I arrived in Budapest just after the election and with the change in Government evidently came a change in passport control. Most of Orban’s cronies must have had jobs in the passport operation as only one remained to process hundreds of us.
An any who has visited knows, Buda and Pest is lovely city with Pest being subordinate despite the fact that it is 5x larger. But as my walking tour guide noted , there are 2 types of people in Budapest: those who live in Buda and those who want to live in Buda. My hotel wa in Pest.
Unsurprisingly Budapest reminds one of Paris, after which it was modeled in the late 18th century tho I think it less formal and a little livelier. But beautiful with the brown Danube intersecting it-
It is a city known for its statuary, grand and petite, as well as sometimes whimsical-
Yes Kermit the Frog.
It admires an American President as one helped bring down the Soviet empire and helped Hungary gain its freedom-
It seems totally dedicated to convivial drinking as I think if you walk down the sidewalk and trip and fall down you will land in a cafe full of people.
Not all of Budapest is light and festive however as they have various museums and exhibitions dedicated to the terrible Nazi and Communist periods including this one showing the shoes of Jews who were tossed in the freezing Danube minus shoes in the winter of 1945-
Moving.
The Hungarian Parliament building is one of the largest parliaments in the world- from the glory days of the Hapsburg Empire- and arguably the most beautiful (sorry Westminster)-
It is good to have aspirations. Just a beautiful and fun city and my last stop on the RTW tour. One final post to wrap it all up.
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