Budapest Pictures

Okay clearly I am never going to get around to writing about Budapest. This is unfortunate as it is my favorite city I've visited in Europe! I've been pouring all my writing effort into essays on things like "money as a social currency in Thackeray's Vanity Fair." This weekend I'm going to Scotland so I will have new adventure to write about. In the meantime here are some Budapest pictures at least:





This is the City Park, absolutly beautiful with the leaves changing...




Anonymous, the greatest scribe in Hungarian history. He is the Magyars primary source of knowledge about the history of the Hungarian people. Obviously they know nothing about him (leading us to question if he was even a man at all?). Scholars visit his statue and rub his pencil for good luck. So far it hasn't helped me much!



This is St. Stephen's Basilica, an enormous Catholic church. It took almost 100 years to build (partly because it collapsed a couple of times. We walked all the way to the top of the dome where there is an amazing 360 view of all of Pest. Inside of the church they also have the mummified hand of St. Stephen, Hungarys first king and patron saint. it was gross.

Heroe's Square, a monument to the great leaders of Hungary. Apparently there were a lot. During communist times this entire edifice was covered with a giant picture of Marx. Like many beautiful things in this country, it managed to endure.

Fisherman's Bastion, not actually a fortress but a very pretty piece of architecture hanging off of Buda Castle with again, beautiful views



The Gellert Baths. Hungary is known for it's famous thermal bath houses. Only half of our group was brave enough to test them out. Fortunatly I was one of the brave ones. Although it involved seeing many, many more naked Hungarian women then I ever really wanted to, the baths were wonderful and cheap to boot. You can get a 30 minute full body massage for the equivalent of 15 american dollars. but when they say full body, rest assured, the mean full body...


I have seen a LOT of churches on this trip and St. Matthias in Buda Castle was one of the most unique. It has existed on that spot for almost a thousand years. At one point Hungary was overtaken by Muslim forces and the church was changed into a mosque, only to eventuall be changed back. As a result it has a gorgeous east-meets-west motif. It is amazing how many of these churches managed to endure through so many invasions. It's amazing how the Hungarians managed to keep their culture intact even after 4 major occupations (the muslims, the austrians, the nazis and the soviets).

As with most of the places I've been the pictures really don't do Budapest justice. It was a beautiful, modern, golden city with such a rich history. Okay I sound like a travel brochure I know, but it was awesome.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Rest assured I have plans. They may not do Thanksgiving in britain but I know enough Americans that the holiday won't go totally unobserved. Then Friday I am off to Scotland!