09 November 2009

remembering 20 years ago today...

the fall of the berlin wall on 9 november 1989 was a profound moment in time. as i traveled this past summer behind the old iron curtain, i did so with disbelief...i never thought that journey possible as a teenager & yet there i was. i kept telling myself, 'never, ever forget.'


my time in romania & hungary was spent with a deep sense of gratitude. when i would catch glimpses of old barricades & watchtowers, i would shudder at the thought of what those now-abandoned structures used to mean. we all need to jog our memories from time to time, because as the years pass, it is so easy to fall into complacency, especially when life is good & trials are few.


in remembrance today i offer more 'snapshots on the journey'~~ this time from budapest, hungary, which is my very favorite european city, for me second only to venice, italy. our border crossing was met with friendly guards who took our passports & offered us americans condolences on the passing of michael jackson...we were welcomed with such kindness & fields of sunflowers...& a sunset over the danube in budapest...this is a city of great beauty~ even the subway stops are gorgeous...we decided to start our first day with some persective for the younger folk traveling with us who were not old enough to remember the cold war...a visit to the terror museum was a sobering event...every face on the walls in the atrium represents a victim...we moved from this tragic reminder of the past into the beauty of now...wandering first around pest, visiting sights like heroes' square...enjoying something a bit lighter~ the zoo...before deciding to brave the climb of buda & see the city from a different angle...we crossed the szechenyi chain bridge...hopped the castle hill funicular (vertigo, anyone?!?)...to enjoy the view from the top of castle hill...& after walking many, many miles that day, an awesome meal (hungarian goulash...ohhhhh, those noodles. carb-loading perfection!.), some of the best food on our entire 5 week trip!!...the next morning we dashed to the train; our short weekend in budapest had come to an end...it was time to head back into western europe~~ next stop vienna, austria...moving on, but not forgetting...

5 comments:

Rosa said...

Beautiful post. Thanks for sharing your memories.
Ps. Boy, I hope that funicular went down Slowly!

lunardancer said...

Indeed, it is so easy to fall into complacency after several years of basking under the sun(which normally follows a period of hardship)have passed. But I do hope that such places, do not just serve as remains of a bad dream. They should be a permanent reminder of a black history that none of us should disregard lest we want it to be repeated in the future.

Casa Santa Lidia said...

wow -- that is some gulyas!!! brings back happy memories of my three years in Hungary --- and many thank for following the casa too; i am very grateful! O:)

somepinkflowers said...

how amazing that you were here
and the people
talked of Michael Jackson.

the world is so small.

sometime
i would like to know more
why this is second-to-Venice
in your favorites...

:-)

the people?
the food?
the architecture?

Unknown said...

Also one of my favorite cities, dear. Thanks for the photos and jogging my memory. I was a freshman in HS when the Berlin Wall fell. I knew very little about what that meant at the time. Hope you are fabulous.