Last day we headed to Buda Castle, overlooking the Danube. Such interesting visual surprises down what seems like an ordinary street.

 Matyas Templon. (Matthias Church)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark rainy day for a hike to the citadel and stream bath at the bottom while John took in the  Hungarian National Museum.

 

 

 

The floating hotels.

The rain meant I had the trails to myself.  What a treat!

 

The National Museum of Hungary

Despite all the room filled with notables from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and mighty heroes of bygone days, my interest settled on the posters showing the end of empire, war, Soviet hegemony, and the attempts to throw off Communist control.

 

Shades of Che…is nothing sacred?

Not too many of these statues left!

 

So much detail on the buildings.  I get a crook in my neck looking up.

 

Today was a trip on the Danube.  What an immense river with literally hundreds of boats  of all sizes on it.  Many appear to be long sleek hotels, making their way from city to city.   Just two days after we left here was an accident involving fatalities when two boats collided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning!

 

 

 

Shopping Centre nicknamed the Whale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1944,  members of the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian Fascist Militia, murdered thousands of  Hungarian Jews by ordering them to take their shoes off and then shooting them so that their bodies fell into the river. This memorial is made of 60 pairs of cast iron shoes, which are fixed in place along the river bank, on the Pest side, very near the Parliament Building.  John visited the site on a rainy evening.  The subject of the memorial together with the driving rain and the dark, fast-flowing Danube, combined to create a terribly sad and dismal picture.

 

 

 

 

Right across the road from our apartment we saw two elderly ladies enjoying the afternoon sun. Maybe a mom and daughter with their pet and little garden. Such a typical scene.

We felt like we had pets of our own as these two

proceeded to make a nest right outside the fan over our stove. For the five days we were here we heard them cooing and walking around on the metal. The first day John heard them at 4:00 in the morning he thought we had rats in the cupboard. The sounds were that amplified.

Our first day in Budapest we rode the Hop on Hop off bus. We started in the afternoon so we could ride it for two days over the 24 hour time limit. This let us ride through one day then use the next day for our stop choices.

The railway station.

The Parliament Building,  from across the Danube.

Pretty outstanding.