Budapest Baths - Day #2

On Sunday morning, we got up and headed straight to Budapest from Aszód, to attend an English-speaking worship service at a Lutheran church, which a friend of Laura's had mentioned.  Laura had verified the 9:30 service time on the church website, and the Garmin (GPS) got us there in plenty of time, in fact over a half-hour early.  

We decided to go for a walk to get an idea of our location, since we had a free parking spot on the street near the church.  These huge, stately houses were lining the boulevard where the church was, and some that we passed by are now embassies, art galleries, or museums.  

We often see good examples of what we call "communist-era art", and this one was on a big building we passed by on our walk.  

This is the Lutheran church - we finally went inside about 10 minutes before the service time, but we were the only ones there that early.  

So we had time for a few pictures of the interior before the service started.  Well, no one else ever did come!  The organist played a short prelude, then the pastor came out and announced that this would be a brief service, but that next week at 9:30 there would be a full worship service with communion.  We felt like aristocracy having our own private church service - HA!!  We sang two verses of a hymn before the scripture readings and sermon, then the last two verses after the Lord's Prayer.  We were finished in about 20 minutes or so.  We're glad we went, but it wasn't exactly what we were expecting!!  

 After church, we walked to the Jewish Quarter to see the Great Synagogue, which of course had been closed on Saturday for the Sabbath, but was open on Sunday.  On the way, we passed by a random church, and I'm not really sure the name, but we decided to check it out, since people were leaving, so we figured maybe a service was finishing.  Well, it was evidently some kind of special mass, because everyone was holding candles similar to those we'd use on Christmas Eve, and there was a huge crowd.  The sanctuary was filled with smoke, maybe incense, and there was a choir singing.  It was absolutely gorgeous!!  Here is a link to a video of the choir:

Budapest choir during Mass


(Also, if you already read the blog from the first day in Budapest, I went back and uploaded links to the music we heard when the choir was rehearsing in St. Michael's.  So if you're interested, you can scroll to the previous post and just go to the links and click to hear it!)

This was one of the most impressive sights in Budapest - the Great Synagogue - which is the largest Jewish synagogue in Europe, and the second largest in the world.  Our tour guide told us the largest one is in New York City!!  

This is the interior of the synagogue, which seats 3,000 on the main floor and another almost 3,000 on the upper balconies.   This huge building survived the war because the Nazis used it - the upper parts were used for radio communications and the main floor was used as a horse stable.  

There are 27 Torah scrolls, which is many more than most synagogues have, and many of these were saved during WWII by Catholic priests who buried them in cemeteries temporarily. 

Within the walls of the complex next to the synagogue is the Memorial Garden, which is a cemetery for thousands of Jews who perished after being sealed in the Jewish ghetto in 1945.  This was after many others had been sent to concentration camps like Auschwitz.  

Behind the synagogue is a famous statue, The Tree of Life, a willow tree that is also an upside-down menorah.  The tree's metal leaves are engraved with the names of 4,000 Hungarian Jews who were killed during the Holocaust.  

The final part of the Synagogue area was the Jewish museum, which had many interesting displays on the history of Judaism, Jews in Hungary, the atrocities in WWII, and the rebuilding of the Synagogue.  

As we were walking along to our next destination, we passed by a building with plaques honoring famous Hungarian composers/musicians.  I just had to take a picture of Kodály, the father of solfege!!  The others of the Hungarian "Big Three" include Béla Bartók and Franz Liszt.  

This is the Budapest Opera House - if you look closely you'll see statues of many musicians all around the top balcony of the building.  

After a nice Hungarian lunch, we headed for our afternoon destination, the Széchenyi Baths.   I had Hungarian lecso which was delicious (a tomato-onion-pepper-sausage stew with eggs cooked into it - YUM!) - and Laura & Tim opted for a nice Hungarian(?) quesadilla - HAHAHA!!  

Budapest is famous for its many historic bath houses built on thermal springs and long used for therapeutic and recreational purposes.  This one is the first built in Pest, and it is also one of the largest spa complexes in Europe.  

The locker area was very nice, with very roomy and secure lockers which were locked and unlocked by wristbands issued to us.  I thought of Alana when I got #22!!   :-)

The first view of the bath area is really impressive with the beautiful tiles and arches, and there are about 15 pools inside the complex with varying temperatures of water, ranging 18º to 40º centigrade (about 64º-104º F), so you can take your pick!  

We tried several different pools of different temperatures, and it was really relaxing sitting in the warm water after all our walking around Budapest for two days.  (We didn't try the cold pools!!)  

There were a lot of people there, but it didn't really seem crowded, because everyone kept moving around from pool to pool, so spots would open up to sit around the edges. 

Different wings of the indoor complex had different decor - we really liked this area - so pretty!  

Then we went to the enormous outdoor spa area.  This is just one of the three outdoor pools, which were all huge!!  The air temperature was about 32º F, right about freezing, so our initial walk down the stairs and over to the pool was c-c-c-c-cold!!  But once in the water, it was wonderful, and very relaxing.  And after we got out, we didn't feel cold at all.  

The outdoor area is completely surrounded by the buildings of the Széchenyi Bath complex, and it was amazing to look at the decorative architecture all around us.  It was built between 1809 and 1813, and we can see why it's so popular.  When we went to the  outside pool it was daylight, but I left my camera in the locker for safekeeping, so after we were done I went back and took pictures where we had been earlier.  

This was more of a lap pool.  The pools for swimming (instead of relaxing) were a bit cooler, but that would be nice if you were exerting, which we weren't!   LOL!  

 There were also many sauna rooms in the spa complex.  I took one 15-minute steamy sauna and got hot enough that I went into a 'plunge-pool' that was 18º (60º F).  It was just like getting into Portage Lake after a sauna in the U.P.!    :-)    Awesome!  

This is the dome in the front lobby of Széchenyi.  

Sculpture in the entryway as you enter the baths.  We were very relaxed after our enjoyable Budapest spa experiences!!  

After the bath house, we headed past this skating rink with lively music playing.  It looked like such fun!!  We have no idea what this building is, but evidently the area where the ice rink is now is often used for big events like concerts, etc.  Since many other buildings in this area were build for the Budapest Millennium celebration, I'd guess this one was too!  

Heroes' Square was built in 1896 for the Millennium Celebration -- yes, Budapest celebrated its 1,000th anniversary over a century ago.  Wow!!   In front is a war memorial, and then the huge column memorializing the seven Magyar tribes from central Asia who originally settled here in Hungary.   It was really an impressive sight at night, all lit up.  

There are statues of 14 of the most significant figures in Hungary's history, plus many other statues with symbolic meanings.  It's a huge area, and these statues were all about 10'-12' tall - mammoth!  

Flanking Heroes' Square are two big museums, which we unfortunately didn't get to visit on our short trip to Budapest.  This is the Museum of Fine Art, and the other is the Hall of Art.  Maybe we'll get to see them on another trip here someday!  

St. István and other Hungarian greats!  

Heading back across the bridge, I noticed this 'BUDAPEST' sign at the edge of the skating rink, with the Vajdahunyad Castle in the background, which was our final destination for the evening.  

The Vajdahunyad Castle was also built for the 1896 celebration, but only out of temporary materials.  It was so beloved, that they eventually rebuilt it to be a permanent structure.   The right side is a copy of a famous Renaissance castle in Transylvania.  

The castle was built to showcase four major architectural styles from Hungary's history.  This is the Gothic gate into the castle area.  

This Baroque mansion now houses the agricultural museum, but it was closed by this time.  

And finally, this is a replica of a 13th-century Romanesque Benedictine chapel, which is now a popular spot for summer weddings.  

This side courtyard next to the chapel reminded us of the scene in "The Sound of Music" when the Von Trapp family is hiding from the Nazis in the graveyard!  

Monday morning we headed downstairs from Laura's apartment to take a tour of her beautiful high school.  This is a large gathering area for meetings, school dances, etc.  

The entire school is built around a central courtyard, which Laura says is really nice in warmer weather for the students to go outside.  

We went into the gym at the beginning of a P.E. class - was it ever a wonderful facility!!  

From the second floor we looked down at the school's track and tennis courts.  Sweet!!  

And this is the library, which looked beautiful too.  

One of Laura's English department colleagues invited us to visit her classroom of young students, who spoke very good English for such a young class.

This is the school cafeteria, which was also quite beautiful - spacious and well-lit with natural lighting from the windows.  

The buffet attendant spoke perfect English to us as we checked out this popular spot for students at the end of the cafeteria.  

 We met with the headmaster of the school for about 20 minutes for a nice visit, translated by the English colleague.  They are delighted to have Laura at the school, and it sounds like  she is doing a terrific job teaching English conversation classes there!!  

After seeing the school, we took a walking tour of Aszód, which is a nice little town of about 3,000 people.  This is a palace which is no longer in use, but there are hopes and dreams of someday possibly turning it into a Lutheran seminary or college.  

Laura served us a delicious lunch of bean/lentil/vegetable soup before our departure.  It was a wonderful weekend to connect with our Global Missions colleague in Hungary at long last, and we were so grateful for Laura's hospitality and expert tour guiding!!  

On the drive north through Hungary and back into Slovakia, we had some gorgeous views of the mountains.  We were happy to have a sunny day with blue skies for our journey! 

We never tire of seeing the mountains in Slovakia!!  

We did a lot of 'roller-coaster' driving through the valleys, up-around-and-over mountains, and hairpin turns climbing up and down.  But the roads were clear, and the traffic wasn't bad, so we really enjoyed the trip. 

More mountain views.  We are so blessed by God's creation!!