Information Overload

Well, I was up and downstairs ready for the taxi to take us on our tour of Budapest, and then we ran into a setback of not finding one of the recorders. Once we found it, we left the hotel a little after 8 a.m. with Levente, our driver, and Csaba (Chub-ba), our tour guide.  He is absolutely adorable; I would like to stick him in my pocket. He knew so much, more than just the history and had a really great sense of humor. The goal of this trip was to see as much of Budapest in one day as possible, and we did just that.

Levente and Csaba 🙂

First on the agenda was the Citadel where Lady Liberty, which is very similar to our Statue of Liberty, stands. She stands on the highest point in the city, overlooking both Buda and Pest.  She holds an olive branch, which symbolizes freedom, above her head.  Below her used to stand another statue – one from the communist era. This statue now resides in Memento Park.

Lady Liberty.

Being so early, the fog was still low on the city. Looking out over the city with this haze put a new outlook on this beautiful place.

Highest point in the city, with the early morning haze.

We drove over to St. Stephen’s Basilica.  Before going in, we had coffee at a small coffee shop. They literally serve the smallest, small cups. What an American small would be would have been a medium there. Crazy. Outside, we were all drawn to a souvenir cart.  Handcrafted rosaries hung in the windows.  I think everyone purchased at least one of the beautiful rosaries. I decided that I wanted to get one for Madelyn’s baptism, when I get home I intend on having it blessed.

St. Stephen’s Basilica.

Stepping inside the Basilica was difficult. It is the most absolutely amazing Catholic Church I have ever seen. I felt guilty for many reasons. First, I realized that I don’t practice as I once did, and it is clearly out of pure laziness.  Secondly, for thinking I wouldn’t enjoy this part of the tour, seeing as I have seen many churches and have been to other Basilicas. I was wrong; this is nothing like anything I have ever seen. Yes, statues and design were similar, but I have never been in anything so beautiful.

Front alter inside St. Stephen’s Basilica.

Exteme detail inside the St. Steven's Basilica.

Leaving the Basilica, things started to get interesting. I hadn’t planned on having my “time” of the month while on our trip. Although I prepared when packing, I didn’t prepare for this day out. Clearly this 10-hour day wasn’t going to happen if I didn’t make it to a store soon. So piling back into the van, we all try explaining that we need a drug store. Well a drug store for them only carries medicine, so Csaba was trying to figure out what we were looking for. Finally, I shouted, “I need tampons.” The car grew quiet, for a good three seconds, and then Csaba started laughing and said, “It’s OK, I have a girlfriend.” And we zoomed over to the mall, with restrictions that we weren’t here to shop around; the day was too long for us all to get out and shop.

Kelsi heard about this copper shoe memorial and had been mentioned it to the group, so we wanted to make sure we stopped there while in Budapest. What better day than today! We arrived at the Copper Shoes, a memorial sculpture in honor of the Jews that were shot by Arrow Cross militiamen and then pushed into the Danube River in 1944 and 1945.  A great number of lives were lost during that time, and it had a huge impact on the people of Budapest.  The memorial was built in 2005. We asked Csaba if this memorial had any other name, he said everyone just calls it the Copper Shoes.

Copper Shoe memorial on the Pest river bank.

Looking down off the edge, you only saw rocks and water splashing. All I could think about was what the men, women, and children thought looking down and knowing their fate. We visited a lot of places that had sad history because of communist times, but for some reason seeing these shoes – of all sizes – made me try to picture myself in their shoes. Such an impossible thought!

The view looking down off the ledge, at the Copper Shoes memorial.

We traveled outside of the city to Memento Park.  During communist times, statues and sculptures stood all over the city.  Statues have been recovered for the past 22 years.  As you park, and walk up to the entrance of Memento Park, you look behind you and see the only remains one of the largest statues from communist times, Stalin.  The only thing left of his Stature are the boots. The rest of the statue has disappeared and is nowhere to be found.  Csaba said it is possible that the gypsies had stolen the pieces and sold them for money.

The remains of Stalin's statue, outside the entrance of Memento Park.

The entrance into Memento Park.

Statues that have been recovered were placed in Memento Park as a reminder of what Hungary has gone through and a way to celebrate the Hungarians’ freedom from communism.  As we walked up to meet our tour guide at the park, she gave us blue plastic booties, like hospital shoes, to cover our shoes since the ground was so muddy.

Anna flaunting her blue booties.

Our tour guide discussing communism advertising propaganda.

Every aspect of this park has a story, even the layout. I was absolutely blown away by the stories and history.  The entire park is constructed around telling the story of the development, duration, and end to communism in Hungary.  It’s set up into three sections in the shape of a figure “8,” symbolizing infinity, or something that cannot be broken. It is divided down the middle by another path.  When you finish the tour, the last reveal is the celebration of turning to democracy, a brick wall prevents the further progression of communism, and the guide has you turn around to face the entrance.  The boots of Stalin are framed perfectly by the entrance, and the path leads you to democracy.

The path leading to Democracy, exiting the park looking out the perfect window cut frame at Stalin's boots.

Per usual, our group was starving. So we stopped for lunch at Tabáni Terasz, recommended by Csaba. I had goulash soup, rice and fries. By now we are used to service being slower; however, this was unreal. We set aside 45 minutes for lunch, but I am not even sure we had our food by the time Levente and Csaba came back.

Our next stop was a special treat from Csaba, a Turkish thermal bath that is hidden from street view by modern, new buildings.  This bath is one of the oldest in the city and has been restored inside its original building.  There is no heating system for the bath because the thermal water provides all the heat.  This place hasn’t even opened to the public yet. Csaba has a friend that works at the hospital built around it, and thanks to her, we are included in the small portion of people that know it exists.

The oldest Turkish thermal bath hidden inside modern buildings.

One of the pools inside the Turkish bath.

One of the steam rooms inside the Turkish bath.

Next on our list was to head over to the Castle District to see the Fisherman’s Bastion, which overlooks the Danube. This has yet another elaborately detailed church. The Matthias Church is absolutely breathtaking.

The view from the Fisherman's Bastion.

Closer view of the alter inside Matthias Church.

Jenny has been clowning all day. She is getting pretty good with her jokes. She has some stellar knock-knock jokes. Inside the Matthias Church, while we were all looking around, Sheryl, Jenny, and I decided to share these jokes with Csaba. Well, when you mix together jokes as good as Jenny’s, confusion by Csaba, and an obnoxious laugh like mine, naturally you get one angry church watcher. I’m not sure what you would call this lady. She was sitting in a chair and ensuring respect of the church, which we clearly broke. Oops!

We roamed around the Fisherman’s Bastion, while Sheryl went on her hunt for marzipan – candy she has been looking for ALL break. Thankfully she found the store and was able to stock up!

Grand entrance up into the Fisherman's Bastion.

Fisherman's Bastion.

We finally arrived at Heroes Square, which is a huge square in the middle of the city with massive, ornate statues of the saints and kings of Budapest.  We wondered to each individual statue to hear their importance, and the legacy they left behind.

Heroes Square monument.

We also witnessed an accident while visiting Heroes Square. I knew it was inevitable with the driving here in Budapest, but when I asked around, it seems that they are all used to the craziness and accidents aren’t any more prominent here than in America.

Across the street from Heroes Square is the Vajdahunyad Castle, which hosts not only Europe’s largest ice-skating rink, but also the statue of Anonymous, who was a famous writer back in the day and liked to remain unknown.  It is said that if you touch the pen in his hand, you will become a good writer.  So naturally we all took a picture with him, and before leaving, we made sure to touch his pen. It is a very intimidating statue, with the lack of sunlight; his face was shadowed, making it appear that a face didn’t exist.

Vajdahunyad Castle, the ice rink is under construction at this time.

Anonymous, inside City Park.

Our final stop was at the Széchenyi Bath, which is one of the largest spas in Europe. Csaba highly recommended it.

On our drive we passed the circus.  Probably one of the most exciting looking circus’ that I have seen, not only just a circus, but there were also carnival rides. The Grand Circus is the only only permanent circus in Central Europe. This would have been a very exciting place to visit – if only we had more time in Budapest.

Széchenyi Turkish bath.

The Grand Circus.

Levente took us straight from our tour to dinner at Fátal on Vaci Street.  Marta was joining us, bringing six Hungarian students who are studying communications.  It was so fun discussing our experiences with them, and we took turns explaining a little about our lives.

I spent dinner getting to know Linda. We had amazing conversations comparing and contrasting school and our lifestyle. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had such a down-to-earth conversation like this. I think a lot of it has to do with needing to be more detail-oriented because we didn’t know each other. She spoke fluent English, since she travels a lot for gymnastics. I truly hope that we can stick to our plans to meet up again.

Kelsi, Molly, and Anna all left to hit up a ruin pub with one of the students. Jenny and I stayed to continued swapping stories with the remaining five. Most of the Hungarian students were commuters, but when we say commuters at Ball State, we mean they live in a 60-mile radius. These students traveled three hours to and from school. I didn’t want to leave dinner, I could have stayed and talked with these students forever. However, Sheryl wasn’t OK with that idea, and after the bill was paid we parted ways. The Hungarians students had a ways to go to get home that night.

Walking back to the hotel at night was wonderful! The breeze was nice, and it wasn’t too cold.

Viewing all of Budapest and the history really puts a new light on the city I have been in for the past week. This city is beautiful and I encourage anyone who can take a trip abroad to visit. One thing I learned today on the tour is that through all the hardships and war, Budapest is a very proud city, honoring and remembering the fallen.

I am beyond exhausted; thankfully we get to sleep in.  Tomorrow brings the zoo, a free afternoon, and a smorgasbord dinner at Trofea!

Goodnight world!