Budapest - Hungarian Parliament
Well after the kids had a day off I figured it was time to get back into the action. Tita and I headed off to get subway tickets first thing in the morning and as luck would have it the sex shop that we passed in the subway station was closed because I am guessing it was too early but who knows it could have been closed.
The subway system here in Budapest is very nice and it is a mix of very old lines and very modern lines. We live near the oldest subway line in continental Europe- London has the eldest in the world- and the stations and the trains that vie them are quaint and clean. they even still use leather straps for hand rails!
While the Modern lines in the subway system are serviced by the latest subways. Also the platforms for the new subway system seem to be a kilometer underground- take a look at this escalator to the platform and this is about halfway down 
We ll we ended up at the Hungarian Parliament Building and got tickets. Unfortunately the 12:00 English tour was sold out so we had to wait for the 12:45 tour! Not a problem I decided to go and check out the “Shoes on the Danube” It honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoes_on_the_Danube_Promenade )! Unfortunately due to the construction on the Hungarian Parliament Building the site was closed to foot traffic. 
Ashley and I looking over the rail to the Shoes on the Danube Promenade
It is very sad and poignant considering our Jewish heritage! (The last part of our name “-tz” is Polish Jewish)
Well as we had time to kill we started - I should rephrase that- I dragged my family around to see things. The first thing that we saw was a cool bridge with some stature on it. 
No amount of searching on Google will reveal who or what this is.
Ashley and I posing at the Szabadság tér or Liberty Park 
Then we headed off to Szabadság tér or Liberty Park that has a Soviet War Memorial. I find this strange that it is still intact after the fall of the Soviet Union.
I thought that most Hungarians were not big fans of the Soviets but it is a nice looking monument and it is a nice park as well with several beautiful buildings surrounding it as well.
It was not surprising to see a statue to Ronald Reagan leading into the same park. If anything I would expect a reversal in the prominence of the two moments
Andrew and Ron
Well we had some more time so we decided to stop off at a local bistro and have a glass of mulled wine. Ashley got wonderful cup of hot chocolate too.
So after waiting almost an hour to get into the Hungarian Parliament Building we had to wait some more! YEAH! And the best part was they took us from the outdoor shelter and made us wait in the middle of the courtyard with freezing winds blowing up off the Danube! Gee thanks!
Once inside we had to pass a metal detector and were assigned our own English speaking tour guide and private guard! 
Makes sense though as the Crown Jewels are part of the tour!
The Changing of the Guards protecting the Crown Jewels
This is the conference room of Hungarian Parliament but the real Hungarian Parliament is supposed to be the same.
I thought that the tour was a bit short considering that it did cost $40 for a family of four but you all know how cheap I am! Oh and don’t tell my kids I said this as I will never hear the end of it! Once outside I tried to get some shots to show the fine craftsmanship that went into the building.
The original Hungarian Parliament Building was destroyed by more than 300 bombs during World War II so what you are seeing is a reconstruction of the building. They rebuilt it using the original plans and they have said they tried to source all the materials from Hungary!
In this last shot you will notice two flags. The flag on the right is the Hungarian national flag while the one on the Transylvania flag! Transylvania used to be a part of Hungary before World War I - after World War I, Hungary lost 71% of its territory, 58% of its population, and 32% of ethnic Hungarians. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary)
After our trip we headed off to a new mall that was supposed to have a Tesco Hypermarket it in! I do not know what they call a hyper-market in Europe but it was not what I would consider a large grocery store in the USA much less the UAE. BUT what it lacked in size it did make up for in some forms of selection. It did have an amazing selection of pork products. I have to say I wish I would have bought more! Also they had an amazing selection of beer and wines. And the prices were amazing. Since we are mulling the wine we drink we are looking for a tasty but not fancy wine. It makes no sense to get a fine wine only to put cloves, cinnamon sticks , apples, oranges , etc. and then heat it on a stove. But paying a $1 for a bottle of good semi-sweet wine and being happy with it make this another reason to vacation here.
Let me state that again, I bought a bottle of wine for $1 and it was better than almost any of the wines I paid $10 to $20 for back in the UAE!
No comments:
Post a Comment