Budapest

There is so much I did not know about Budapest before we knew we were coming on this trip. I did not realize it is actually two cities divided by the Danube River. Pest, seen here from the Buda side, is on the plain. The Buda side is the "hilly" side. Now, of course, the two cities are combined to be the Budapest we know. Lots of history here, both golden and sad.

Buda is the "hilly" side of the Danube.

On our way over the bridge into Pest....Tom is really little compared to the lion he is standing by.

This is one of the bridges that connects Buda with Pest. It is called the Chain Bridge. If you see a book about bridges, this one will be mentioned.

Our first stop on the first day of our trip to Budapest was a little history lesson given at this monument called "Hero Square". All of these bronze statues are of leaders and heros of Budapest/Hungary.

This is the Budapest Parliment Building. It is on the Pest side but this picture is taken across the Danube on the Buda side. Kinda impressive isn't it. Our guide told us that the wing on the left side is not used at all. The building was built when Budapest had more politicians!

Probably my favorite part of our trip to Budapest...the Dohany Synagogue. It was designed by a Catholic, therefore it looks more like a Catholic church than a Jewish Synagogue...they even make jokes about it being a "Catholic Synagogue".

Out behind the Dohany Synagogue is this weeping willow tree made out of stainless steel and silver. It is called the Holocaust Memorial Tree. The shape of the tree symbolizes a reversed menorah. Each leaf has a name of someone that died during the Holocaust. Tony Curtis, the actor, gave the money to have this tree put up in memory of his Hungarian father that perished. This picture does not do it justice...take my word that it is breath-taking.

The Nazi soldiers took the Jews down to the Danube River and had them take off their clothes and either shot them and then pushed them into the river or they just pushed them into the icy river. This memorial is made up of bronze shoes of all sizes and shapes to remind us of this awful time in the history of the Jewish people in WWII.

This is the market in Pest. If you want meat or fresh veggies, this is the place to go. Upstairs there are places to eat and a bazillion craft shops selling Hungarian crafts largely made in China. It was still fun to walk through, or at least I thought it was!

On the Buda side is this building. It was the Dept. of Defense building during WWII. It was heavily damaged and there was no money to repair it...so it just sits there with its plywood roof. Only the first floor survived and it still shows bullet holes from the war.

This is the palace on the Buda side. It was built by the Hungarian people for Maria Teresia, their ruler, but she lived in Vienna and never moved to Buda. It was never lived in and had very little use. It was bombed in WWII and repaired but still is not used.

Here is the whole gang we are traveling with. We have 16 students, 15 girls and 1 boy...Eric "stands out" where ever we go!

Of course how could I have a blog post without telling you what we ate?! Well here it is...happy little me and my vegetable strudel and Tom with his paprika chicken.