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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Watery

The month of June was dominated by the element of water. We've had incessant rain, followed by an oppressive combination of heat and humidity. And some more.

On the upside, I've seen some pretty impressive clouds and I've felt, at moments, like living in London again (the London of old, when it used to rain all the time; now, it seems, they are having stuff like heat waves--go figure).

Menacing sky just before the rain--you can feel the storm building up in the air. This one was fairly mild, but just a few days before we had a really big one, with gushing winds and hale that pounded on our windows. I'm not afraid of thunder but I find all those sounds that accompany a storm much more frightening than the actual wind and rain.

This strange gray color is not a result of faulty camera or Photoshop-ing gone wrong--I tried to capture the rain. It's funny how everything looks as if covered in smoke.

On my way to the French Institute I made pictures of the Danube flooding the lower road (Rakpart). It doesn't happen often--once in a year or two--but when it does it becomes a magnet for tourists and natives alike. There is something strangely fascinating about Danube spreading like that onto a territory that should be off its limits--a kind of controlled damage.

More of the same, except in direction of Margit, rather than Chain Bridge.

From where I stood, it looked like the Parliament was floating on the Danube.

Danube, up close, neither blue nor particularly beautiful now that it's swollen and murky. These past few days I've seen countless people sitting by its banks and dipping their legs into the river. Why would you want to do that at any time, let alone now, is beyond me, although I appreciate that beach-y feeling I get just by looking at them.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

That's indeed a lot of water... which I almost miss now that we're in the middle of a heatwave... yep, I've been in England for 8 years and it's never been this hot!

Delwyn said...

Hi Jelica

I do love storms especially summer ones which can be very loud and fiery her with huge torrents of rain so loud you can't talk over it - under our tin roof... The ones I don't like are those preceded by hail stones the size of gold balls.
WE have had the car peppered a number of times. I fear that they will break the windows. You can't drive so you find cover for the car somewhere if you are lucky...

Happy days

Lorac said...

This had been a strange year so far for us. This spring and summer have been quite wet, lots of storms and much cooler than usual.It seems like many countries are experiencing abnormal weather.Interesting pictures though. I never really thought of the Danube flooding over.

Midlife Roadtripper said...

Thanks for your photos and bringing the world of Budapest to me tonight. I'm surprised by the water in the Danube. Hope to come back and see more.

I_am_Tulsa said...

Wow the Danube and the parliament is quite beautiful although overflowing rivers can be a bit scary.
I think we are finally into the real rainy season now. We had similar clouds hanging over our city these past few days with very strong winds too....unfortunately the city isn't as gorgeous as yours...sigh...