June 7, 2012
While in Vienna, Devin and I decided a day trip to Budapest was in order.
Why?
Because. That's why.
Buda Pest
The name Budapest is a combination of the city names "Buda" and "Pest" - Buda on the West side of the Danube River and Pest across the bridges to the East. They joined forces back in 1873.
We took a bus from Vienna to Budapest and used public transportation once there.
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The Great Synagogue...
...is the largest Jewish house of worship in the world outside New York City and can seat 3,000!
The Holocaust Memorial - stands over the mass graves of people killed by the Nazis in 1944-45.
On the leaves of the metal tree are the family names of some of the 400,000 victims.
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We did a lot of walking around the city, but realized we'd never be able to see as much as we wanted to by foot. So, we decided to grab a "hop on hop off" tour bus to get to the sites we were interested in.
View of "Pest" from Castle Hill
"You know where we are? Really Devin? Really?"
The Trabant - an East German car that made it's way to Hungary. I think it's cute.
That said, it's on the TIME list of the 50 worst cars of all time:
This is the car that gave Communism a bad name. Powered by a two-stroke pollution generator that maxed out at an ear-splitting 18 hp, the Trabant was a hollow lie of a car constructed of recycled worthlessness (actually, the body was made of a fiberglass-like Duroplast, reinforced with recycled fibers like cotton and wood). A virtual antique when it was designed in the 1950s, the Trabant was East Germany's answer to the VW Beetle — a "people's car," as if the people didn't have enough to worry about. Trabants smoked like an Iraqi oil fire, when they ran at all, and often lacked even the most basic of amenities, like brake lights or turn signals. But history has been kind to the Trabi. Thousands of East Germans drove their Trabants over the border when the Wall fell, which made it a kind of automotive liberator. Once across the border, the none-too-sentimental Ostdeutschlanders immediately abandoned their cars. Ich bin Junk!
- Time.com
At a cafe along the wall of Castle Hill.
We enjoyed the most expensive espresso we've ever had - but the view more than made up for it!
Parliament
Me and Matthias Church
Budapest and the Danube from Gellert Hill - a 235m-high rocky hill just south of the Castle District.
Hungarian Natioanl Gallery within the Royal Palace
Parliament - again.
I loved this sculpture/statue.
-Gerbeaud-
According to Lonely Planet: This is the most famous of the famous cafes in Budapest - bar none. Founded in 1858, it has been a fashionable meeting place for the city's elite on the northern side of Pest's busiest square since 1870. A visit is mandatory.
So we went.
This McLaren MP4-12C was parked outside a posh hotel we walked by on our way to the subway.
Awesome.
And that ended our day in Hungary! The next morning we left for Paris...
We had such a lovely day in Budapest! We didn't have time to see half of what we wanted, but it was enough to get a taste and to know that we'll have to go back. Who's coming with us?!?
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