Budapest, Hungary Day 2

Budapest, Hungary Day 2

This city had had some interesting ups and down in it's time. By taking 2 walking tours, I am amazed at the rich history and cultural changes. Next to Istanbul, Budapest has been along for a wild ride. From early Roman settling, the Ottoman occupation, being totally destroyed in the Crusades, rebuilt in the Renaissance, Austro Hungarian power, living through Allied bombings in WW2, a Communist stint, and now a free land, this town has come full circle to present itself proudly in 2011. People are working and the arts are alive. The buildings are beautiful and are rebuilt from the 1950's with historical accuracy. Money might be an issue. According to our guides, the average salary is Euro 300-500 a month, but the cost of living in the city is high. Rebuilding all this stuff from the wars has racked up a huge debt, but debts are what all great countries have, right?

Upon waking, and getting street side cappuccinos, we headed to the starting point of the walking tour. This was the morning session and would only be 2 hours long. Our guide was a Hungarian woman with deep ancestry that was brought up in her discussions. We toured the Pest side of the city and saw many monuments and buildings from the post WW2 era. Much blood has been shed here and the stories were intriguing. One of the weirdest things we saw was a 2 week old, giant statue of Ronald Reagan. We definitely were not expecting that.

We quickly got lunch after the tour and headed off to the starting point of the second walking tour. These are "free tours" and are a hit with the backpacker folks. They recommend tipping of course, and we do our part. Some people throw in a little, but for the hours of information, and us being 3 people strong, you gotta do what's right. I think it's a little weird calling it free though. This sort of tour is new and partially subsidized, I believe. Other travelers have mentioned that they see these types of tours all over. Our past experience in Sophia, Bulgaria was great, as well as these. I recommend.

The second tour would take us to the Buda side of the town, over the Chain Bridge. This bridge is an icon of the town and miraculously, was destroyed and rebuilt after WW2 and is in pristine condition. When it was built, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world. I can't imagine the process of salvaging and making new parts for a bridge that was built in 1896. The suspension "cables" are actually large chain links. Think of a bicycle chain with each link being 10 feet long and the whole thing spanning the Danube river.

I can't detail everything the guide presented, that would take 40 pages and I would mess it all up, but I will try to mention some funny or interesting points. The guide was a quirky Hungarian guy standing about 6' 5" and named Adam. He had red hair and wore blue jeans and a tight red sweater. He carried a little satchel full of pictures and papers. He showed us the alphabet and said some funny Hungarian tongue twisters. He made a comment about the sculptor of the chain bridge lions on either end. Supposedly, he forgot to put a tongue in the mouth of them, and out of disgrace to himself, he jumped off the bridge. Adam said this with a funny Hungarian accent, "That is when he made the suicide.". I love it when translations get mixed up and they come out funny to us. We crossed the bridge and headed up to the Presidential Palace. Forgot if it is called a palace, but it was smaller than expected and the Parliament building is the one that takes the cake. From the top of the hill on the Buda side of the city, you could see the massive Parliament building. It's amazing what can be built for politicians. It lies across the river from the Buda side, and viewing it across the Danube is pretty spectacular. We toured more of the hilltop and were very interested in Adam's explanations and style of his tour. We had to quickly finish and bolt to the hostel where we thought Josh might be waiting for us.

Josh is a dude we met at out friend's cabin in Colorado many years back. We have seen him since several times, but only at the cabin. We have corresponded a bit and it is funny how schedules can work out. He is a flight attendant and had some time off in the summer. He gets cheap tickets even to fly off carrier, and made this trip work. He is a super funny guy, and to have a chance to meet with him would only make our trip even better. And guess what? It did.

We came back to the hostel and "Wonderful Josh" was there. He was sitting in a chair waiting for us. The tour was a little longer than expected, and since we arrived back at the hostel 40 minutes late, we figured Josh would have hit the town alone. Was he the though? Yes he was. We tore it off to a recommended restaurant from the hostel owner and life was great. Josh was once again the entertainment for the evening and the food was not too shabby. It was all traditional Hungarian cuisine. Katherine and I got the massive meat tray and killed it in good Mathiasmeier style. Then we headed out, only after sampling some traditional Hungarian desserts. We left Josh with the plan to meet him in the morning at the National Museum. Times are great with good friends and great food. Thanks for adding to the hysteria Josh.

See you in the morning.