Day two in Budapest

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Another little bit of worthless information for your next trivial pursiut night for you.Hungary is situated in Eastern Europe but is their laguange Eastern European???Well,no it is not!!The language which is totally incomprehensible to English speaking people like us actually is a Finno-Ugric language going back to the Neolithic age from the Urals.So store that in your nec ktop computer for the next challenge down the pub on a Tuesday night!!
Its another beautiful day(we hope we aren't boring you Southern Hempishere people coming out of a wet and cold winter)but the change in the weather last night has taken the heat out of the day and its likely to only get to 25C today so it should be much more comfortable for sightseeing.
The road outside the hotel is quiet for a change and being Sunday there are not the people around like on Friday afternoon and Saturday.Whether we will be able to buy a train ticket given that the shops are shut on the way up to the station though is going to be an interesting one for us.We don't want to have to argue it out with the buxom train inspector lady if we have to get on the train without a ticket.
However that is the way it is going to have to be as the newsagent is closed and of course there is no ticket machine on the station platform.So we boarded the train without a ticket............and waited for the ticket inspector to get on and ask for our ticket!!
Thankfully it seems like the train inspector takes Sunday off or has slept in because we made it to the city without a ticket and no one checked us!!
However we did buy a day pass at the railway station as our intended plan for sightseeing today was going to take us out to the suburbs and then around the inner city.At HUF1550 each or about €6 is a cheap way of getting about as you can use all forms of transport except the funicular which we rode yesterday anyway.
First port of call today is Memento Park where many of the statues from the communist years have been taken and reassembled as a tourist attraction.The only small problem the park is in an outer suburb requiring a tram ride and then a switch to a bus.However the guidebook we have is quite detailed as to how we get there and we found the tram quite simply.So the first leg should be a breeze.
There aren't many people around at all and almost all of the people on the streets seem to be tourists identifiable by those stopping and taking photos of this very photogenic city!!
Across from us on the tram were a group of 4 British women who we figured were spending a long weekend in Budapest and from the guidebook they were reading were heading for the same attraction as us.This gave us a more confidence that we were on the right tram.
Gretchen ticked off the tram stops as we proceeded but then suddenley we stopped at one that wasn't on the list.Had we passed what we wanted to get off??The British woman were still seated but we to get off only to find as the tram departed that we had got off too early!!!Never mind another tram came along and we took that one but it turned off in another direction.help,it was turning to custard.So we got off that tram and walked over to a series of bus stops to find the #150 bus that we needed!!!We only had to wait a short time and the bus came along and a couple of stops down the road the British women from the first tram got on the bus.They looked at us and must have wondered how we were on the bus before it got to them!!!
The bus wandered through the suburbs taking half an hour to get to the park which was out near the city boundary.
The park itself was a bit of a let down with the grounds not really laid out that well with no pathways making for easy walking.The statues themselves were interesting though and seeing them out in the middle of nowhere made them look even more grotesque than they probably did when they occupied a sqaure or park in the city somewhere.Interestingly most of the statues,although they look solid and heavy,are actually made of a lightweight material and were hollow.
An hour was enough for us and we were off back to town for a bite of lunch before tackling the hill where the Liberty statue stands. We found a bakery and so could avoid McD's next door.However we were tempted by the yummy sweets in the cabinet and opted for a chocolate sponge that was absolutely delicious.
So Gretchen was determined to walk the calories off and lead me up the winding path to the Liberty Statue high above the Danube.From here the view was magnificent up and down the river and as far to the east as the city seemed to go.
By the time we reached the top perspiration was pouring off both of us and we could have done with a cold one to quench our thirst.Looking around almost all of the other dozens of people up there who looked like they had arrived by some other means than the direct route straight up as we did.Seems we could have got there by bus and avoided the sweat!!!!
We caught a tram across the river seeking out the Jewish quarter and the second largest synagogue in Europe and the old Jewish cemetary in which many Jews killed during WW2 in the Ghetto are buried.We found it all after a bit of walking and also took in the memorial to all those who died in WW2.Unfortunately the gates to the memorial were closed so we had to make do with photos through the gate bars.
The last site we wanted to take in was Liberty Square where the last statue erected during communist rule still stands.It is set in an attractive park with many classical building surrounding the park.The statue commenerates the Russian soldiers killed at the end of WW2 liberating the city.Perhaps the people of Budapest feel that the Russians should be allowed to have this one left standing in their 'free' city and although Hungary took the side of the Axis at the start of the war,the Nazis effectively took the place when the locals decided that they didn't want National Socialism any more,and they were probably relieved when the Red Army arrived in 1945.
On the way to the Metro subway for the ride under the river to the rail station we passed by the statue of Imre Nagy,Prime Minister at the time of the 1956 uprising when thousands of Hungarians,mainly young people,were hilled when they tried to get rid of the communists.Russian tanks and soldiers put down the uprising at the cost of over 25000 lives and communism continued for another 33 years.The city and country is certainly making up for it now with signs of western society everywhere.
It had been a good day out but we were pleased to be homw and stocked up at Teson Express with cold beers to revive us once we got back to the hotel.
Even though we only had two full days here we think we have seen all that we wanted to in Budapest and will be ready to head soth tomorrow.

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Comments

[Rin]

Budapest
*lol* at your photos from the Statue Park. You shoulda got Midget Ma to stand next to that massive Commie soldier holding the flag to show how HUGE he is! Big ups for making it to the top of the hill to the Liberty Statue as well! I remember looking at that from down beside the river and thinking it would be cool to go up there but flagging it at the idea of sweating my a$$ off up that massive hill! :-)

[Leebee]

Statue Park
Thats funny...we had assumed that the statue park was still under construction when we visited almost exactly two years ago...the statues were all there but no signs about what they were and no paths linking them all. Good to see that you couldnt resist the temptation (like us!) to do silly poses with the statues!