Trains and Training (the seminary kind)

Time is just flying by.  It is Thursday already.  How did that happen???

On Wednesday, we took a tram over to the Buda side of the river to Moszkva Ter, where we were supposed to take another tram or bus for two stops to get where we were going.  Well we caught the right bus, but took it beyond our stop.  A nice English-speaking man helped us by having us go backwards on a tram.  We were supposed to go three stops on the tram, but only went two because of some sign confusion on the tram.  So we got back on the next tram and rode it for the one stop.  But to go two stops, it took us one bus and two trams to get there. 

Cogs for the Cog Railway

Where were we going?  We were headed for the terminus of the cog rail train that would take us up the Buda hills.  When this cog railway was built it was the third train of its kind in the world.  It's a 3 km (about 1.8 miles) ride that rises 3,000 meters.  (Sorry, I can't do that conversion for you--just know it was a lot of climbing over a short distance.)

A salute to the departing train

Marilyn & Allen enjoy the ride on the train

The view from the train

At the top of the ride, we stopped for lunch at a cafe we found and then walked over to the Children's Railway.  And this is just as it sounds--a railroad run by children (aged 14-17), not necessarily a railroad for children.  It's a narrow gauge railway and all the jobs are done by the kids, though with adult supervision.  An adult actually drives the train but everything else is done by the teens--conducting, signaling the train to leave, greeting the train, etc.  The ride was spectacular.  It winds through the hills through forests and even one tunnel.  It was built in 1948 by the communists as a training program for young people.  It easy to see how it was used.  Today it's a training ground for kids who want to work in the Hungarian national Railway.

We then took a tram down the hills and caught another tram along the Danube to the Gellert Baths, another thermal bath like we had visited on Monday.  This one was very ornate and beautiful.  It had two soaking pools--one one degree above body temperature and one one degree below body temperature.   So you could warm up a little and then cool down a little.  They also had dry saunas and a steam room as well as a lap pool.  All in all, it was very satisfying and relaxing.

We toddled back home to rest and then went out and had pizza.  A good day.

Reading room in the seminary library

Memorial to three students who died in the 1956 uprising

Allen, Gerry, Coralyn, & László

Allen and I had an interesting experience this morning:  I had previously contacted some of our Global Ministries missionaries who are stationed here in Budapest.  László and Coralynn Medgyessy serve at the Reformed Seminary here in Budapest.  László has served for 16 years and Coralyn for the past 11.  László is originally from Budapest and escaped the communist rule as a young man.  He came back to the seminary where he had been a student once, having married Coralyn in the meantime in the U.S.  The seminary is actually a 6-year university program which trains young men and women to be pastors in the Hungarian Reformed church.  We learned how during the communist era, pastors had to submit their sermons to the authorities two weeks in advance for editing and approval and that they assuredly would show up, sermon in hand, to make sure you didn't deviate from the approved script.  Now, of course, things are freer since 1989, when communism broke apart and the Soviet bloc crumbled.  Coralyn & László were fascinating to talk to and we learned much about the university they serve as well as about life in Hungary in general.

Now we're preparing to go to the opera at Budapest's grand Opera House.  More on that later.

VIszlat!  (And still, GO GIANTS!)