco place, Arriba Taqueria, which we discovered early in our stay here. Devin devoured a shredded pork taco with cheese and corn.

Then we headed home to let Margaret know what we were up to before heading to the Natural History Museum (another attraction we learned about in the Benjamin Book). Devin wanted to see the Noah's Ark exhibit, which included real (that is, dead) stuffed animals. So we headed off to a nearby, but as yet unexplored part of the city, to see that exhibit. But the way to the exhibit included a walk through a rather dark hall with aquariums and a see-through glass floor with specimens of ancient sea life. This kind of freaked Devin out and we never made it to Noah's Ark, but she was a sport and "let me see," as she told Margaret later, a terrific photo exhibit in a large room near the entrance, about China. I really wanted her to see the Ark and friendly, English-speakig museum aide tried to help me convince her that it wasn't scary. But after a bit, I realized that it was indeed scary to Devin, for whatever reason, and I couldn't make it unscary. So I picked Devin up and talked to her about each of the China photos and she asked me questions about some of them. And then we sat down for Sprite and apple juice in the museum cafe and then got a dinosaur, a Quartz pendant, and some Quartz earrings for Margaret in honor of Hungarian Mother's Day.

I'd love to write more now, including a report on our fascinating Hammer and Sickle Communist Walking Tour today, but that will have to wait. It's late and my fingers aren't cooperating, so I'll just leave you for the time being with this photo from our return to the great slide playground on Gellert Hill in Buda yesterday. We went there several weeks ago, and reading about it in the Benjamin book reminded Devin that she wanted to go again (and you can see why).

A Day Out in the Country

Yesterday, we took a day trip to Szentendre (szent is saint and endre is Andrew) and Margaret's Uncle Pat, who is staying with us this week came along. Szentendre, is a beautiful old town with winding cobble-stoned streets on the banks of the Danube. It's just north of Budapest -- about a 40-minute train ride on one of the slower trains we've been on here.

Here are a few photos from our day.

The three of us by the Danube ...


A photo of my lunch (first really good fish I've had here -- land-locked Hungary not really known for its seafood) at a lovely outdoor restaurant overlooking the river ...




Margaret, Jordan and Uncle Pat ... Devin took this one! ...


Uncle Pat and a view from a hilltop



And here's an ancient depiction of the Virgin Mary and Jesus from an ancient Serbian church in town ...


One last view of town ...

More on May Day

So, I just wanted to add a little more to Margaret's report of our action-packed May Day, particularly the scene at Mass and dinner last night.

We had thought that Mass was going to be in the chapel of the Jesuit building, where it was on Easter. But when we arrived, it was clear that no one was in the chapel. The guard pointed us toward the courtyard (a fixture of most Budapest buildings) where we found a small group of people, some mingling, some tending to the bubbling stew in the cast iron pot swinging above the robust flame. Fr. Curry was there, too, in jeans and a t-shirt and greeted us warmly (click here for a picture of Fr. Curry from an earlier post).

Two or three long tables bi-sected the courtyard, with about 20 tealights scattered on top. The courtyard is big enough so that all this, 4 cars (including an old Communist-era Trabant), and two lovely towering trees, still left a lot of room.

Fr. Curry took Margaret, Pat, Devin and I through a doorway and down into his woodworking shop the instant he heart Pat was a carpenter. There was a stack of round table-tops he had been working on and he and Pat compared notes on tool brand names.

Fr. Curry -- remember he's an architect who runs a community design center with his students -- is the kind of guy who makes you think that there's probably a lot more you can do in a day work-wise while still squeezing every last ounce of enjoyment out of life -- a fitting example for Workers' Day.

I've been to many Masses with Margaret over the years, but never one outside, and certainly never one around a dinner table. I asked Margaret if this was the most unusual one she had ever been to and she said that she had once been at one with five people on a beach in the Dominican Republic.

There were several non-Catholics around the table, including myself, and Fr. Curry, who had since donned his off-white clerical robe, was very respectful of that fact, explaining the Mass and its rituals as he went along. Some of his architecture students were there, as were other Americans doing stints in Budapest (such as a couple of oil execs and their families -- hey, who know there was oil in Hungary?).

We had heard there'd be stew, but this was really the best stew I ever had and this and the other offerings, including some delicious sopressate worth of Arthur Ave. and some fresh-baked bread, really put the meal close to the top of the list of the great meals we've had in Europe.

After 5 years, Fr. Curry will be leaving for China soon, possibly to organize a similar community design center there. We feel lucky to have spent this time with him, his students, parishioners and friends.

Prague ...

So, I'm rather behind in keeping up with recording our travels on the blog. Rather than wait to write down some of the stories I'd like to tell, I thought I'd just begin posting some pix from our recent 10-day trip to Prague, Dresden and Berlin.

Here's a photo from the top of the town hall in Old Town Square in Prague.


And here's one of a zillion photos I took at the Jewish cemetery, which is near several incredibly old synagogues that are mostly not in use but make up the Jewish Museum here. It is a huge tourist attraction. The cemetery, I should add, is also home to the grave of Rabbi Low, who, as the fable goes, creaed the Golem (or monster) to protect the Jewish community from persecution. We bought Devin a children's book about the Golem.


Here's a picture of me and Devin fooling around by the Vltava River on our first day in Prague, the sunniest and warmest day of the four we were there.


Devin on a pony after taking the funicular railway up the hill on the other side of the Vltava.


Crossing the famous Charles Bridge we ran into these fantastic Czech blues musicians -- the one with the horn plays his harmonica into it -- I was in heaven!


Prague is an incredibly beautiful city, but it is besieged by tourists, ourselves included. I've always wanted to go to Prague, since reading Milan Kundera in college, and I'd like to go back some day to explore some more, but maybe we'll stay at a place more off the beaten bath (like we seem to have found in Budapest) and see the city from a different perspective.

Stay tuned for the next installment of our 10-day European tour: Dresden.

There is Power in Our Union!

Happy May Day, everyone! The holiday to commemorate the successful fight for the 8 hour workday, and other benefits of the labor movement.

How did we celebrate May Day, you ask, in the formerly communist country where we currently spend our days?

Well, to start with, it was the first full day of Uncle Pat's visit to us here in Budapest, as he arrived last night. We'd only recently learned that May 1st is a national holiday here, and that many things would be closed. In addition, May Day falling on a Thursday this year, most Hungarians also got Friday off (although for this privilege they had to work last Saturday!)

Luckily, Hadley told us that one of the big celebrations of May Day in Budapest is a big festival in City Park (Varosliget). Hadley, Titus, Cassius and Tadeus, Uncle Pat, Jordan, Devin and I all headed off together to City Park.

City Park is a large (302 acres) park, and the festival seemed to spread over most of it. We didn't see everything, but we did see a classic car display, tons of kiddie rides, lots of deliciously unhealthy food (sausage, fried dough slathered with sour cream and cheese, breaded fried ham, hot dogs, french fries, ice cream, cotton candy . . . ), stages with music both comtemporary and traditional, what appeared to be a children's dance competition, face painting, pony rides, sales of crafts, textiles, shoes, souvenirs, marzipan dolls, you name it), tables for unions, political organizations, and political parties. It attracted constant streams of people from morning til evening, as far as we could tell. Devin and Cash rode some rides and bounced in the Moon Walk, we all ate ice cream and had a great time.

After a rejuvenating rest, we went to celebrate Mass in honor of St. Joseph the Worker, for another perspective on International Workers' Day. Fr. Terrence Curry SJ invited us to a thoughtful moving reflection on the importance of our work as an act of co-creation with God. As Mass was celebrated in a small group around a table, Devin got the most upclose view of the Mass being celebrated of her life, and she was . . . transfixed, I think is the best word. All the while, dinner was cooking over a fire not far away. We had a traditional Hungarian stew, blackened chicken, roasted eggplant and a few other delicacies. And of course, interesting conversations with the architecture students, American residents of Hungary, and members of the Board of the Szent Josef Studio Kollegium, the architecture studio Terry directs.

Unbeknownst to me, Terry is an expert woodworker, and took Pat and us down to see his amazingly well-equipped shop. One of the architecture students showed Pat and I the village center she has designed in consultation with a village in Transylvania.

Right wing politics

I mentioned the red and white striped flag here recently, and just thought I'd point you to this story about one of the many right-wing demonstrations that have made the news here recently.

http://www.politics.hu/20080414/schroder-at-antifascist-rally-in-budapest

Actually, this is about a counterprotest to the 1000-strong fascist rally over (get this) the alleged failure of a ticket broker to sell tickets to a Hungarica concert to a young woman (Hungarica is a rock group with strong ties to right-wing politics here).

There was another protest at the Budapest City Council over the planned removal of a statue of a bird. http://www.budapesttimes.hu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7203&Itemid=205

The Tural bird, which is a symbol dating back to Medieval times, has been associated with the Arrow Cross party (Hungary's allies to the Nazis) and is currently promoted by the far right wing here.

International Day at Superkids

Today was Devin’s first day back at Superkids after our trip, and it was INTERNATIONAL DAY (We’d made sure to be back for this). Parents and children are encouraged to come in their national dress (what would national dress be for Americans?), and everyone was asked to bring some typical food from their home country. Since there are kids from 24 nations at Superkids, we were really looking forward to this.

We were a little uncertain as to what WE should bring though. Most of the best things we cook are, well, originally from other countries, not the US. And we really haven’t been at our finest in terms of cooking since we got here (out of our own kitchen, without all our tools, missing some ingredients). And then there’s the issue of cooking something kids will like. We thought about brownies, but ended up making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

The other parents were more clued in to the fact that the buffet was for parents primarily. The kids would have lunch right afterwards, so whether they ate or not was not important. There was sushi, samosa, butter chicken, pogatch (a hungarian biscuit with cheese baked on top), chocolate chip cookies and about a hundred other things, sweet and savory.

All the children had made flags from their home countries in class this week, and they paraded out into the garden waving them. Hungary and Germany seemed to be the largest national groups, with kids from Malaysia, India, Israel, Palestine, Ireland, South Africa, Canada . . . . Devin’s class sang a song about knowing the names of all the continents, and then their favorite song about a froggie.

Mindennap 56!

OK, here's your first lesson in Hungarian -- Mindennap means Every Day (As in, our store is open every day!)

This graffiti means, Every Day is 1956 -- the year of the bloody revolution against Soviet rule in the streets of Budapest. Hungarians were demanding socialism with a more human face and the right to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact -- and the Soviets came in with tanks and crushed them. Although the Hungarians "lost", they made it plain that the Soviets ruled only by brute force and not by consent. You might say it took a bit of a shine off socialism as it actually existed in Europe. So a call for revolution every day!

It's interesting how much use is made, in contemporary Hungarian politics, of historical events. (It's hard to imagine NY anarchists referring in their graffiti to an event in the 50s). We observed a right-wing rally in Budapest, and people were carrying one or more of three flags -- a red and white striped flag known as the Arpad. Arpad, who one could call the founder of the Kingdom of Hungary, lived in from about 895 – c. 907. They carried the current Hungarian flag, and what I THINK was a pre-communist one that includes a royal crest.

(I'm not currently in Hungary, but in Berlin, but I finally finished this short post).