Aaah! We slept in very late; so great not to be in a hurry any longer. Hit the breakfast buffet, then out for the day. We took the metro (2nd oldest in the world) down to the Parliament building, which is an incredibly beautiful structure, designed by the man who came in second place in the contest to design the German parliament (the winner of that designed the Reichstag). Built of limestone and on muddy ground, it had to be incredibly reinforced to prevent sinking.
After we snapped every possible angle with our cameras, (you will see more later from the other side!) we headed down to the river banks to see the Shoe Memorial, which honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank.
A tremendously impactful sight.
We then hopped on the #2 tram,
cited by National Geographic as one of the most scenic tram rides in the world. It wound its way all along the banks of the Danube, and we really enjoyed our first tram ride. Could we stay on at the end of the line, or would we be kicked off? We thought the latter, as the car emptied and the conductor came out towards us. But he broke into a run for the other end of the car, where he plopped himself down and started us back into the other direction. Definitely good for a laugh!
Our stop was near the #7 dock, and before we boarded a riverboat for a 90 minute cruise up the river, around Margaret Island, and back again, we strolled the Via Utca, supposedly a lovely street for shopping and sitting in a cafe. However, totally touristy, so we had a coffee at the Buddha Bar Hotel and trotted over to the dock. I enjoyed the boat tour, and found it fascinating to hear the history of the castles, churches, buildings and bridges as well as how the 3 towns of Buda, Pest and Obuda were united in 1873 to form Budapest. Their Elizabeth Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was built. Everything was so European picturesque – hard to know the best angle to capture it all, so I tried them all!
We disembarked at Margaret Island, named for the daughter of King Bela IV. After being ravaged by the Mongols 1241-1242, the King promised his daughter to God if only the Mongols would never return. She lived with the nuns at the convent on the island for most of her life, and as ??? would have it, the Mongols never returned. Anyway, we rented a silly bicycle cart (Stacey, remember Aspen?) and pedaled around the island,
giggling most of the time. No adjustable seat, so I kept slipping off. Stopped for photos of the convent ruins, beautiful gardens, the water tower and the lovely fountain and its show. I have a video of that which I will post after I’m home.
This tree looks like a hand to me:
Returned the bike and boarded the boat after 90 minutes and headed back to the dock. It was a lot of fun, except for losing my sunglasses somewhere along the way. But so much better than my camera!!!
Time to wander for a while. Up from the dock and thinking of walking back over to see St. Stephen’s Basilica in the daylight. Checking the historical signage, I see that in addition to squares and churches, there is a confectionery shop listed! My Sherlock-ian deductive powers intuit a pretty special candy store if it’s listed with icons of the past, so I assure Lance that it’s my genetic imperative to check out what that’s all about. We stumble into a lovely, large square, with booths of crafts and sausages, and we walk past an ice cream stand. Now, Lance is a total ho for ice cream, so I decide to check this out. It says it’s homemade and looks to be pretty good. I offer, but he demurs, saying he doesn’t want any. I really don’t believe that, so I order 3 flavors and 2 spoons. You know the rest of that story. In fact, after sampling those 3, I go back for 2 more and they prove to be the best of all. And wouldn’t you know it, I notice that it’s being sold by the same confectionery store that we were looking for. We go in and – WOW! – it’s an old school, chandelier-and-marble table tea room with incredibly displayed chocolates and pastries.
Someone at a table has an incredibly large and beautiful ice cream sundae and we look at each other and smile. I purchase an assortment of chocolate bars and we look around. So pretty! We continue our meandering past stores and getting more familiar with tree-shaded streets and restaurant lined alleyways. So lovely to be in Europe! We make it to St. Stephens, where we take turns going into the church. Beautiful, huge, and sitting on a lovely square.
On the way out, I chat with a woman who tells me about a concert Friday night with an organ recital of Bach’s Fugue that we all know from movies, and the Hungarian Philharmonic and part of the Opera Company performing Mozart’s “Requiem”. We promptly purchase tickets and are on our way back to the hotel. More worn out that I wanted to be, but sometimes I just don’t realize how tired I’m getting until I’m there because I’m so interested in where I am and what’s going on.
We’re both pretty beat, so we relax at the hotel for a while, and get a bite to eat at Zappa caffe right in our neighborhood (yes, that’s how they spell cafe). It is indeed named after the one and only, because evidently he gave a concert at a bar in that very location on New Year’s Eve some time in the late 80’s. Great artwork on the walls and an okay dinner and then it’s lights out.