Since we had been since 4am, a caffeine boost was essential to starting our day.
We met our tour guide in front of St. Stephen's Basillica to embark on our two hour cold, rainy bike tour of the city.
Some of us were more prepared than others...silly Swede!
First stop, a controversial monument to Jews killed in Hungary during World War II. It is meant to represent a German imperial eagle attacking the Archangel Gabriel. The prime minister at the time commissioned the monument to portray Hungarians as victims forced to side with Nazi Germany. The people of Hungary have protested saying regardless of the circumstances, they are responsible for their actions.
What we gathered from this, but need to read more abut it, is that it is one of the last standing communist monuments from Russia. It is ironically placed directly in front of the American embassy.
We have yet to explore the Buda side of Budapest. We plan to cross the Danube on Wednesday to explore the sites. Our tour guide was gracious enough to give us a brief run down from the Pest side of the Danube.
Here is a panoramic view of Buda
Budapest is the Capitol of Hungary. Their parliament building is the second largest in all of Europe.
Hero's Square was built in 1896 as a millennial celebration of Hungarian history. The highest point is an Angel, 96 meters in the air. The second highest level of statues from left to right, represent work, war, peace, and knowledge. The bottom row of statues are the Hungarian kings. Thanks to the rain we had Hero,s Square to ourselves.
Our tour guide prompted us to touch the pencil while making eye contact with the statue for good luck. It is hard to explain the creepiness of the statues eyes, it did not feel like a lucky experience at all. When we got back to our bikes, our tour guide fessed up to playing a common trick on tourists. The statues name was Anonymous...
Cold to our core, we changed our original plans and warmed up at a Széchenyi Thermal bath built in 1913, the oldest and most famous bath house in Hungary. There are 3 pools heated by thermal water, each at different temperatures. Silly swede....
We went to KönyvBár restaurant famous for creating menus as a tribute to famous books. Our menu was based off Jean-Gabriel Causse's The Incredible Power of Color. The aperitif was a Tom Collins with flower ice cubes.
And we also enjoyed delicious Hungarian wine.,, who knew?
On our walk home, we stumbled upon a lively street called Gozsdu Court
