settling down or something like it

I expected something different.

But after two months+ of living in Budapest I've settled into a relaxed somewhat uneventful routine. Boiled down to the moments of serendipity of having both camera on hand and presence of mind, here's my report: This is the view from my doorstep, so there's not a lot that I can complain about. The first few days as a tourist I imagined one of the crumbling, black grime-covered old houses would be the monastic location where I would weather out a brutal eastern European winter writing an epic modern novel. It's nice when life sometimes pitches a better reality than your small brain was capable of imagining. Instead of the brutal snowy winter spent in a Tolstoy-esque story of poverty and dedication to writing in exile, I practice my best Cinderella routine in the castle.


Like all good fairy tales the princess in question must go through a transformation of some kind. A through makeover would be too much of a pain in the ass, so instead I got a killer haircut from Budapest's most famous HAIR ARTIST. Singing, dancing and impressive choreography between languages later I looked like this:


I even decided to try my hand at 'the domestic arts.' It was edible. It's kind of cute to bake cakes in the tiny tin box that constitutes the castle oven. Less so to explain that the mini chocolate sprinkles were small enough to require tweezers to insert. Insert how? Very carefully.



Budapest also has this really killer holiday exhibit called Fenye Evolucio, or Light Evolution. It's located on the Pest side of the Duna and takes up the entire park block above the most modern of all of the lovely bridges. At the center a huge tower houses giant projectors and to levels of plastic-enclosed DJ and bar space. While at first it looks like the hallucinogenic recall of a late 90's trance party, it was actually gorgeous and... strangely well thought out for a public program.


The beautiful old buildings glowed in tropical colors and the maze like grass and foundations that the projection tower were based on became a wonderland for everybody; couples drinking foralt bor (mulled wine), families drinking hot milk and the teenagers all vaguely stoned and pointing out the way each tree or shrub became technicolor.