Wishes in Budapest

The third leg of my trip was to the cities of Buda and Pest. Both are enchanting by night, on a dinner cruise up and down the Danube. But instead of describing the sites, I’m going to tell you about one statue in the city park.

Up until now, I have been an ‘anonymous’ poster, meaning there is no ‘real’ photo of me on this site. Until now. And it’s all because of Mr. Anonymous, a real person, or statue, I met near the Vajdahunyad Castle. The castle is a copy of one in Transylvania, Romania. Why, I don’t know.

Mr. A. is kind of a spooky looking character, as portrayed by the artist, and it’s fitting that he sits near an equally spooky looking castle. Until this day we don’t have a confirmation of who this gentleman was but it has been narrowed down to an Italian or French immigrant who served in King Bela’s court, in the late 1100’s.  The inscription beneath the sculpture reads: “The Anonymous Notary of King Bela.” There were a couple of King Bela’s so that confuses the issue. This notary, or chancellor, wrote a historical manuscript of Hungary, full of early Hungarian history, legends, and politics of the day. Now we know why he chose to remain ‘anonymous.’

In the photo you will note that his pen is burnished to a bright golden color. Hungarian folklore says that if you touch the pen you will gain inspiration for your writing. I had used every opportunity to make wishes on the Charles Bridge in Prague, there were no opportunities in Vienna unless I count all the wishes I made when I entered the Swarvoski store, so I touched the pen.  Actually, I rubbed it before the photo was snapped.

Have I had inspiration to write? I’ve written a few pages and completed a couple of blog entries in the past 3 days, but that’s been the usual routine for the past four months.  And I did make a complete rewrite of my first chapter, trying out 1st person instead of 3rd person point of view.

But what I really wanted was a burst of inspiration that would push me through to a spectacular ending of my second manuscript. Why didn’t I think of those exact words when I was touching the pen? Probably because I was trying to stand up straight and keep my eyes open for the camera. Instead, here I am ‘outing’ myself in a tourist photo and becoming ‘un-anonymous,’ for the sake of this blog.