Budapest Day 3: The Jewels

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Plan for the Day
We finally slept a full night last night and it was difficult to get up at 7:30AM - good sign! Today we plan on visiting the Parliament and Hungary's Crown Jewels. We also plan on going to one of the Baths in the city since a visit to Budapest would not be complete without it.


Parliament and the Crown Jewels
It's not good to be an American if you want to see the crown jewels! Since May 1 visiting Parliament is free for EU Citizens which means the only other predominant tourist groups - Americans and Japanese - pay a $15 per person penalty to visit. Fortunately it was well worth the money as the Parliament was very impressive. The crown jewels were beautiful as well but they are not special for their quantity but for their age and uniqueness as they are composed of only the crown, sceptre, orb, and sword. Forget seeing any oversized shiny jewels.

The Parliament itself, modeled after the English Parliament, is also a 19th Century structure but this last fact is forgivable because of how well the building is executed. This was clearly our favorite building so far.


Walkabout
We spent the rest of the day walking about, particulary Vaci Street in Pest which is the most popular pedestrian area and is known for being a place for scams and tourist traps. We saw none of that but there are two McDonald's and one Burger King within two square blocks . . . if that is any indication. We didn't visit the baths today so that is relegated to tomorrow morning.

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Photos

Parliament up Close . . .
with a nice fourgonette getting sniffed out by a dog in the foreground.

Charnging of the Guards . . .
for the crown jewels, they had swords an everything!

The Crown Jewels
If you look at the crown carefully, it has a slightly tilted cross on the summit, then look at the Hungarian Coat of Arms elsewhere and it has been reproduced as such. The crown was somehow damaged at some point and so it has been incorporated into its character . . . silly!

Couple Goofs in the Dome
In the Parliament where the crown jewels are. The guys with the swords weren't doing much to maintain order.

Parliament's Chamber
Two identical rooms like England's but now they only have one house, so they pick the one based on the Prime Minister's mood that day - j/k!

Couple of Hungry Hungarians
Not really, but the joke had to be made for your benefit. We might not know what its like to be Hungarians but after all this walking we for sure are hunger-arians (that was Jennifer's joke people).

Comments

[Pat]

Is it cold?
Hey guys, Emmanuel has a jacket on at the restaurant. Is it cold over there? Cats are fine. Are you getting these comments? Pat

[Jessica H.]

So jealous...
We are all so jealous of the beautiful sites that you are enjoying! We can't wait to hear more about it when you come back to work! -Cube Farm

[The Steiners]

Cold!
Yes it's very cold, the temperature dropped to everyone's surprise in Ro, H, and Bg a few days ago. THe forecasts before we left and even when we arrived had said 70's and instead its been in the high 50's.