Pride and Prejudice

We’ve both been to Hungary several times. I used to manage a development team for Siemens in Budapest, and Alex has some distant relatives in Hungary.

Budapest

This weekend is Pride in Budapest. Last year, the Orban government banned Pride, much to the annoyance of the city government. To enforce the ban, they threatened every participant with a 500-euro fine. The result? A march of 200,000 people and a landslide victory for the opposition in the following elections, which ended Orban’s 16-year rule.

Of course, it would be a stretch to say Pride alone toppled the government. But it was a final, clear sign that people were fed up with the harassment from a corrupt government whose arrogance bordered on delusions of grandeur.

Laszlo, who I worked with at Siemens and who we’re meeting for coffee, says the new government has different goals but is just as arrogant. Maybe that’s a leftover from the Austro-Hungarian days?

In Budapest, everything is forbidden, and there’s always some busybody eager to point out the rules. We’re starting to feel right at home. Navigating the city with a dog is an obstacle course: I know perfectly well whether my dog can handle an escalator. Why is it always the right-wing conservatives who shout the loudest about freedom, personal responsibility, and independence, but then drown everything in rules, right down to who you’re allowed to love?

Hot

It’s hot in Europe. The heatwave has moved east and has hit us full force. Temperature records are tumbling again this year. These days, it seems like there’s a “summer of the century” every decade. Where have all the climate change deniers gone? They’ve gotten awfully quiet. Thanks for nothing.

Visiting a city when it’s nearly 40 degrees isn’t much fun. For Charly, it can get dangerous fast. So in Budapest, we spend our afternoons in the hotel room. It’s a shame, because the city is gorgeous and the architecture is breathtaking.

Flüge

On Monday, we leave Budapest heading west to Lake Balaton, then continue on to Vienna. But before Vienna, we make a stop in Sooss to visit my school friend Flüge, who’s been living here for 10 years.

Just before Vienna, we also celebrate the 200,000th birthday of our Schleppi, which is starting to show its age a bit.

*This blog post has been automatically translated by a Large Language Model.