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Published: November 13th 2007
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The totally captivating view
This has been one of the best views of the trip, I spend more time looking at the view and less time watching where I'm going, I really should apologize to all those people I nearly bumped into. Yep fallen on my feet again, the hostel that I booked turned out to be a good one and the location is even better, now if only I came here when it was a little warmer. At least there is no snow so far although there was a little bit of sleet while up visiting the statues.
After yesterday's late arrival and aimless wonder around town, today was comrade day. A visit to Momento Park where the remains of the Communist dictatorship are in the form of all the public statues that used to be around Budapest. The most fascinating part (once you know the history) is Stalin's boots, the symbol of the revolution that ended the Communist era. To round off comrade day a trip to the Terror Haza or House of Terror was next.
OK move this one up your list of things to see in Budapest, it's a great snapshot of Hungary's history. This unfortunate address has housed both the Arrow Cross Party (Hungary's version of the Third Reich responsible for incredible atrocities against the Jews) and the State Security Office in it's three different guises. There's no shortage of really graphic footage to reminds you
of the things that occurred. Likewise there are informative handouts in English along the way for you to take and read later (saves spending the bucks on the commentary).
The interesting part of the Museum is that along with being a memorial to the victims of the the events that took place, it also lists all the victimisers, ie all of those people that were responsible for afflicting the terror. During the mid 1940's the Soviet Security forces were kind enough to send around 700 000 Hungarians to the GULAG in the Soviet Union as prisoners, where they got to eat 400 grams of bread a day and work in -42 C weather, 300 000 people didn't make the trip back home to Hungary.
In the late 1940's and early 1950's the various guises of the Hungarian State Security Authorities deported, interned and watched it's citizens. Not to mention tortured, sent them to trial and hanged a good proportion of them, but enough of the brief history lesson.
The trusty guidebook for Eastern Europe mentions all the usual sights to see plus a couple of hazards to be wary of. So far the trip has been relative
hassle free with me strolling the streets at all hours and not having any problems. This all ended last night when I was on my way home after a nice pizza at a little Italian joint. It's more than a casual observation that during this trip there has been more Italian meals then any of the local cuisine. But back to the story, here I am walking along the street with my best I'm a tourist but don't mess with me, cause I'm too tired to run and it's all too hard to beat you up before you knife me walk about me. When out of the shadows I hear a voice in another language that I have absolutely no command of. It must have been the shrug of the total disinterest that made her speak in English. Excuse me, I'm lost and I'm looking for a good beer pub said the impressive looking blonde in the fur fringed coat with one of those nice european accents. OK so I show half an interest now, do you have a map she says I can show you where the pub is I'm looking for, but remembering the guidebook's warning about attractive
The Terror Haza
One of the most impressive museums that I've strolled around. It's moments like this that there's a sudden realisation that I know nothing about modern history. women trying to whisk you off to an overpriced pub where you get to buy them a hyperinflated priced drink not knowing the price until the goon at the door politely asks you to pay, I walked off, besides that she was standing out the front of a pub, like she's kidding isn't she trying the I'm lost take me to a pub routine, really, now if she had said wine bar it may have been another story.
It's my final day in Budapest and this little sojourn is about to come to a grinding halt with the real world and gainful employment calling in a few days. As it's my last day, Budapest decided to really turn on the weather today to ensure that it was memorable. It seems to be a bit of a trend that on the final day in a destination the weather turns out to be a shocker. There was that sudden burst of wind and hail the moment we stepped of the train and had to walk outside to catch a bus to the airport in Prague, the snow in Bratislava and now the Arctic winds and rain in Budapest. So there was
Come fly with me
We maintain our planes better then our signs only one thing for it, go for a walk and take in a couple of the last remaining sites, like the covered market. Well I did get all excited about nothing, lots of fruit, veges, meat and more fish swimming around in tanks then at Seaworld. It's one of those things over here, you go to a fish shop and they have all their fish swimming around in tanks. The same thing in the Tesco at Prague, certainly gives the impression that they are fresh, except for those specially talented ones that were doing backstroke.
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