I went out last night and ended up eating sushi. What other form Asian cuisine will I dine upon before I finally try goulash and eat some Hungarian food? Is there a Mongolian restaurant in the area? (Keep in mind, I was in Paris for more than a week before I finally tried crepes.)<\/p>\n
Today, I’m planning to go to Statue Park<\/a>, about 5 miles south and west of here, out in the Buda ‘Burbs. It’s a collection of communist-era statues and sculpture. I think it’ll be a nice antidote to yesterday’s trip to the House of Terror. Of course, the Josef Stalin bottle-opener worked as a pretty good antidote. I think this’ll be in the same spirit: monuments reduced to ridicule.<\/p>\n I put together an itinerary of other stuff I want to do before I head back to the U.S. When I look over it, I think that it’s a good thing that the others from the wedding have already headed back to the America (and elsewhere). Sure, there’d likely be some overlaps, but a bunch of these things are pretty private, I bet (like the Raoul Wallenberg memorial<\/a> I wanna check out).<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Rained out. All I got to do today was go to Statue Park, which was pretty rewarding, but the rest of the itinerary’s going to have to wait for Thursday.<\/p>\n The Park was great. I felt a little triumphal, I guess. I mean, “Onward and upward,” my ass. It was cool to see all these alleged heroes and idealizations of workers and soldiers, reduced to a tourist attraction. At the gift shop, I bought plenty of neat stuff, including a tremendous T-shirt of “The 3 Terrors World Tour” of Stalin, Lenin and Mao.<\/p>\n I thought, “Y’know, I want<\/em> ’em to gouge me on the price of this stuff, just to prove the point. As they were tallying my bill, I said, “Oh, yeah: And gimme a Coke.”<\/p>\n Pix<\/em><\/p>\n A bed of flowers in a little square near Deak Ferenc Tec.<\/a> I’ve never seen their color before.<\/p>\n The flowers were in front of a statue.<\/a><\/p>\n On the way out to Tiszaroff, Rene and I drove through a bazillion acres of wheat and sunflower fields. Evidently, Hungary feeds a chunk of the surrounding countries. Go, Ceres! <\/a><\/p>\n Two guys,<\/a> presumably headed to the future.<\/p>\n Some guy, pretty firmly embedded in the past.<\/a><\/p>\n Second most impressive sculpture in the Park.<\/a> It’s of Bela Kun, a communist who took power in 1919 an unleashed “Red Terror” on the country. He got purged when the Romanians invaded a few months later. He was buddies with Bela Lugosi, who was his minister of culture.<\/p>\n Same sculpture, without the flash.<\/a><\/p>\n It really is pretty impressive, in person;<\/a> Kun’s up on this podium, and the troops are all charging out to nationalize whatever they can and prove that centralized economies are for shit. <\/p>\n Good-looking guy, that Enore Sagvari<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some of the statues, like this one<\/a>, put me in mind of the drawings of Jack Kirby. It’s in the expressiveness of being blocky, if yer familiar with The King’s comics. It’s funny, because Toth is a Hungarian name.<\/p>\n There’s no English description of this monument,<\/a> but it reminded me an awful lot of Oscar Wilde’s tomb in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, so here you are.<\/p>\n This guy is directing traffic.<\/a> With all those little Trabants around, I’m sure it’s a tough job.<\/p>\n Rats. Unfortunately, you can’t see too much of the detail in Speaking of bankrupt ideologies . . .<\/a><\/p>\n That Dmitrov<\/a> was one suave-looking mo’fo’.<\/p>\n If you managed to avoid getting nailed with an icepick, a la Trotsky, the Party could still have you frozen in carbonite.<\/a><\/p>\n I have no idea what this<\/a> is supposed to represent.<\/p>\n Maybe the faces on these soldiers<\/a> weathered away from the acid rain that they get around here. I hope they weren’t sculpted this way.<\/p>\n This guy greets you<\/a> upon your arrival in the park. He’s kinda impressive, but sorta lifeless.<\/p>\n I took some glee when I noticed that his weapon is a tommy-gun.<\/a> It fits with the whole racketeering aspect of Soviet communism, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n The most impressive statue in the park.<\/a><\/p>\n I’m serious, dude. This guy’s massive,<\/a> and full of energy.<\/p>\n Yeah, yeah: nice ass.<\/a><\/p>\n
this guy.<\/a> He has a military look that borders on the appearance of Flash Gordon. It made me think about the utopian aspects of some science fiction and its corollaries in this bankrupt ideology.<\/p>\n
![like this one<\/a>, put me in mind of the drawings of Jack Kirby. It’s in the expressiveness of being blocky, if yer familiar with The King’s comics. It’s funny, because Toth is a Hungarian name.<\/p>\nThere’s no English description of this monument,<\/a> but it reminded me an awful lot of Oscar Wilde’s tomb in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, so here you are.<\/p>\nThis guy is directing traffic.<\/a> With all those little Trabants around, I’m sure it’s a tough job.<\/p>\nRats. Unfortunately, you can’t see too much of the detail in this guy.<\/a> He has a military look that borders on the appearance of Flash Gordon. It made me think about the utopian aspects of some science fiction and its corollaries in this bankrupt ideology.<\/p>\nSpeaking of bankrupt ideologies . . .<\/a><\/p>\nThat Dmitrov<\/a> was one suave-looking mo’fo’.<\/p>\nIf you managed to avoid getting nailed with an icepick, a la Trotsky, the Party could still have you frozen in carbonite.<\/a><\/p>\nI have no idea what this<\/a> is supposed to represent.<\/p>\nMaybe the faces on these soldiers<\/a> weathered away from the acid rain that they get around here. I hope they weren’t sculpted this way.<\/p>\nThis guy greets you<\/a> upon your arrival in the park. He’s kinda impressive, but sorta lifeless.<\/p>\nI took some glee when I noticed that his weapon is a tommy-gun.<\/a> It fits with the whole racketeering aspect of Soviet communism, doesn’t it?<\/p>\nThe most impressive statue in the park.<\/a><\/p>\nI’m serious, dude. This guy’s massive,<\/a> and full of energy.<\/p>\nYeah, yeah: nice ass.<\/a><\/p>\nI need to write a book, so’s I can use this pic<\/a> for my cover.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I went out last night and ended up eating sushi. What other form Asian cuisine will I dine upon before I finally try goulash and eat some Hungarian food? Is there a Mongolian restaurant in the area? (Keep in mind, I was in Paris for more than a week before I finally tried crepes.) Today, … <\/p>\nContinue reading “I gotcher dustbin of history right here, bitch”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budapest","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-4v","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1853,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-jan-18-2008","url_meta":{"origin":279,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Jan. 18, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"January 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Only the best in Unrequired Reading for you, dear readers! Just click \"more\"! Look! Anthony Bourdain's got his own blog! (Plus, here's a pretty neat interview he did with the AV Club.) * * * In April, the Superdome will become the SuperVagDome. (I guess the new Chinese national stadium\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5558,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-august-27-2010","url_meta":{"origin":279,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: August 27, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"August 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a long week at work, dear readers, but that won't stop me from bringing you an awesome collection of weird links. Let's start off this week's installment with a bang! * * * Let's go from near-death in a lab to death in a classroom. * * *\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Classic Comics Criticism"","block_context":{"text":"Classic Comics Criticism","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/classic-comics-criticism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16411,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-562-leslie-stein","url_meta":{"origin":279,"position":2},"title":"Episode 562 – Leslie Stein","author":"Gil","date":"November 7, 2023","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 562: Leslie Stein \"As far as developing a style, it's all experimental. It's all just making mistakes and then seeing what are good mistakes.\" With her wonderful, hilarious & heartfelt new graphic novel, Brooklyn's Last Secret (Drawn & Quarterly), cartoonist Leslie Stein brings us the story of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lesliestein2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C652&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lesliestein2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C652&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lesliestein2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C652&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lesliestein2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C652&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/lesliestein2023comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C652&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10756,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-241-barry-blitt","url_meta":{"origin":279,"position":3},"title":"Episode 241 – Barry Blitt","author":"Gil","date":"October 22, 2017","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 241: Barry Blitt \"It was nice to have been offered this retrospective book, but I wish it had just stopped there.\" Why is award-winning illustrator Barry Blitt so uncomfortable with the flap copy praise of his new decades-spanning compendium, Blitt (just out from Riverhead Books)? We spend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/no.jpg?fit=750%2C1026&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/no.jpg?fit=750%2C1026&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/no.jpg?fit=750%2C1026&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/no.jpg?fit=750%2C1026&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1891,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/this-whole-mecca-thing-finally-makes-sense-to-me","url_meta":{"origin":279,"position":4},"title":"This whole Mecca thing finally makes sense to me","author":"Gil","date":"February 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my promised land. It's so beautiful, I think I'm gonna cry. (More here. And DISCS OF TRON!?!?! Oh. Mah. Gaw.)","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/this-whole-mecca-thing-finally-makes-sense-to-me#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":726,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/finally-congress-is-going-after-the-big-issues","url_meta":{"origin":279,"position":5},"title":"Finally! Congress is going after the B.I.G. issues!","author":"Gil","date":"November 14, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"If only a Representative from the West Coast proposed this legislation. Oh, well. Alternate joke: Maybe this Record Collection Act means that they'll stop putting out new Tupac CDs!","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/images\/budapest\/072804\/10striver.jpg\"){kind=link}