A Tapestry of Temperament: Budapest's Sky on the Thirteenth of May
The city of Budapest, a grand dame straddling the gentle curve of the Danube, awoke on this Tuesday, the 13th of May, under a sky that was anything but decided. It was a morning painted in hues of soft, uncertain grey, a canvas awaiting the day's brushstrokes of sun, cloud, and maybe, just maybe, the fleeting whisper of rain. The air held a cool, crisp promise, a lingering touch of spring's sometimes hesitant embrace before summer makes its bold claim. As the city's famous bridges began to stir with the first commuters, and the stately buildings along the Pest and Buda banks emerged from the pre-dawn gloom, the initial feeling was one of quiet contemplation, mirrored by the reserved mood of the atmosphere. Just before the official greeting of dawn, a muted light began to seep into the eastern sky. It wasn't the dramatic, fiery explosion of colour that sometimes sets the Danube ablaze, but rather a shy, gradual lightening, as if the sun was still deciding if it was trul...