to Mosckva Ter, which I think is Moscow Square, passing terrain covered on Day 1. The Ter is transportation hub (buses, trams and underground), and was full of folks hading to work. I think they thought me a bit odd. I headed up the hill to the Castle District. Buda (this side of the river) is hill county, and this was a bit of an ascent through mostly empty streets, eventually entering the top of the hill through a set of gates, and finding myself on older sorts of streets and buildings. Mostly under repair; buildings, streets all seemed to be undergoing renovation. There was a sortof a lookout, around back of a church, that afforded a grand view of the city- took one picture and then my batteries went dead. Arrgh! I had been told a bicycle shop that rented bikes yesterday, on the descending slope from the Castle, so I walked that way to try to find it- no luck, but I did locate a Franklin Utca (Street), that is either an homage to the American diplomat Benjamin or the President Franklin. I’m betting the former- the French court loved Ben, whereas the 1930-era Hungarian Fascists lost a war to him, and really were not happy when we let the Russians liberate and occupy Hungary after the war. Found my way to the river and then back to Mosckva Ter; made it home by 7:30, in time for breakfast.
After breakfast, we were driven around the city and I got to see more of the Pest side of the city. Pest is the flood plain- in the old days, the market, and still the home of the bulk of the business. Easy to get lost in, when one gets further away from the river. The city was largely destroyed by flood in the early 19th century, so the architechture is 19th century “imperial” Hapsberg stuff and the streets were laid out like Vienna and Paris- wider and less medieval winding about like Prague. The core of Pest is Heroes Square, which has the major museum as well as a huge monument to the Heroes- kings, leaders and fighters of the Magyar clans that form the basis of Hungary. Magyars were a steppe people, enthnographically linked to the Mongols, Lithuanians and Finns (language and culture similarities), who came out of the Caucasus in the 8th and 9th centuries to take the land from the Huns (the name Hungary is based on a Roman god, not the Germanic tribes). Fierce fighters, the Magyar, who converted to Christianity by St. Stephan in 10th century, conquered by Turks in the 12th century, fought their way into the Austria-Hungarian empire in the 16th century, became independent, and eventually fascist after fighting on the losing side 
of the Great War, and joined up with the Axis with a home-grown fascist movement as part of the Reich, before the Soviet occupation, the 1956 revolution and the eventual “Farewell to Ivan” day of 1989 (20th anniversary will be quite a party). Socialists are in power in parliament right now- turns out unbridled capitalism allows the development of a rich ruling class, not much appreciated by the bulk of the country. Heroes Square was build at the height of Hapsberg power, but includes a monument to the various leaders of the resistance movements that fought back in the 1st 1000 years of Magyar history. Big place.Our tour guide was having the most difficulty with modern history- she frequently referred to “what she had been taught at school” as inaccurate, and pointed out that they are in the midst of processing what 20th century reall meant to Hungary. At the core, of coarse, is the embarrassing alliance with the Nazis, and sorting out how voluntary that was. She conceded that, initially, the alliance was an attempt to regain lands stripped by Versailles. Eventually, however, Hungary tried to pull out and suffered German occupation (like Italy).
The Jewish community here is larger than in Prague, but is still only 20,000 people; I am certain that many went to the camps. So complex, horrible and beautiful was the 20th century.Lunch was “on our own”; it had started to rain, but I lit off on my own through the maze of streets that are Pest, to see what I could find. Found a present for Julie (not telling!), a lot of shops on a pedestrian street and a falafel place, but no internet access. (That came later). Really did feel like Vienna, walking around, but eventually I started to find the litte shops off of the side of the main roads in courtyards and such. There is a lot to this place; Julie would enjoy shopping here. Got some gelato for dessert and headed back to the bus to go to rehearsal.We drove a long way round, but ended up in a rehearsal room not far from the river.
Bigger room, better ventilation, and soloists filled today’s rehearsal. We honed part 2 of the creation, and Dr. Page trained us to watch the end of his baton. We will apparently be singing in a choir loft, at a distance from the orchestra. He did that “rearranging of the voices” that Andy does all of the time. We sounded much better afterwards. Great rehearsal.I decided to test my knowledge of the city by walking home. Crossed the cable bridge and walked along the river for a ways before climbing up over the Castle district. Cool thing about walking a city is you really get a feel for the terrain. Bike shop is up a down street- they were closed, but I know where to rent a bike now. Found an icon shop in the Castle District, and got Mom a present, along with a CD of some local Hungarian composers. And, as mentioned earlier, found the smoky bar with wireless access that is currently allowing this post. Then dinner at the hotel, beer and Scrabble (I won with a “Dusters” on the triple word score) and to bed. Concert tomorrow is going to be fabulous, bicycling Wednesday is going to be great.
Nebraska and Knoxville TN. Quite a group, the Robert Page Festival Singers. It is really a privilege to work with them.