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Published: November 17th 2007
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We arrived in Budapest the day before their Independence day. In 1956, while under communist rule, students protested the government and were masicured. People where jailed at the Terror house for years based on pure suspicion.
Hungarians are not too happy with the current Prime minister, so on their Independence day this year, they gathered with holy flags (the Hungarian flag with the communist symbol cut out that has been popular since the revolution began). These are people that have suffered in the hands of the Nazis and commis. They have had little to no peace throughout their history, so when they don't agree with something, they fight.
As an American, I respect their fight. We get so comfortable in our day to day lives. We complain and grip, but don't act. Hungarians gathered in a park with their flags and it was quit inspiring.
Our first night in Budapest was spend in a bar in an abandoned building. These bars are common in Budapest. The jewish quarter is full of beautiful old buildings that are slowly decaying. Since the jewish population was persecuted so heavily during both the German and Soviet occupancy, the quarter is nearly abandoned.
National Opera House
This is where we saw Marriage of Figarro! While the government decides what to do with the buildings, people invade the buildings and set up these semi-temporary bars.
We met a group of Hungarian boys and showed them how to play beer pong. Later in the week the boys took us to one of the famous Hungarian baths in a park and to a traditional Hungarian diner (yumm gulash!).
Michelle and I fell in love with Budapest. The baths are amazing. We visited one in a glamorous hotel, and another open aired bath at a park. We planed on staying in Budapest a couple of days, but ended up staying for over a week. Some friends we made in Krakow and Prague came to meet us in Budapest later in the week and we showed them the sites as "experts". 😊
I HAVE to mention Menza. Menza is a restaurant down the street from our hostel. Menza translates to "cafeteria", but there is nothing cafeteria about their food. The restaurant is decorated in a 50s retro type style and the food is AMAZING. We went to Menza almost on a daily basis. The wait staff was used to seeing us there... and one of us
Me and Tom2
PS... forgot to mention that Hungarian men are usually very attractive. Michelle and I were in heaven. had a bit of a crush on one of the non-English speaking waiter... I'm not naming any names.... Michelle (side note: she wrote him love notes on the receipts). Some of our dishes included pumpkin soup, bacon wrapped chicken, pumpkin risotto, cabbage-ground pork casserole lasagna thingy typically Hungarian, potato-sausage Hungarian thingy, blue cheese soup, garlic soup, and much more!
One night, after some cocktails at Menza, Michelle and I walked down a side street and into a random basement bar. We walked into this particular bar because a 1664 beer sign was posted, and that happens to be one of my favorite beers at the moment. It was an interesting experience to say the least. The bar was in an old building's basement. We walked into a room full of men with slicked back hair and leather jackets. All eye were on us. The waiter played the violin and his friend played the chelo. The played interesting songs (like the Godfather song!). There was an older man in the corner with a ponytail. Judging from all of my mobster movie watching experience (which is quit extensive I will say) I KNEW we were in a Mafia bar. Michelle was
clueless, as she has never watched ANY Mafia movies (who is she??). Michelle and I just smiled and made small talk with our new found friends. The next morning we asked the owners of our hostel if there is a Hungarian mafia, and they confirmed. I'll never forget it... we survived! hehehehe
We did the tourist sites as well. We visited Statue Park, which is a park with all the Commi statues. We also visited the Terror Museum. The Terror Museum is the place where I got most emotional on the whole trip. This building was used by the Soviets and the Nazis as a prison. It was simply passed along from Communist rule, to Nazi rule, to Communist rule again. People where tortured here and kept for years for simply disagreeing with their government (or suspect to). Videos are shown of German concentration camps and of people who were sent to labor camps by the Soviets AFTER WWII (was I the only one who did not know this went on?). There is also a basement with the cells of these "prisoners" and videos of survivors. One woman explained how she got home after being detained for 3 years
and her young son had no idea who she was. The amount of suffering these people have endured is mind blowing. In Krakow I saw evidence of suffering as well. As I see older people in Hungry I feel an enormous amount of respect for them.
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Bettina
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Lovin' Budapest!
Oh... falling in love with Budapest - I know exactly what you mean! I couldn't help devoting a couple of recent posts to it too!! http://www.europetrotter.org/