The second day in Budapest

We did a walking tour of Budapest today, and began by taking public transportation to our starting point.  The streetcar and subway system seems quite modern and efficient.  We visited the Eiffel designed railway station, and then "the most beautiful McDonald's in the world" next door.










We then walked by the magnificent Parliament building and strolled along the Danube.

There are many memorials for the many tragic times in Hungary.
I've decided it was bad geographical luck for them to be located in Central Europe, since they were in the way when just about any bigger power happened to want their land, or to go through it to get to someone else's.






Of course, the greatest tragedy was WWII, when Hungary allied early with the Nazis and spent the war being quite evil.  We saw a moving memorial with sixty bronze reproductions of pairs of shoes positioned along the Danube, representing the six decades since the war.  The Hungarians killed thousands of Jews by chaining groups together on the bank of the Danube and shooting a few so that they would all drown in the river together.

Before going to the next memorial we stopped for a cup of coffee and a tour of an Art Nouveau museum, which looked more like an antique store.  It wasn't clear whether the stuff was available for sale or just to admire.

After that we walked to another memorial that the Hungarian government had recently erected to blame the Germans for killing the Hungarian Jews during WWII.  Directly in front of this memorial was a counter-memorial, making it clear that it was the Hungarian collaborators who did the murdering, not the Nazis.  The counter-memorial was stunning, with photos of murdered families, candles, personal objects, and protest signs.  It was remarkable that the counter-memorial has not been taken down by the government, since it is quite critical of them. But we were told by our guide that such a move would not be well received, at least at the moment.  But we did notice cameras mounted on the street lamps, so everyone knows that Big Brother is watching.

After the memorials we ended up at Cafe Gerbeaud, a well-known hangout.  They make gorgeous chocolates in addition to serving lunch. It was quite an elegant space. 

The last stop with our guide Gabe was the Museum and School of Decorative Arts.  This building had  Islamic influences and a gorgeous ceramic roof, some of which was destroyed in the 1956 revolution.  We also saw examples of many fine ceramics.

Being exhausted, we came back to the hotel to rest while some of our group headed out for a little local shopping before meeting up for our final evening in Budapest.

Donna

PS: Some of the earlier blog entries below have been updated with stories I forgot!