We also rented an apartment here; It was pretty cool
St. Stephen's Basilica is behind that building.
Instant paprikás.
St. Stephen's
Statues on our walk towards the chain bridge. These are all on the Pest side.
The chain bridge. This was the first bridge to cross the Danube, joining Buda and Pest. As with the other bridges, it was pretty much destroyed during WWII. The lions at either end, for example, were all blown into to the river, but were later found and reconstructed.
The palace, where we were headed.
Looking at another bridge from our bridge.
This was a memorial of some sort (on top of the hill)... I forget exactly what for... I think maybe it was a freedom memorial of some sort.
On the Buda side....the millenium tunnel in front of us.
This tram went up to the palace, but it was apparently a rip-off. We just walked. It took about 10 minutes.
St. Anna's temple in the background.
One of the original palace bulidings. You can see the war scars still.
Some statue.
They were apparently going to build something in this lot when they came across some artifacts from way back in the day; So I guess now they're trying to find as much as they can, and will then have to bury over it again and not build anything here.
Walking up to the palace....which is now the Hungary national gallery.
The gate handle.
This statue depicts the story of two brothers, one of whom followed a deer to a beautiful woman, in what would on day become Buda.
More pictures from the palace.
Looking into Buda.
On the other side of the palace, coming back to look out over the river
The Chain Bridge, with Parliament in the background. Margaret island in is the distance in the middle of the river.
Parliament
The Basilica
Looking back along the front of the palace.
Cool Fountain.
Saint Anna Templom.
A shrine to St. Stephen, first King of Hungary.
Parliament again; there is a synagogue on this side of the river in the foreground.
Stairs coming up to the Templom.
The back of the Templom.
Margret Island.
At this point in the trip, we had been talking a bit about how the 1980s were coming into style in Hungary. This boom box was in our apartment.
Cool building on our way to....
...The market.
This is the way we came...tons of fancy stores, etc.
Another brdige across the Danube (Duna).
Inside the big market. The main floor was food, upstairs was crafts; downstairs was not as populated, but had a few additional stores and shops.
I'm not sure why this was called the Beef Club.
Down in the Metro Station.
Heading into the Basilica.
We couldn't get in to see St. Stephen's hand, as there was some special thing going on and it was closed.
Models.
I don't think this one is quite as big as the one in Eger, but there sure was a hell of lot more gold in this one
Then we took a walk over to Parliament.
There's that synagogue, on the Buda side.
I will probably make a panorama of these at some point
This was a monument to all of the Hungarian Jews shot by the Hungarian Nazis and then dumped into the Danube.
It was quite moving
Parliament.
They're refurbishing this side; you can still see some of the war scars (i.e. chunks missing from bombs/shrapnel).
This side is already finished.
Each one of these cat-gargoyle things has a different face.
Coming around the other side to the front
Kossuth Lájos, Hero of the 1848 revolultion.
The ethnology library.
The eternal flame monument to the 1956 uprising.
The front of parliament; people were waiting to get in, but it's apparently a huge ordeal... you have to show up with your passport and wait for enough people who speak your language to accumulate.
Monument to the original bullet holes from the 1956 uprising.
Our Grandpa Joe apparently helped several '56ers find employment in the States.
Imre Nagy, organizer of the '56 uprising.
The US Embassy was around here, but we were careful to not take any pictures of it, since I guess they're pretty sensitive.
Hungarian Pinot.
The opera house.
Inside the tiny lift to our place.
Beers on the ~2 hour train ride back to Pincehely
Too much to drink, Vicky? (lol, they weren't hers)...
