Euro Thanksgiving

Thursday was Thanksgiving in America - here everything went on as usual. I decided to fill my day with a trip to Gellert Hill. I’m pretty sure the hill is one of the highest points in Budapest, and it’s famous for a couple of reasons, most notably the death of Saint Gerard. Saint Gerard was killed there by pagans during the great pagan rebellion, which I believe was in 1046. There are two versions of the story; one is that he was thrown down the hill and then, being found still alive, was beaten to death. The other version is that he was PLACED IN A BARREL WITH SPIKES AND ROLLED DOWN THE HILL! That’s awesome, in the crazy and disturbing sense of the word. Anyway, there’s a statue of him on the side of the hill. Another thing the Gellert Hill is famous for is the Liberty Statue on the top of the hill. The statue was placed there to commemorate the Soviet liberation of Hungary from the Nazis during WWII. The statue is still there, but the Russian soldiers were removed from the base of the statue after the Hungarians transitioned from Communist rule to a more Democratic form of government.

Gellert Hill is quite steep and is crisscrossed with trails - switchbacks that lead up to the statue on the side of the hill and eventually to the Liberty Statue on the top. You can go right up to the statue of Saint Gerard, but since it faces away from the hill towards the Danube, the view isn’t that much better once you’re there. In fact, the best view of the statue is probably from the Bridge in front of the statue. I trudged up to the top to see the Liberty Statue and get a great view of the city. I knew Budapest was big, but was surprised when I got a good look at the Buda side for the first time and realized how far it stretched out. Something that struck me as interesting is the fact that there are no skyscrapers in this big city. The tallest buildings here are probably about 10 stories tall. I guess when you don’t stack people on top of one another, a city must become sprawling by necessity. Anyway, it made me feel just a little smaller to realize that the city in which I now live is twice as big as I thought it was.

Saint Gerard

the Liberty Statue

View of the Buda side.

View of the Pest side,

Last night we had, “orphan Thanksgiving.” We got together with a small group of Americans who are currently either living or studying in Budapest, and we had a wonderful dinner. Everyone brought a dish (or two) and a bottle of wine. All of the food was delicious and I had a good time sitting around and chatting with everyone. I really am thankful for this experience - not only for the opportunity to be living in and experiencing Europe, but also for the experience of getting to have a “Thanksgiving” with some good people. The actual holiday passed with barely a notice but it wasn’t until sitting down to dinner last night that I realized that, even though the holiday snuck by me, it still managed to leave a small void that needed to be filled. The wonderful food and great conversations definitely did just that. I hope the same can be said for all of you. Take care of yourself and each other.

Cheers!

E