This year’s exceptionally cold winter weather in Budapest seemed to go on forever... well, at least until a few days ago, when temperatures started rising citywide. However, although it seems to be getting slightly warmer every day, we can’t say that spring is around the corner just yet. So, until the advent of springtime is more official, here’s a friendly reminder from Hungary’s online vintage-photo database Fortepan that, no matter how long winter seems to drag on, springtime still arrived each and every year.

Soon we’ll be able to stroll outdoors in spring jackets, just like these young women in City Park, in front of the Industry Hall built for the National General Exhibition (1939).

Houses with a garden enjoy an advantage: a snapshot made in the DistrictII neighborhood of Remetekertváros, with blossoming trees (1956).

We are very much looking forward to strolling on Margaret Island when the weather’s nice again (1967).

Soon we can once again chill out in the sunshine, with a view of Szent Gellért Square and Petőfi Bridge (1964).

It might be hard to believe at first sight, but this is Kossuth Lajos Square in front of the Parliament house – when the plaza was still landscaped. On the left is the Ministry of Agriculture, hidden by the trees.

Women caring for flowerbeds at the corner of Kossuth Lajos Street and Károly (Tanács) Boulevard (1968).

For those more fragile cyclists who are forced to take public transport in the winter, spring is salvation itself, just like for these children in Semmelweis Street (1955).

A picnic in the open – almost as good as therapy! Lunch break at the Hármashatárhegy Airport, with Virágosnyereg in the background (1957).

The playground across from Gellért Bath, on today’s Szabó Dezső Promenade (1941).

Fun in the Pasarét neighborhood, in the garden of the former Infantry Cadet School in Buda (1926).