Budapest: Take One

So, here we are looking at the beautiful Danube....is this Vienna? No! It's Buda on the right and Pest on the left!

So a dentist told me that I needed a root canal and there are TON o' dentists in Hungary who cater to Brits, Irish and Americans who go there for HALF-price dental care. Being a student I also decided felt it would be a good idea to go....In the end I did NOT need a root canal! That's good news...but I need a crown....so this was the first 'consultation' visit to Budapest. I'll be heading there again soon, but for now enjoy pix from the first visit...


The weather, per 'Aaron brings wonderful weather wherever he goes', was HORRID! Especially the first night, but at the very least the raining stopped and I could go trounce around Budapest. First things first, we've got to go take a tour of the BEAUTIFUL Hungarian Parliament building! Just look at it! WOW!



Are you excited yet?











I don't know who this author/person was, BUT that is the bridge that I crossed to get to the Pest side of the city....






Here is a panorama-shot of the Buda side from the view in front of the Parliament building...




In the back of the Parliament building are several memorials. This one is to the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. Students and then eventually most of Budapest protested/rioted against the Communist authorities, etc. One of their 'symbols' was to cut out the 'communist insiginia' in the middle of Hungarian flag.






The Soviets had had enough and sent in tanks. 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet soldiers died and over 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees.

You can read what this 'grave' is supposed to represent...













And now that I'm depressed about the squashing of 'freedom's cry'....we wait for the tour of the Hungarian Parliament...










What a building...so beautiful! It was completed in 1904...












One of the cars parked outside - I thought the 'letters' of the license plate were interesting...

Inside, pretty snazzy!

The Hungarian Parliament building is the third largest parliament building in the world after Bucharest and London...

Going up the stairs...wowzuhs!

Oh WOW! Beautiful!

Now we make our way into the 'dome' part of the building...

The ceiling...again, WOW!

These are the Hungarian Crown Jewels. The crown was given to the first Hungarian king, St. Stephen, by the Pope in 1000 (however, this is considered by historians to be legend...it could've been :)

There is the Holy Crown and if you watch the next video you'll hear some more about it...







The Hungarian Crown Jewels...

Leaving the Dome we make our way to the 'House of Lords' foyer. The Parliament building was completed in 1904 having a House of Lords and a House of 'Representatives/Commons'. Hungary is a Republic now and doesn't use the House of Lords anymore, so that side of the Parliament building is open to tourists....

Beautiful lamp! Apparently everything in the building was made in Hungary, or as much as could've been done, in order to support Hungarian industry...

Looking back....

and here is the House of Lords! Apparently the other side of the building with the House of Representatives is the same....

Impressive...

Nice looking ceiling....

'bad'/messy Panorama shot of what it looks like as a whole....

Snazzy!

Here is where the 'gentelmen' of the day could leave their cigars. Each holder was numbered so the chance of mixing cigars was removed...

I was just thinking how things are built 'for the day' that they are built in....maybe when we all use telepathy in 200 years we'll look back at buildings with electrical sockets, Internet plug-in's, etc., and smile....

Regal hallway...

Looking out the window....I love Neo-Gothic (ex: Westminster)!

And almost as almost as quickly as it began, it ended :(

Oh well....

Here is a bridge to the side of the Parliament buildling of Imre Nagy. He was the leader of the 1956 Uprising and was executed by the Soviets/Hungarian communists. I wondered why he was looking the way he did...and it only JUST hit me...

He's looking towards the square where the Uprising took place and then was squashed....

UGH....now I'm sad again....why did that have to be? Why did that have to happen? Why did it 'work' in 1989 and not in 1956? I don't know....

Thanks Hungarian Parliament building!

You are beautiful and quite impressive and have already seen quite a bit of history for only being 100-years old...