A Girl in a Soviet Era Car
Here we are, day 2 in Budapest. You may have noticed, no blog posting on Friday morning for Thursday because we spent the entire day with our guide Zoltan, walking around Budapest, taking the underground and city bus. There goes Karen, Carla, Mike and Zoltan leading the way.
Our walking tour began in Pest, where we are staying. The good news is Pest is on flat ground whereas Buda is mountainous, so the walk was not difficult...just follow Zoltan!
Our first stop was the statue of 'The Paul Street Boys'. These statues are from the book by that name which is a childhood classic in Hungary and Zoltan said that all school children are required to read it. Carla and Karen read it before we came here so it was fun to see them. Here the boys are playing marbles while the hoodlums watch.
We continued walking around with Zoltan pointing out interesting buildings and things that happened in the neighborhood. We stopped to enjoy the architecture of the largest Jewish temple in Europe.
We walked around to the side and looked into the courtyard. We saw many headstones leaning up against a garden and Zoltan told us that at the end of World War II approximately 2200 bodies were found there and in the neighborhood. Half of the bodies couldn't be identified but they were all buried there. He pointed out to us that Jewish Temples do not usually have graveyards, but there are 3 temples in the world who do have them and this is one of them.
Next we stopped at a Ruin Bar. These are old buildings that are really a mess but the owners are required to rebuild them according to what they origionally were, but that takes a lot of money, permits, and research, so the owners just clean them out, make them safe, and open a bar in them.
We stopped in for refreshment and enjoyed meeting a little girl who spoke English and Hungarian. After Bill struck up a conversation with her, Carla and Karen sat down in the backseat and began talking with her. Carla said Hungarian can't be that difficult if a 3-yr old can learn it -ya, right! The car was a WWII soviet era car.
After our break, we headed to the other side of the Danube, Buda. To get there, we hopped on the soviet era underground then a city bus arriving Buda at 1:30 pm - time for lunch at a Hungarian restaurant.
Zoltan picked the place because we told him we wanted to eat where locals eat, not tourists. Everyone loved their food and the ambiance.
After lunch we stopped for a pastry and then the Matthias Church and Fishermans Bastion.
Karen was the only one who wanted to go into the church so Zoltan took her in while the others enjoyed the views. Karen really enjoyed the beauty of the church's interior but she was especially surprised to hear an orchestra and chorus practicing for a concert. The acoustics inside were so wonderful that the music was especially beautiful.
We walked around Buda Castle Hill some more and enjoyed more views until we decided our feet were aching, so it was time to go back to the hotel. Looks like Disney, but it's real.
As we waited for the bus, Zoltan pointed out a nice building across the street that had been his childhood home. We truly had a chance to see Zoltan's Budapest.
Dinner was at a small, family owned Hungarian restaurant where we ate some traditional food. The food and service was outstanding and we enjoyed live harp music.
Once back at Hotel Palazza Zichy, we printed our boarding passes and 'crashed' after walking nearly 8 hrs with only a couple of rest stops. Tomorrow (Friday) we fly to Venice and needed to be ready for the taxi at 7 am.
Our first stop was the statue of 'The Paul Street Boys'. These statues are from the book by that name which is a childhood classic in Hungary and Zoltan said that all school children are required to read it. Carla and Karen read it before we came here so it was fun to see them. Here the boys are playing marbles while the hoodlums watch.
We continued walking around with Zoltan pointing out interesting buildings and things that happened in the neighborhood. We stopped to enjoy the architecture of the largest Jewish temple in Europe.
We walked around to the side and looked into the courtyard. We saw many headstones leaning up against a garden and Zoltan told us that at the end of World War II approximately 2200 bodies were found there and in the neighborhood. Half of the bodies couldn't be identified but they were all buried there. He pointed out to us that Jewish Temples do not usually have graveyards, but there are 3 temples in the world who do have them and this is one of them.
Next we stopped at a Ruin Bar. These are old buildings that are really a mess but the owners are required to rebuild them according to what they origionally were, but that takes a lot of money, permits, and research, so the owners just clean them out, make them safe, and open a bar in them.
This one was very large and ecclectically decorated.
We stopped in for refreshment and enjoyed meeting a little girl who spoke English and Hungarian. After Bill struck up a conversation with her, Carla and Karen sat down in the backseat and began talking with her. Carla said Hungarian can't be that difficult if a 3-yr old can learn it -ya, right! The car was a WWII soviet era car.
After our break, we headed to the other side of the Danube, Buda. To get there, we hopped on the soviet era underground then a city bus arriving Buda at 1:30 pm - time for lunch at a Hungarian restaurant.
Zoltan picked the place because we told him we wanted to eat where locals eat, not tourists. Everyone loved their food and the ambiance.
After lunch we stopped for a pastry and then the Matthias Church and Fishermans Bastion.
They overlook the Danube and the Pest side with great views.
Karen was the only one who wanted to go into the church so Zoltan took her in while the others enjoyed the views. Karen really enjoyed the beauty of the church's interior but she was especially surprised to hear an orchestra and chorus practicing for a concert. The acoustics inside were so wonderful that the music was especially beautiful.
We walked around Buda Castle Hill some more and enjoyed more views until we decided our feet were aching, so it was time to go back to the hotel. Looks like Disney, but it's real.
As we waited for the bus, Zoltan pointed out a nice building across the street that had been his childhood home. We truly had a chance to see Zoltan's Budapest.
Dinner was at a small, family owned Hungarian restaurant where we ate some traditional food. The food and service was outstanding and we enjoyed live harp music.
Once back at Hotel Palazza Zichy, we printed our boarding passes and 'crashed' after walking nearly 8 hrs with only a couple of rest stops. Tomorrow (Friday) we fly to Venice and needed to be ready for the taxi at 7 am.
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