1956

I was in Budapest a few times a couple of years ago. Too bad I didn’t have a camera back then. It’s gorgeous. They have a proper river running through the city, not like Paris ;)

One of my visits happened to be around the time when they were celebrating a national event. I can’t recall if it was the end of October and thus the same uprising whose 50 years we’re now commemorating, or if it was something else. There were thousands of people on Moszkva Ter outside the Mammut shopping center with flags and being very nationalistic and happy. Hungary is pretty nationalistic, in a good sense.

Sure, they got their trouble like all countries. At the date of the 50th anniversary of the uprising, they had to use teargas and watercannons against those who were demonstrating against the current government. And their inflation is soaring. But they’ll figure it all out, I’m sure.

(But if someone tells you that the Hungarian and Estonian languages are related, don’t believe it. It’s of course academically true, but in practical terms Hungarian feels more like Turkish.)

 Egészségünkre!