Friday was our last day in Budapest. My husband would be free from his meetings after lunch, so I only had the morning to get to as much as I could of what remained on my list.
I took the subway to the city park and hero's square which were recommended by the guide from the communist tour. Hero's square was very impressive, but what really caught my eye was the castle in the park. It was originally built for Budapest's millennium celebration in 1896 as a tourist attraction. Each tower of the castle was built in a different style, each from famous building somewhere in what was then Hungary (including Transylvania, which is now in Romania).
Perhaps even more interesting than the architecture was the fact that they were preparing a bunch of market stands for what seemed to be a children's day. I had to wait while they got set up, but I was eventually able to buy some interesting candies. There was even an entire stand devoted to marzipan. Needless to say, I bought some of those too.
From there I planned to go to the House of Horrors, a museum about the Nazi and Communist periods. The guide had also told me about this, and thought I would find it interesting. Based on the name alone, I hadn't even considered going to this place, but now I really wanted to see it. It was just a few stops away on the metro, but for some reason, I couldn't find the metro station. In retrospect, I should have gone back to the park and the metro station that I came from, but I was sure I was closer to this other station. I followed some locals through a series of underpasses and ended up at a trolley station. An older woman saw me studying my map and said something in Hungarian. I pointed to the metro station, so she got out her glasses, studied the map, said something and pointed to where people were waiting for the trolley. The trolley arrived momentarily, so I got on, thinking it would take me to the metro station. It didn't. I took another trolley back to where I first got on the trolley. I went through the underpasses again, expecting to come up where I left the park except on the other side of a busy street. Wrong again. I tried to orient myself above ground and eventually ended up at a trolley station again. By this time I figured out that the trolley line was perpendicular to the metro line, but which side was I on now? I asked a teenage girl who looked at the map and pointed. Back at the start again, I asked a man who had also just gotten off the trolley. Again, he didn't speak, but it turned out he was going the same way, so he pointed the way, and I finally found it. There were no signs at all. I noticed that once one gets out of the tourist areas, signs are scarce.
By this time, I realized that I would only have half an hour at the museum, so I decided to go back to the hotel and eat lunch with the guys. Next time I'm in Budapest, I'll have to make sure to make it to the House of Horrors, and maybe the underground labyrinth in the castle district too.
Friday was our last day in Budapest. My husband would be free from his meetings after lunch, so I only had the morning to get to as much as I could of what remained on my list.
I took the subway to the city park and hero's square which were recommended by the guide from the communist tour. Hero's square was very impressive, but what really caught my eye was the castle in the park. It was originally built for Budapest's millennium celebration in 1896 as a tourist attraction. Each tower of the castle was built in a different style, each from famous building somewhere in what was then Hungary (including Transylvania, which is now in Romania).
Perhaps even more interesting than the architecture was the fact that they were preparing a bunch of market stands for what seemed to be a children's day. I had to wait while they got set up, but I was eventually able to buy some interesting candies. There was even an entire stand devoted to marzipan. Needless to say, I bought some of those too.
From there I planned to go to the House of Horrors, a museum about the Nazi and Communist periods. The guide had also told me about this, and thought I would find it interesting. Based on the name alone, I hadn't even considered going to this place, but now I really wanted to see it. It was just a few stops away on the metro, but for some reason, I couldn't find the metro station. In retrospect, I should have gone back to the park and the metro station that I came from, but I was sure I was closer to this other station. I followed some locals through a series of underpasses and ended up at a trolley station. An older woman saw me studying my map and said something in Hungarian. I pointed to the metro station, so she got out her glasses, studied the map, said something and pointed to where people were waiting for the trolley. The trolley arrived momentarily, so I got on, thinking it would take me to the metro station. It didn't. I took another trolley back to where I first got on the trolley. I went through the underpasses again, expecting to come up where I left the park except on the other side of a busy street. Wrong again. I tried to orient myself above ground and eventually ended up at a trolley station again. By this time I figured out that the trolley line was perpendicular to the metro line, but which side was I on now? I asked a teenage girl who looked at the map and pointed. Back at the start again, I asked a man who had also just gotten off the trolley. Again, he didn't speak, but it turned out he was going the same way, so he pointed the way, and I finally found it. There were no signs at all. I noticed that once one gets out of the tourist areas, signs are scarce.
By this time, I realized that I would only have half an hour at the museum, so I decided to go back to the hotel and eat lunch with the guys. Next time I'm in Budapest, I'll have to make sure to make it to the House of Horrors, and maybe the underground labyrinth in the castle district too.
2 comments:
all the food there looks so good that I swear I'm going to gain wait just from gazing on it...good thing I didn't go! Thanks for your trip report. I feel like I've visited vicariously :).
I must be tired... gain "wait"? Ummmm yeah, obviously gain weight :). I'm starting to wonder about myself! Am I getting dementia?!?!? Anyway, no my grammar is not that bad!!!
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