What a difference a year makes....
Almost a year ago, I wandered through this main downtown railway terminal in Budapest.
I was on a 5-country vacation trip in Central Europe.
This year
this Keleti station in Hungary has been the center of worldwide migration attention.
Syrian refugees tried to pass through on their way to a new life in Austria or Germany.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were denied access to trains and "camped" trackside and in the spacious lobby.
My time there was brief. The train from Bratislava, Slovakia, was very late and we finally arrived in Budapest well past midnight.
The station emptied quickly and we wandered around the huge space, looking for an ATM.
We had no local currency and finally found the machine we sought and withdrew 100,000 HUF, in Hungarian Forints.
I raised my eyebrows at having a hundred grand of any money in my hands - and looked around nervously - but used my calculator and quickly saw it amounted to only about $355 USD.
The cab driver nodded when we gave the address of our rented 4-room flat at 29 Andrassy Ut. and, ten minutes later, we arrived safely at our private lodging for the next few days.
The added bonus of renting an apartment instead of another hotel room, was there was a washing machine in the kitchen.
The young man who was there to meet us with the keys - and to accept the rent in cash - had stuck around of course.
He walked us through the second floor apartment and quickly left.
It was 2:00 in the morning and it had been a long day.
We had started out from Vienna and got off the train in the capital of Slovakia to spend the day.
The late train was a bit frustrating but luckily, when it did suddenly arrive, we had our bags and tickets ready and had scrambled on board.
Later that day, we came out of our flat and saw the Opera House was right across the street.
Pretty classy neck of the woods, as they say.
Our rental had lots of brochures and suggestion on nearby places to eat. And to bar hop.
We had a late breakfast at
a nice place around the corner and realized we were the only "tourists" in the place.
We ordered with a lot of smiles, nodding and pointing at pictures of items on the menu.
I'm looking back at how we fared a year ago compared to the anguish these migrating Syrians had to suffer as their stay in Budapest extended to many weeks, forcing many of those fleeing to pick up their scant possessions and start walking toward a new life at the Austrian frontier.
(Click on the photo and links for more details.)
I wrote a blog posting about this trip last year but the news breaking in this city - and the Hungarian government's reaction to a sudden flood of men, women and children - seemed reason enough to re-visit.
Have a happy and safe vacation everyone.
Labels: 100 grand of Hungarian Forints, 100K., Andrassy Ut., Austrian Frontier, Budapest, Central Europe., Keleti Railway Terminal, Ket Szerecsen.
Old ..and Recent.. European History
Budapest was where I saw the most graphic connections to past conquerers of Hungary.
This was taken in the
House of Terror (Terror Haza) on Andrassy Ut. It displays pictures of victims executed inside the building's dungeon.
The tank was part of Soviet response to the 1956 Revolution. 2,500 died during the failed attempt for freedom.
The country endured 50 years of "double occupation," by the Nazi and then the Communists.
The Soviets left in 1991 and freedom was reborn.
This building was restored and dedicated as a museum to make sure the past was remembered as a guard against future terrors.
No pictures were allowed inside, which is strange. You'd think they would want the whole world to see the horrors the country endured.
Under the Nazis in 1944-45, Jews were marched down to the bank of the Danube and told to strip, remove their shoes and face the water.
Then they were shot in the back and the impact dumped the bodies into the river and were carried away.
A grim memorial,
"Shoes On The Danube," was created in 2005, showing 60 pairs of rusted period shoes cast out of iron.
Different sizes and styles show that nobody was spared.
The day I stopped to view, flowers had been placed in many of the shoes.
Relatives? Residents? Survivors? I don't know.
Very moving though as visitors like myself angled their cameras to record the scene.
A grim reminder of a horrible time.
Not all of the scenes were this solemn in
Buda and
Pest. Yes, two cities, divided by the Danube.
Pest, cosmopolitan and sprawling, abounds with historic sites and sights.
Buda, reached by climbing many, many steps or a swift funicular, is high up on Castle Hill, with great vistas.
Up there, we toured the Matthias Church, overlooked Fisherman's Bastion and snapped pictures of the magnificent Turul bird statue. Was all done in a few hours.
Apparently arrived at the same time as several busloads of foreign visitors. Shoulder to shoulder in some places.
Finished and hopped on the correct bus and was whisked back down to the larger city in a few minutes of scenic travel.
Wanted to take a closer look at the
Chain Bridge, the first built of many bridges crossing the Danube.
Very impressive with the stately lions guarding each side.
A steady stream of visitors gave some activity to the scene.
I had read a suggestion that if you tilt your camera just a bit higher, you still capture the scene while eliminating the people below.
Here they add an element I wanted but I did use that suggestion in many crowded churches, synagogues and palaces.
The
Hungarian Opera House is on Andrassy Ut., a boulevard described as "The Champs-Elysees"of Budapest.
It also was across the street from the 4-room flat (apartment) we rented for our stay in the Capital. Handy.
The English-Tour was late in the day on a rainy afternoon.
The very large crowd was divided into 4-5 tours in other languages.
As we all started out, it was a Babel of voices and accents.
The Barouque and Renaissance Revival architecture dated back to 1884 and was carefully restored and enhanced on its 100th anniversary.
We saw a familiar face at Freedom Square, also known as Liberty Square.
President Ronald Reagan was standing tall in a 2011 bronze statue honoring him as the man who ended the Cold War.
He stands close to the U.S. Embassy, facing a WWII Communist Memorial dedicated to the Red soldiers who died in 1945 liberating Budapest from the Germans.
Locals are not pleased with it being there but agreements were made to let it remain.
Nearby is another reminder of the city's past - a monument to the
victims of German occupation. This also is contraversal and was completed earlier this year, late at night, with police guarding the site.
On a much lighter note, shops seem to offer a full array of whatever one wants or needs.
Wonder if the inflatable doll I saw being carried by a young man in Bratislava came from here?
Oh, never mind, it appears to be simply a store that sells lingerie.
Move along, nothing to see here.
And, speaking of moving along, one does not need to trudge along on sore feet to see all the sights.
The ubiquitous
Segway has shown up in all of the cities on my tour.
The down side, it appears, is you are not allowed to steer with one hand as you hold your camera and take pictures with the other.
And I didn't see any cup holders on the two-wheel transports.
That church in the background is Saint Stephen's (Istvan's) Basilica.
Fantastic views of the city from the observation deck at the top. Sorry, no Segways allowed up there. You have to use your feet.
Walking around on our own, or, in his case, with a narrated tour, we saw the Hungarian Parliament Building. It houses the Crown Jewels so security was tight and no photos allowed.
The twin-towers of the Great Synagogue were impressive as was the
"Tree of Life" in the garden. This is the second-largest synagogue in the world, accommodating 3,000 worshipers.
This was the courtyard of our flat at Andrassy Ut 29.
We are on the second floor, on the right, with lights on.
It came with a kitchen and a washing machine but no dryer.
Hmm. We soon noticed an overhead drying rack with clothespins in the hallway and lowered it to hang our now clean laundry.
A rope and pulley raised it back up toward the tall ceiling.
(Click on the photos for more details).
A Metro stop was just a few doors away.
Beats a Holiday Inn anytime!
Did I mention I cancelled my dieting for this trip?
Labels: Budapest, Budvar beer (the 1st Budweiser), Great Synagogue, House of Terror, Hungarian Parliament building, Liberty Square, Shoes On The Danube, Tree of Life
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