Budapest Me!

Budapest - a GREAT city !!

Here is my first taste of Budapest - the metro escalators are really deep ( the Communists dug one especially deep to use it as a bomb shelter in the Cold War). And they go really really fast.. .I feared for my toes and baggage. Made for a nice breeze though, which I needed.. it was hot!



Buda is the orginal city on the left and is dominated by the castle/palace and cathedral. Its also hilly, as you can see from the picture. I took this picture after hiking up Gellert Hill. Pest is the original city on the left... is flat, and has most of the commerce. The bridge shown here is the beautiful chain bridge.

Took one of the night cruises on the Danube and was very glad I did. The colors were gorgeous. This is the chain bridge at night all lit up.

And here I am in front of the Hungarian Parliment building.

The Money Shot - the Palace in Buda and the Chain Bridge.

What you need to note here is the building lit up at the right end of the Chain Bridge. It used to be a palace but is a fancy pants hotel now. The Pughs stayed here on an HP customer event (boondoggle). Now, look at where I stayed in the next pic.

One of these things is not like the other! I decided to go cheap in Budapest since is was pretty spendy. I had been staying in hostels and pensions with shared baths and showers but a private room. I took the plunge and did the dorm room hostel for 15 Euros a night. This room wasn't too bad till the second night when it filled (8 bunks) with INFANTS who went out to party and got home after 4am. It was pretty funny... the next morning I got up and showered and left , all the while walking around the bodies strewn about and no-one moved. It was like a neutron bomb. Bathrooms were not too clean.. so I told myself I was treating myself in my next stop, Eger, Hungary. And had a nice dinner with a crowd of US and Canadian travellers the last night in Budapest.

This is inside a Serbian church in Budapest. I liked the digital alarm clock next to the priests robes.




This is one of the large indoor markets that were built for the 1,000th anniversary of Hungary in 1896. Its got one of those nifty tiled roofs like some of the churches. The next pic is a stand inside that sold spices, especially peppers and paprika !!

This is from a church carved out of the Gellert hill in Buda. The Communists covered it up during their tenure but its back to being an active church.

George looking refreshed since HE didn't have to hike up Gellert Hill to get this view of the palce in Buda. Danube River to the right.

In the square in front of the St. Istvan cathedral (means Stephen in Hungarian, after their first Christian king), there was a little old fashioned ride for the kids - love the kid on the left... he was mesmorized.

The wall just inside the door of the Matthias Cathedral, the major cathedral on the Buda side of town. Most of these churches are ornately painted inside - just gorgeous.













Went on a silly tour of the underground caves of Buda. They could hold 10,000 people if necessary, for things like treating wounded in WWII. Now there is a silly personal growth wander through the Labrinth. There were statues everywhere and it was dark ... really creepy. George liked the fountain spewing red wine, though.

View of St. Istvan (Stephen, first christian king) and a view of the Parliment from the Buda side of the river.

NOW THE BEST THING EVER !!!!

The Szechenyi Baths in City Park. These are traditional shared sex baths using the naturally thermally heated water .

Yes, guys do stand in the water and play chess. So fun.

Nice shot of the outdoor pools. There were three of them. One cool, with a play area with jets that whisked you in a circle. I just loved watching this one guy laughing with his wife in this area. If you put him in a shiny black suit, he would look like one of the Communist leaders at Statue Park.

The central pool is for laps. The last is a hot pool, 38 degrees C, about hottub temp in the US. This is the one to the left... and my favorite. I would just sit on those steps and people watch. All told, I spent 3.5 hours here... cold pool, sauna, steam room, hot pool, beer, pedicure (with tools that looked like dental instruments)..... rinse and repeat. So far, this is the best thing I have done in Europe.

Inside pools - some have a higher mineral content to be medicinal.

Someone must have snapped a pic of me and my crew in the baths.














COMMUNIST STUFF::::

Took a walking tour featuring the communist history of Hungary. These two shots are from Statue Park where they have moved the communist themed statues to one place. Very cool- I especially liked the red star of flowers in the middle of the park.

One of the old time cars built under communist rule. People waited 5 years on a list to get a car like this. Came in 4 colors- red, blue, white and maybe black. I don't think lime green was an option.

Also went to the House of Terror, a fabulous museum featuring the Nazi and Communist terror and control history in Hungary. Its one of the best museums I have too anywhere - they stage the info in a way that is personal. For example, the room with the theme of Gulag had a carpet that was of Hungary all the way to eastern Soviet Union.... so that you could see how far it was they the Soviets took the Hungarian nationalists that they moved to work camps for decades at a time. The last room had movies running of the last Soviets leaving in 1992, with music in the background that sounded like a 1940s tune about saying goodbye. This museum is housed in the actual building that both the Nazis and Communists used as a headquarters - so the torror rooms in the basement are real. Scary stuff, but really great museum.



Buildings of varying condition next to each other in Buda.

These American ladies from DC sked for my help in finding something before they realized I was not Hungarian. Do I look European yet? I doubt it since my wardrobe practically screams that I was dressed by REI.