It is almost evening here in beautiful downtown Budapest and I am feeling pretty good tonight. The weather has changed for the much better and I have managed to get away from the overprotective eye of he who shall remain nameless and have gone for a walk through " le veille quartier Juif". No of course that's not Hungarian but it does give a little of the flavor of the place, if pronounced with just the right amount of " je n'sais quoa".
Windy narrow streets flanked by beautiful if crumbling facades, wearing incongruous garlands of brightly colored flower boxes above my head on rusting wrought iron balconies, have been rebuilt with lots of boutiques and cafes and young energy. I heard something that was described to me as gypsy jazz which I couldn't even begin to explicate, although I really liked it, even if I can't say why. I also heard Leonard Cohen played in the same place and that's the vibe here. I love the way this place doesn't feel like a Disney set. Even though it has much that brings Paris to mind, ( I suppose that's why it was called "the Paris of the east" in it's heyday) it doesn't have the sense of pretention that can only be found in even the most openminded Parisienne.
I managed to make it just down the road a piece and found a synagogue I was scouting out for ( more to come on this), as well as a really nice just opening little shop called Emilie, naturally owned by a really pleasant girl, whose name was coincidentally Emilie. She is just opening this evening and was greeting some women she knew in English. As she finished, she turned to me and spoke in Hungarian and after we both had a good laugh about how funny that was, she told me about her time in The city of the Angeles as well as in San Francisco. I told her about Miami and she started bringing out beautiful things that we both just enjoyed looking at.Her merchandise is all one of a kind hand made pieces by local artists and the prices are embarrassingly good.
She's planning on opening a small coffee bar and pastry shop so folks can just sit around and
enjoy being there.I think that sounds like about as good an idea as I can think of.
I know I'll go back and check it out. Especially since she told me I look young and artistic!
Spiky hair can get you anywhere. LOL
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