Metro

A minap a városban császkálva az egyik metrómegállóban különböző városok metróinak a posztereivel találtam szembe magam. És természetesen ott volt Magyarországé is. :) 

Tudtad, hogy az európai kontinensen a mi kedves kis sárga földalattink volt az első metró?, És hogy az angolok után mi büszkélkedhetünk Európában a legrégibb földalattival, sőt a világon is a negyedik legrégibb a kisföldalatti.

De vajon melyik az első három? Wiki segített a válaszban: az első (mint fent is említettem) a londoni Underground (1863), a másodikat New Yorkban építették 1870-ben (ami egyébként a legtöbb (422) állomással is rendelkezik), a mi földalattinkat pedig még a chicagoi "L" előzi meg, 1892-ben.

Mint sokan tudják, a mi földalattinkat 1896-ban építették a milleneumi ünnepségek alkalmából (többek között a Hősök terével és a Városligettel egyetemben). Az átadás Ferenc József jelenlétében, május 2-án történt (eredetileg a költészet napján, április 11-én lett volna, de műszaki okokból ez nem sikerült.) 

A cél az volt, hogy a város szívéből - a Deák tér, Vörösmarty térről - a milleneumi ünnepségek fő helyszínére, a Hősök terére szállítsa a belföldi és külföldi vendégeket.

A földalattit 2002-ben az Andrássy úttal egyetemben a Világörökség részévé nyilvánították.

The other day while strolling in the city, I found some interesting posters at one of the metro stations: it showed the different metros of several cities and countries. Of course, the Hungarian was among them.

Did you know that the Hungarian metro was the first in the European continent? And that it was the second in all Europe after the London one. Furthermore, it is the 4th oldest metro in the world!

And which ones are the first three? Well, as I mentioned before, the first (oldest) metro in the world is the London Underground (built in 1863), the second was built in New York in 1870 (which by the way has the most stations (422)), the third is in Chicago (1892).

The Hungarian metro (foldalatti or M1 as we call it) was built in 1896 for the millenarian festival of the county`s foundation. (The Heroes Square that is so popular among tourists was also built for this occasion.) The metro was inaugurated on 2nd May, 1896 by Emperor Franz Joseph. (The original date was 11th April (the day of poetry in Hungary), but had to be delayed due to technical complications.)

The aim of the metro was to take the visitors from the heart of the city (Deak and Vorosmarty Square) to the Heroes Square, the main location of the festivals.

The metro M1 was declared a World Heritage together with the above running Andrassy Avenue in 2002.

Hurricane Irene

Although, Mexico City is about 300 kms from the coasts of the Mexican bay, hurricane Irene had an impact on us as well.
Since it is the rainy season (from May/June until October/November), I got used to the rain every day, but what we had a few days ago...! It was some storm!
It is said that the rainy season has several patterns here: in some years, it showers only a little, but almost all day; in some years it rains cats and dogs, but only for a few hours. This year seems to be the latter pattern: it starts raining at about 5-6 o'clock every day, only for a few hours, but during the rain, no umbrella helps.
However, the rain (storm) on the other day was something to mention. It was very heavy storm for 2 days, just when the Irene approached this area. The storm started about 7 in the evening: first it was just a huge black cloud coming. Then the lightning and thunders started and suddenly it started to pour. Because of the huge black cloud, it was already pitch black and the lightnings made the surrounding so light for a second, just as in daylight. And the amount of rain: I`m not a meteorologist, but after about 30 minutes that it had started, we went to the supermarket and there was a good 10 cms water on the roads already! Of course, the entrance of our apartment and the supermarket (and I guess almost all buildings) had leaks, the supermarket was full of buckets on the floor...

The terrifying thing is that Mexico City with its 2200ms height, sometimes gets the storms in the middle: I mean, usually the clouds are above you and the rain pours down, but here, the storm clouds go through the city. It`s like in the movies when you fly through a storm cloud when you are on an airplane.

So, today`s advice: Don`t forget your umbrella!

Rain curtain...

For comparison: the view during the rain....

...and after it.