Buda and Pest

On our third day of our trip we were in Budapest.  We arrived Saturday night and left Sunday evening.  The first thing I found out was that Buda and Pest are two different cities, now combined sort of by bridges.  I prefer Buda, its much more scenic and historical.  Pest is kind of dirty.  These are pictures of Parliament at night, which is in Pest.  We also had to exchange money here.  Hungary is not on the Euro.  One euro is about 224 Hungarian Florints.  It was weird to see things in thousands when looking at a menu or price tag.

Pictures of Buda from Pest at night.

The next morning we woke up ungodly early to go to the Turkish baths in Buda which were about a 45 minute walk from our hostel.  We couldn't take pictures inside out of respect for the bathers who chose to go nude.  It was beautiful inside though every surface was mosaiced.  Beth and I also got 15 minute massages.  They were much needed at that point because of all the walking we had been doing.  Soaking my feet in the baths really helped me get through the rest of the day, well until about 4pm anyways.  After the baths we had breakfast.  French Toast and Bacon!!!!  It was amazing.

Next we strolled through the shops and Hungarian market in Pest where there was a band playing Hungarian music.

Where's Waldo???

After strolling in the market we crossed the famous Chain Bridge into Buda.

Buda Castle from the bridge.

We took a short bus ride to the top of Castle Hill to see Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion and a Church I cannot remember the name of.

Buda Castle

On the walk to Fisherman's Bastion and the church.

Inside the church.  The outside was covered with scaffolding and was not worth photographing.

Happy Easter

Fisherman's Bastion.  I'm not sure what it actually was, its far above the river so I doubt they did any fishing, maybe they sold fish here?

Beth and I behind the church and Fisherman's Bastion

We walked back down Castle Hill, the streets were very cute.

Another church we found along the way.

Once the haze cleared up I got a good picture of Chain Bridge.

After seeing Buda we went to the House of Terror which was a holocaust exhibition about the Nazi and Soviet communist rule of Hungary.  Hungary really got the short end of the stick in geography and force when trying to resist the Nazis and Soviets.  The Museum was really interesting but at this point in the day I was so tired and my feet hurt so bad that I had no desire to read all the lengthy papers they handed out in each room.  The exhibition design was really impressive though, very original and inventive.  I liked all the screens that had actually accounts of what happened in the prisons and camps.  The basement of the House of Terror was a Nazi/Soviet prison.  We were allowed to go into the cells and the execution chamber.  It was very similar to the Gestapo Museum in Cologne Germany that I saw in 2005.  The Gestapo Museum had all of the original markings on the walls by prisoners which were calendars counting the days that they stayed there, inevitably how long they were there until executed.  The final mark made was by an American Soldier from Ohio stating that it had been taken over by the American Military.  Both museums were very powerful.  I find actual interviews and objects from the period much more interesting than reading an overly detailed paper.  But thats just me.

Overall the trip was really great, tiresome but great.  I got home very early Monday morning.  I was able check my email and do a few things on my computer and then I took a nap and when I woke up my hard drive had crashed.  It is currently being assessed by the Apple people here.  They have not gotten back to me yet which is extremely frustrating considering they are ignoring my emails and do not answer their phones.  I am currently using my flatmate Marta's computer.  Cross your fingers that I get my own computer back soon.