Wherever the road (or plane) may take me.....: Concert in the cathedral

The blog is a little late because I was tired after our night listening to a concert. I'm not usually much of a classical music buff- it's usually the quiet music we work to in class. Last night we went to the basilica (great big church, ornate and marble covered) to hear Bach's Toccata, Air and Fugue in D minor and Mozart's: Requiem. I had no idea what either of these were but when Bach's piece was played on the huge organ it captured (and held) my attention. So powerful. Then an orchestra, chorus and 4 soloists performed Mozart's piece. Wow. Very moving. I wouldn't say I'm a complete convert at this point but very nice indeed.

Back to the beginning of the day. My friend Linda and I were on our own to check out Buda. We managed the metro, buses, streets and sights just fine, thank you very much and didn't get lost all day : ) After taking the metro and bus we arrived up in Buda. There were some great views across the Danube and of the Raven (who dropped his sword and told the Magyar people to settle there). The royal palace has been built and rebuilt many times. Today it holds a few museums. We went into the National Gallery. If you're an art lover, this was a great museum. It had art by Hungarian artists (I like the older stuff more than the contemporary). One of my favorite rooms was where they displayed wooden altars from churches. Very cool. When we left the museum we took a look at fountain and the courtyard and then headed to Matthias Church. It too has been redone a time or two. Before going in we took pictures from the lower level (free) of the Fishermen's Bastion. It had more great views across the Danube. Then we went into the church. I wouldn't say it was huge but it had frescos on the walls and few really nice side chapels. In one of them was a Madonna and child statue with some great history. When the Ottomans were close to taking the church the people build a wall in front of the statue so that it wouldn't be taken/destroyed. The Ottomans turned the church into a temple and later during an earthquake (I believe) the wall cracked and crumbled revealing the statue.
After the church our last stop was Hospital in the rocks. The caves were connected to form a long labyrinth. It became a secret hospital (under the protection of the Red Cross). Originally it was meant to house 70 people but during WWII it had hundreds. It had an operating room, 3 sick wards and more. It was used again as a hospital for a few months during the unsuccessful revolution. Then from the lat 50s until the mid 80s it was a top secret nuclear bunker. Today it is filled with medical supplies/furniture/etc from the 50s and 60s that was left behind. Different but good. Helped to see their history and understand what was going on, in an interesting way.

It doesn't seem like that was a lot to cover but it took us until 4'oclock! Busy day. Today is our last day in Budapest (tomorrow we leave for Amsterdam). We're going to try and see a few more sights today on the Pest side. My friend is going to check out the Turkish baths (threw my old, dry rotted suit away in Italy, so no baths for me (probably not my best move, but what's done is done).

View across the Danube from the Royal Palace

Turul bird that was sent with a ring in his mouth to bring back a man to be King (can't remember his name). It flew from Transylvania to Prague and dropped it in the man's hand and he returned home to be king (and was well liked and became known as the people's king).