We headed towards Parliament, which you guys saw from the other side of the river in the previous post. The guidebook was vague, so we investigated a visit. When we turned the corner, the line to get in was around the block and probably 300 meters long. We decided that just seeing the building was impressive.
(The back side of Parliment)
After going past parliament, we walked to where there was supposed to be an EMS museum. We arrived and I woke up the person inside the front door who I can only guess was a shift supervisor. He did not speak English, however after telling him that we were there for the Museum…he told us a bunch of words…however we finally found one that we both knew…”Finito”. Our guess is that the exhibit was either closed or finished. We started walking towards St. Stephen Basilica. On our way, we ran across a very small, random marketplace. It was all inside, but had many fresh fruits, foods, items, etc. It was just getting opened, but it was a neat experience none the less. We continued to St. Stephen’s and got some great shots.
(St. Stephens)
(Me from the top of St. Stephens)
After finishing up at St. Stephens, we started walking towards Szechenyi Spa and Swimming Pool. On the way there we passed a small little street that was open only to pedestrians. It was like Pearl street in boulder. Many outside shops, cafés, benches, etc. We stopped and grabbed some appetizers and some tasty beverages.
After relaxing for a few, we continued on our way hoping to stop at the Opera house for some pictures. It was not to be. It was closed until much later. Our route took us by the Terror Museum, which was quite a site. I highly recommend anyone that goes to Budapest to go there. The museum was located at 60 Andrassy Boulevard which was the headquarters of the Arrow Cross Party (which was the Hungarian Nazi Party), and then became home of dreaded Communist Terror organizations. This place was unbelievable. It was well designed, well put together, had a great flow. It was really a assault on all of your senses. They had many artifacts, videos, etc. of everything that happened. The last communist to leave did so in 1989, his office is preserved. While rebuilding the house in a museum, they unearthed a dungeon below. They found prison cells that were 1.5ft X1.5 ft wide (i.e. You had to stand up) ones with very low ceiling so that you could never stand up. Ones that had 2-3 inches of water in the bottom so you never got warm. Ones with lots of lights so that you could never go to sleep. They had terror rooms, murder rooms, etc. It was really amazing to see what these guys did to people. Then you got to the end of the dungeon and they had a memorial in a very dark room. Words cannot describe how it felt, but I will try. You walked through a doorway into an empty room that was dark. You could only get about 4 feet into the room. There were hundreds of crosses and Jewish stars about 5 feet tall. All of them had lights shining off of them mainly towards you and some others around the room. There was no music, nothing to read, nothing. It was, if you can understand this…HEAVY. Wow. There was nothing to say. There was no way to say it. A very moving and fitting tribute to those who died in 60 Andrassy St…in the house of terror.
After getting out of there, we needed to kinda relax. Wow. So we continued on to find another outdoor café and ordered some pizza and some drinks. It was a nice late lunch for us to enjoy and chat about what we just saw.
After lunch, we continued to Szechenyi Baths passing through a small fair with some live music. We thought about hitting that on the way back to town.
(Szechenyi Baths)
The people and information at the baths were very unwelcoming. We were wanting to come back the next day, but we decided to go elsewhere instead. We walked back through the fair and enjoyed hearing the music and looking at the items for sale. As we were walking back towards the hotel, we came across a wedding that was letting out. You know what was amazing? If you took out the fact that we could not understand anyone, it looked just like a wedding at home. It was actually a neat experience…we are all different, yet the same.
We stopped at a store and bought some items for the impending trip tomorrow. We were going to be on a train for 11 hours, so we bought drinks, snacks, etc. so we wouldn’t have to buy them on the train.
We finally got back to the room (you have no idea how far we walked…wow) it was getting late. We had walked further out of town and in a more adventurous route that we had first planned, so we were running late for dinner. (If there was an actual time and we had to adhere to it, anyway) so, we cleaned up and showered for the evening. That evening we decided to find a unique restaurant, which we finally did by the river. It was right on the river and it was awesome. They had cheap really good Hungarian wine and I had the stuffed peppers which were absolutely amazing. We hung out and enjoyed the evening and some wine for a while. Soon it was time to turn in.
(The view from our table across the river towards the palace)
No comments:
Post a Comment