Thursday, September 5, 2013

Arrived in Budapest after a fast and very comfortable train ride. Then two unfortunate incidents - the tax driver who drove us to our hotel charged us 10,000 korints (approx $50) for a ride that shouldn't have cost more than 3,000 korints. He seemed like such a nice, friendly person. Lesson learned - know your currency before arriving. Then while checking in, the manager tells us that a bomb threat has been called in and everyone must evacuate the hotel! No one knew how long the evacuation would last since apparently sniffer dogs have to go into all 217 rooms.
So off we go for a walk along the Danube toward the Parliament buildings. Some impressions of Budapest: very similar to Venice in architectural style but with a more neglected appearance likely due to 45 years of communist rule; streets are very crowded, people everywhere in the cafes, on the street; Hungarian seems like it would be a very difficult language to learn; people in the service industries speak English very well










As we walked along the Danube, we came across a very heart wrenching memorial. At the edge of the river there are 30 pairs of bronzed shoes lying in disarray. In 1944/1945 many Jews were rounded up, brought to the river and shot, and their bodies thrown into the river. Standing at this memorial is a very moving experience.We took a couple of photos there.







Tomorrow we will do more tours of the city. Plans are afoot to meet up with young Niall on Sat.

Fiona & Carl

Location:Budapest, Hungary