Baltimore to Budapest.

Budapest May 9 - 8 PM

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I'm headed back to Ukraine, but first I'm spending a few days in Budapest from whence I'll catch the train over the border into Ukraine.

Washington to Vienna Flight

After trying and rejecting .. a war movie .. then a spy movie, I watched a superb Japanese movie about at Japanese conductor and orchestra which were experiencing hard times and were, hopefully, on a path to redemption: "Maestro!"  Great story, acting and music (Beethoven's Fifth and Strauss's Unfinished). If you love good music and an inspiring story, I highly recommend you see and hear it!

This made me think about my city, Baltimore, which I'd just left ... as much in the headlines, currently as where I'm heading - Ukraine. And how our institutions responded to the crisis we experienced.  The Baltimore Orioles, after playing to a self imposed empty  stadium, flew off to play a three game "home" series in Florida.

But, while our baseball team was fleeing the scene, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra decided to hold a free, open-to-the-public concert. Outdoors. In front of our beautiful symphony hall. A sunny day ensued. And a palpable feeling of hope and friendship among those of us in the large and diverse crowd assembled to witness and hear this unique event. A world class act by a world class symphony orchestra.  Bravo indeed!

Vienna to Budapest Flight
On all the other flights I'm taking on this trip I've reserved an aisle seat which is my preference on long flights. Instead, for this short flight, I left the seat choice to fate.  As I sat waiting for this Austrian Airlines flight to take off, Strauss's "Blue Danube" played on the plane's speaker system. Most unusual, I thought. And once in the air, I espied a large river winding its way below from my perfect fate-chosen window seat.  Well "duh", I said to myself.  "That's the Blue Danube." Only it was brown.

But then as we neared the airport, the plane, or the river turned and the light, now reflected from a new direction, turned the river blue. Yes, but just for a few minutes.  And fate indeed smiled on me, as from the seat I had let her choose, I saw the great city of Budapest spread out below, in all its grandeur, and most prominently, its magnificent Parliament building shown in the picture above.

With only 1/2 hour sleep, I nevertheless decided to forgo a cab to the B&B where I'm staying and instead take public transportation. A daunting task with English not spoken widely here and with a bus and 2 metro trains on the route. But, again I lucked out.  Two guardian angels, from Belgium, appeared with maps, no less, and we made the trip (or most of it) together.

 Experiencing severe jet lag and sleep deprivation, I am nevertheless elated at my luck in being able  to be making this trip and having such good fortune in every aspect of the first leg of my journey unlike my last trip to Ukraine when, much to my dismay, I discovered I'd left my credit and debit cards at home.