Caste Crafts

This weekend in line with St. Stephan's Day, there is a major craft fair in the Castle District. We went once and I enjoyed seeing the various crafts from the different regions of the country. This was back in the days when we were still struggling with whether or not we would stay for a year or not, so we did not fulfill my favorite hobby: shop. Now with our permanent residency, our own apartment, shopping is no longer a questionable sport. With two other Americans, we headed up the hill with mobs and gobs of others. This was a first time outing to this part of Castle Hill for our fellow adventurers, so we meandered around looking at various booths before we entered the inner-sanctum. To get closer to the palace and to the “Best of Hungarian Craft Artists”, you first need to cough up 1,200 Huf for a ticket. This annoys me since you get nothing for this fee other than the ability to spend more money on food or crafts.

After an hour of plundering through the crowd, we stopped for a snack and a drink. The day was hot and we needed hydration. After two more hours of strolling through the area on both sides of the palace and then down the winding road leading to the bus stop, we all concluded that with few exceptions, there were not exceptional crafts to be found here. Many of the items could be had at any of the craft fairs held through the year, including the Christmas Market where a fee for entry is not required. We left empty handed and a little lighter in the wallets, but still the fresh air and the views added to the pleasure of the day.

We were invited to our friends’ place to watch the fireworks, but we declined. It was fortunate that we had since the storm knocked all of our planters off the windowsills making the balcony a compost area. If we had not been home to close the living room windows, we would have been flooded. The metal screens pulled down did not block the rain from soaking the glass of the closed windows.

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