Day 29: The Perfect Metaphor

Today was a special day. Today I finished reading my book, Stephen King's The Stand. For all the book readers out there, you know that the day you finish a book is a memorable day. What was so special about this book was how long I've been reading it. I only picked it back up in Zurich, but I started reading... I can't quite remember exactly when I started reading it right now, but I want to say it's been at least a year since I started with this book. So to finally come to the final page today was like the end of an era.

And I think being so close to the end of my journey across Europe (and halfway through my entire journey) it makes for the perfect metaphor.

According to my Kindle, I was ninety-six percent of the way through the book. So I knew today was going to be the day. Aside from exploring Budapest, I made finding a nice quiet spot to finish the book a goal for the day.

I decided to knock out two of the brochure's top ten spots in Budapest. Heroes' Square caught my eye just by the name, and it was close by a park that contained Vajdahunyad Castle. I didn't even try to pronounce that, but once again, it's tough to go wrong with castles.

Heroes' Square was a lot bigger than I expected. The center column towered into the sky, with a group of horseman surrounding its base. The back two corners of the square were covered by curves of columns, with a statue between each column. There was no English information around, but I was fascinated by some of the statues.

The horseman at the center of the square seemed to me, like great leaders in some ancient war. One of the horses had deer antlers tied to the sides of its head, giving it a very intimidating appearance.

You can see the antler son the horse on the left. This was the only one to have antlers. They must have some kind of significance.

Between the columns there stood kings and saints (at least I thought so) of some significance. Atop the columns a chariot drawn by two horses carried a man on one side, and a woman on the other.

I walked between the chariots, looming overhead, and into City Park. The park was enormous, and the first thing I saw was a large pond that I crossed over on a bridge. To my right was the castle overlooking the pond. On my left a fountain in the pond was constantly shooting water into the air. People were sitting in the grass by the pond so I made a mental note to return there later for my reading.

When I crossed the bridge I turned right towards the castle. This castle reminded me a lot of the castle I had seen on my last day in Germany. It wasn't because it was at the summit of a hill, or nearly as big, but because it was very strangely built. Each part of the castle seemed a completely different style and color, giving it a very peculiar look. 

Within the castle walls were several other buildings. I didn't know what they were and I couldn't go inside but I did see that one was a church or chapel of some kind because there was a wedding going on.

The most interesting thing inside the castle was a statue titled "Anonymus." The figure is sitting in a chair with a writing utensil in his hand. His face is covered by a dark hood, giving him an eerie, villainous look. I had to look up what it was about, and I discovered that this statue is dedicated to an anonymous writer that put together a lot of important Hungarian history. So it's not a bad person, the sculptor just had to create a physical representation of someone that is unknown. I think he did a great job. Even though it looks almost evil.

I wandered around the rest of the park, finding a few interesting monuments and statues, but mostly just green grass and trees. I eventually looped my way back to the pond at the front of the park, found a nice spot in the shade, and started reading.

Even though I only had four percent of the book left, shadows were getting longer when I finally finished. This is the part of the blog post where I must recommend that you read The Stand. I won't give you a summary or a synopsis because part of why I enjoyed this book so much was I went into it with no expectations and no idea what might happen. That happens far too infrequently these days. It is a long journey, but well worth it.

I stayed at the park a little longer. Thinking about the book and taking in the scenery. But eventually I had to get some dinner.

Tonight at dinner I had a unique "table for one" experience. When I asked for a table the waiter (who seemed to be a manger of some kind) told me I could sit at the table for one hour. The table was meant for four people, so I understand why. With the opportunity to make money off of four people from the table, he didn't want me taking it up. But it's still the first time that's happened to me, something that can only be experienced eating alone.

I took the awkwardness in stride though, which proved to myself that I was really getting comfortable with eating out alone. But after three weeks that should be expected right?

Tomorrow, at my mom's suggestion, I'm going to have a spa day. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Budapest is the spa capital of the world. So why not? I spent the last month traveling Europe, mostly on my own. I think I've earned it.

That's all for today. Thanks for reading and here's to tomorrow.