Ici at Six Years Old - Her New Home and School

In 1930 we moved again. Not too far, only to the other side of the "Duna" (the Danube).

Budapest is really a twin city. Pest, on the left bank of the river, is an industrial town, built on flatland, while Buda is hilly, full of gardens and villas, and very romantic! The side of the Danube we moved to was the Buda side.

Buda has a royal palace. As a matter of fact, several palaces from different periods had been built on the top of each other. (See this website for history on the palace). This was discovered, during the communist era. The first palace dates from the fourteenth century, when Buda became the capital of the country.

There was a Roman city here too, dug out in the nineteenth century. Most of the mountains are volcanic in origin, and this explains why there are so many hot and mineral springs here. Budapest is really a bath place. (Here's a link to someone's blog about visiting the Buda Baths)

Well, my father found a way again to improve his financial standing. He became the manager of a brand new Post Office building, a job which assured free living quarters for his growing tribe.

This apartment was much larger and prettier than what we had before. The boys had a large room with a small balcony looking over the court. This balcony was built to distribute packages. By now, packages were mostly delivered by automobiles and trucks, but still some by wagons. However, to my mother’s great relief, the horse stables were not in this building.

For me, the greatest significance of being six years old is that I finally started school. My school, run by nuns, was in a beautiful small villa on the side of a hill. The building itself was lower than the street, and we had to walk through a darling little bridge right on the second floor, where the two large classrooms were: one for the first and second graders, the other one for the third and forth class students. It was an all girl school, and besides teaching the 3 R’s, also featured elementary German and French conversation.

The backyard was full with trees, birds, and squirrels, and was therefore aptly named "Squirrel home". Classes were held, when weather permitted, in the large back park. We took field trips every moth, to museums and "cinemas", and public parks and gardens. Well, I couldn’t brag about my linguistic advancement, but I sure had fun!