Day Two

One note, before we get into what we saw today. I made an error concerning the "Freedom Lady" statue in the previous post. I have since corrected the information.

Now, to our day!

Perhaps you recognize this gentleman?

It's everyone's favorite reformer, John Calvin!

A picture of lunch.

Or at least the remains of it.

This is a collection of statues which represents the history of Hungary.

There's also a Hungarian "Tomb for the Unknown Soldier" here.

While we were there, a dignitary from Swaziland came and participated in a ceremony, laying wreath with Swaziland's flag onto the tomb.

This is the Archangel Gabriel, who told St. Stephen (Istvan) to bring Christianity to Hungary.

This is a giant hour-glass, which is supposed to have enough sand for the entire year.

At the start of a new year, the wheel does a half-turn and starts over.

This sculpture is said to represent Hungary. As individuals, they are weak and rusty, but together, they become a powerful wedge.

I'm pretty sure it's communist.

None of us were entirely sure why he was present at the park, but it was pretty cool.

At this point in our journey, we stumbled upon a sculpture lake.

Jackie and I thought it was pretty neat.

We're pretty sure those are the heads of Marx.

That person is made up of letters.

This one is for our Disney friends.

We're pretty sure this is Mickey Mouse.

What do you think?

While at the lake Jackie and I got an idea for the house that we will someday own.

They're 2x2's cut into something like 1" pieces and laid out like tiles.

When we visited the opera house, we saw what they looked like after several years.

This was a pseudo theme park, originally built around 1900 with temporary materials, and then rebuild with more permanent ones a decade or two later.

There's supposed to be representative architecture from throughout the history of Hungary

Since I don't know architecture, I'll put up the pictures, and let you figure out what each is.

This statue is of Anonymous.

He wrote the first history of Hungary.

His pen is supposed to bring luck if you touch it.

My hope is that it brings luck for writing papers--particularly theses!

Next we went to a museum called the House of Terror.

This was a building that once housed both members of the NAZI Arrow Cross and the Soviet Red Army.

It was interesting to see some of Hungary's political history.

I especially appreciated the performative aspects of the museum, but unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures inside.

This is a plaque outside the museum.

I don't know what it says, but am including it since we don't have any other pictures.

If you look closely at this picture, you'll see a little piece of Detroit here in Budapest.

This is/was an orthodox synagogue, but (according to our tour guide) since synagogues aren't supposed to be burial sites, orthodox Jews won't worship there after thousands of Jews were buried there during the war.

This is a Holocaust memorial. The names of the victims are written on the leaves of the tree.

We couldn't get any closer because it was part of a tour, and the synagogue was closed for the day.

This was my brother's dinner.

He had a stuffed chicken dish.

This was my mom's and my brother-in-law's

It's steak and scalloped potatoes.

My sister got chicken and potato balls.

Jackie got lamb and sweet potatoes.

This was mine.

I got Eggplant stuffed with jasmine rice and pear, with star annis spice.

Jackie liked the knives here.

And the lighting fixtures.

This is a cheese grater.

These are wine glasses.

Here's some street art.

Here's one of my favorites.

This was a store called Sugar.

This is the sink from the bathroom.

That's real candy in there.

Here's an overhead view of the store.

It was very non-characteristic of the rest of the city we've seen so far.

Jackie likes the phone booths!

The opera house.

A sphinx.

Note: all sphinxes are female.

Liszt Ferencz

(Franz Liszt)

To end the day we visited what my brother called a "Ruin Pub."

It was very eclectic.

I took this picture for my friend, Emily.

Here's us at the pub.

The upstairs of the pub.

That's a bathtub turned into a couch on the left.

See you tomorrow!