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Published: January 6th 2011
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So I've now been in Budapest for two days.
Despite absolutely loathing the place when we first arrived (mostly due to finding hairs in my bed, the sheets not reaching the length of the bed, me catching Liz's cold, the food being revolting and it being bloody freezing), Budapest has surely grown on me. In fact I've grown to love the city.
The architecture is unbelievable, ranging from ancient Roman buildings through to Habsburg palaces and bland Soviet blocks. There are some amazing mansions dotted along the main boulevard that are kind of creepy but fascinating at the same time. Some elements of the city really remind me of London... and if you know me well you'd know how much I adore London.
Once again, Ella and I decided to cram as much as we could into the day. We planned it to a T and got up early to catch the train into the Heroes Memorial, a memorial built to commemorate the victims of WW1 and WW2, as well as the victims of the Soviet rule (who ran Hungary up until the 1989 and slaughtered anyone who went against their rule... even peaceful protesters). From here we
had a quick look at the Art Gallery that had a Klimt exhibition showing, had a coffee in an antique coffee shop situated in one of the creepy buildings I was previously talking about and then headed to the Terror Museum.
The Terror Museum is situated in the building that housed the Gestapo HQ when the Nazis occupied Hungary, and then became the home of the Soviet rulers when they took the reigns after 'liberating' them after WW2. It was quite a sorrowful experience, especially when we were lead down into the dungeons where thousands of innocent victims were hanged for minimal, if any, crimes. The spookiest part of the Museum was when we were lead into the execution room. As we walked through the door frame there was a sudden drop in temperature. Ella and I had to retract and stood half way between each room and there seriously was a distinct drop in temperature as soon as we entered the slaughter chamber. CREEPY!!!
We needed some warming up after this, so we headed towards the centre of town and walked past a SUBWAY!! Enough said. We went in and it was decided what we were having
The tank@ Terror Museum
as a part of the Victims memorial for lunch. When we were standing in line, the girl before us had an Aussie accent. So I said to her 'You sound remarkably Aussie' and then we talked for over an hour! Haha. Her boyfriend and her were very excited to meet some Aussies and were keen to talk.
After lunch we went to St. Stephen's Basilica which houses the mummified arm of St Stephen, Hungary's first king. From here we checked out the Opera House and then headed back towards the Danube River and found a delicious coffee shop with HUGE coffees. We then headed to the Marketplace and book thousands of Forints worth of fruit to set us up for days. YUMMMM!!!!
Some other things we checked out: Fisherman's Bastion, Elizabeth Bridge, Parliament and the Chain Bridge (built by the Brits after the city was blown to smithereens by the Nazis as they retreated.
So we are now back at the hostel and ready to head on to Krakow, Poland through Slovakia.
Until then, Lex xxxx
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Elly
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Weeeooooo!!
I'm so impressed with the amount you are cramming in to your journey! It's fantastic you are getting so much out of it. Sounds amazing! Keep on blogging so I can keep on reading! x