We took the metro to Franz Liszt Park.
It's a boulevard, but instead of being a road with plants in the median, it's an urban park with a narrow lane of traffic on either side.
We had to walk a few blocks to the Liszt Academy of Music.
Here's Liszt! Must be close.
Right out front, there's this statue of the great conductor, Georg Solti. Of interest, if you're a music buff, is the fact that this is the very place where Bela Bartok was first a student, and then later a professor.
After we picked up our concert tickets, we walked a few blocks to the original building, to see the Franz Liszt Museum.
Just a few quick words to bring any non-musicians up to speed. Franz Liszt, 1811-1886, was most likely the greatest pianist who ever lived, and a great composer as well. He was also the first rock star - meaning people just went nuts over him, swooning, begging for autographs, and scrounging souvenirs desperately.
Liszt was larger than life. He was also the real deal, and he took his responsibilities seriously. He taught the next generation of piano virtuosi, and he founded the National Academy of Music. Interestingly, he founded it in his home. And now, the museum is in his former home. The building is still a part of the Academy, and when we visited, final exams were being played in front of a jury in the next room. The young players we heard will be tomorrow's professionals!
Here is Liszt's favorite instrument. On it is a silver music stand, given to him by a group of his admirers. Also, that's his portrait on the wall. Heroic, no?
A piano company made him this special desk to use when writing music.
Here's a souvenir bit of his hair.
Here's a cast of his right hand.
Here's a bizarre selfie.
Then we went down the street to the National Opera, and had lunch at the Cafe Callas, just across the way. We shared some homemade ice cream for dessert. Yum!
The Hapsburg Emperor, Franz Joseph, paid for 52% of the cost to build the opera house, and for his generosity he stipulated that it not be bigger that the Vienna Opera House. It isn't. But the Hungarians figured if it couldn't be bigger, it might as well be better. I don't know if it's better, but it surely is grand.
Here are some interior shots.
The ceiling.
Outside the opera, we saw some people having too much fun.
The metro line that serves the opera was built in the 1890's, and every station is preserved! It's so fun to have it look like it did originally.
We went out to City Park. It's like Green Lake is to Seattleites. There are public baths, little kids on the playground, families having picnics around the lake, and old guys playing serious ping pong.
There's also a castle and paddle boats.
Right next to the park is Heroes Square. Of course it has some monuments.
These Magyars (pronounced mud-jars) were lightning fast horsemen, aided greatly by their innovation - stirrups!
While we were there, people were setting up for a concert.
These folks were selling cardboard seats for the performance.
After dinner, we decided to go to services. There were only two Reform Congregations that we found online, so we chose one and went. When we got there, strangely enough, it turned out that both congregations meet in that same building, one upstairs, and one downstairs.
They are tiny congregations, too. They both seemed to have about fifteen people there. It reminded me of the old joke, whose punchline is, "And that's the shul to which I don't go."
We chose the upstairs service, and it was really really fun to go. It's pretty strange to have the Hebrew be the familiar part! The Hungarian is so exotic sounding. And even the transliterations were daunting, because they utilize the Hungarian rules of pronunciation. Of course the people were delighted to have us visit, and did their best to get us to stay and eat with them. We didn't though - I mean, we had just eaten.
Then we returned to our hotel, and went up to our executive lounge, to hang out and watch the river. We had such a pretty sky. Looking right,
And looking left.
Time for bed.
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