About 4am, the large amount sleeping caught up with me. That & I realized that the Cal vs. Tennessee football game was underway. So I dragged myself out of bed & headed downstairs. I broke down & spent $10 for an hour of the internet, during which time I connected to my Sling Box (which has been used sparingly in the last couple of years). For those not familiar with the technology, the Sling Box lets you stream TV content (such as the output from my Tivo unit at home) across the internet (to your laptop computer). And it also lets me control my Tivo remotely. So, even though the game had been going for about 2 hours, I was able to jump back to the beginning of the game & watch it from there. I fast-forwarded through a lot & actually made it to the beginning of the 4th quarter (before my time & energy was running out). And as the Bears were winning (somewhat comfortably), I figured it was it safe to go back to bed. Turns out they eventually won. But the really cool thing was to be able to watch the game in the middle of the night, 6,000 miles away. It’s still one of those technological marvels that amaze me.
After we eventually got up (Charlie had a bit of my initial jet lag/coma) & out the door, we set off to see sights along a major route called “Andrassy Ut”. By a stroke of dumb luck, we happened upon a sightseeing bus that was headed for “Statue Park”. Previously, we discussed going there, but weren’t sure how that would work out logistically, so it was pretty cool to literally walk right onto the bus & head out there.
Statue Park is a collection of several of the communist era statues (that became obsolete, passé or reviled) after Hungary regained independence. Unfortunately, the statue of Stalin got mostly destroyed awhile back, but many of the other Communist Era “rock stars” were well-represented. Some of the statues were impressively large. I think it’s nice that they’ve been preserved. Some of the statues were are quite impressive. It may be an era of history Hungarian would just as soon forget, but didn’t someone say something like, “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.”
We returned from Statue Park & set off on Andrassy Ut. We toured St. Istvan’s (Istvan = STEVEN to you non-saints) Basilica (nice church, great view from the tower), then found our way to the “Museum of Terror”. This might sound like a place that features ghost, zombies & thrill rides (ala Disney’s “Tower of Terror”). Yet actually, it documents the “twin terrors” Hungary has faced in the past century (e.g. the Nazis & the Communists). The museum is located in what were both the Nazi’s Secret Police Headquarters and later the Communist’s Secret Police Headquarters. The basement (which has been reconstructed) housed the cells and other torture rooms, which included a small, darkened closet (where they would be no way to do anything but stand). All in all, it was a very interesting glimpse into life under oppression. But it was safe to say it was not exactly a “fun experience”.
After that, we worked our way through the vagueries of the metro to travel out to City Park. We didn’t have enough time to enjoy the famous Szechenyi Baths (although we did look through the window & saw all sorts of Hungarian enjoying them). We toured through a recreation of castle (Vajdahunyad Castle) that housed a couple of museums (which we skipped) and watched a local man & his Hungarian Pointer (Viczla?) play an energetic game of “fetch the stick” (from the castle’s moat).
We walked through the rest of the park & ended up at Heroes’ Square (with statues of many of the great heroes of Hungarian history). This, along with many other important buildings, was built for the 1896 celebration of Budapest’s millennium (which should have happened in 1895, but they couldn’t get ready in time!)
Somehow in all this excitement, we forgot about lunch. So after we made our way back on the metro to the main shopping district, we plopped down at a café and had a very late lunch. It’s a great place to “people watch”. Then after a long overdue nap back at the hotel (and some unsuccessful attempts at establishing an internet connection, we went out for a late dinner (once again, in the main shopping district) & then walked all the way up to the Hungarian Parliament building. It would seem that the events of past years have had an impact on their security…looks like the barricades were erected quickly, as the single low-hanging chain from post to post didn’t provide much security. It’s an impressive complex of buildings from the outside & was well flood-lit (a regular occurrence in Budapest, as fountains, churches & many buildings get this treatment).
A long, but successful day of tourism.
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