We arise very early to wonderfully cool weather, and plan to hike up to the Statue of Liberty at the top of a tall hill on the Buda side. Tihomir recommended it to us, saying it was 30 minutes for fast walkers and about 40 minutes for a more leisurely walk. The walking has taken a toll on me, and I can feel some real soreness. We leave at 6:30am, walk across the chain bridge and make it about 2/3 of the way up the hill through paths and switchbacks. We return for breakfast and packing of a few final items, as we can stay on the ship through lunch but need to be out of the stateroom so they can clean.
We head off across the Chain Bridge again, and take the funicular up the steep Buda Hill to the Castle district, which visually domminates the city but is inhabited by only a small population, as it is mostly historic sites.
We go to the Hungarian National Art Museum, and see how various artistic movements made their way to Hungary, from the 15th century revival of spatial perspective to French Impressionism and later 20th century Expressionism. While we are viewing some magnificent gilded folding alter pieces from the Gothic era, we hear a large crowd and loudspeakers outside. There is some sort of soccer rally taking place, as tonight is the final of the Champions title for the World Cup preliminaries. Groups of men are dressed in national jerseys and carry signs for their countries. We thought they were teams, but since the game being played is between two Madrid teams, it doesn’t seem likely, perhaps they are just fans, yet they seemed to have plastic IDs around their necks. From a balcony of the art museum, which was the palace built by Queen Maria Theresia (queen of Austria and Hungary in the 18th century), we hear the Hungarian national anthem, followed by lots of chanting, and then they start playing “We Will Rock You” and nearly everyone is singing along, quite a spectacle. I guess when there is a song called “Hungarian Rhapsody” somehow music by Queen works. And then we see a whole group of French Horn players, with part of their costumes off due to the heat, hanging out by the museum after performing.
Off to the huge Central Market, with mostly food of all kinds on the first level, and a second level with textiles, small cafes and every imaginable souvenir. We find a nice autumnal fabric runner for the table, and take a tram to Andrassy Street, one of the main streets in town.
We visit the House of Terror Museum, a sobering place which was the headquarters of the Nazis and the Hungarian Communist secret police and security people, where tens of thousands of people suspected of even the smallest infractions against the rigid political system were imprisoned, tortured and many executed. I like to think that I am fairly good at history, but the one hour we spent here (and I recommend it) made me realize how little I knew about Hungary and the mid-20th century here. They went directly from the terror of Hitler to the crushing totalitarianism of Stalinism. The Arrow Cross was the Hungarian version of the Nazis, and they were brutally efficient in executing Hitler's orders about Jews, with nearly half a million sent to death camps in just a few months. The German and Hungarian armies defended Budapest like a fortress, with the Germans blowing up most of the bridges and tens of thousands of buildings, and more than a million people fled Hungary. Then when the Soviets rolled in late in 1945, they simply took over the existing secret police structure and took more than 200,000 people into the gulags (brutal work camps), from all walks of life, from peasants to intellectuals and even Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who has saved thousands of Jews. By the end of the way, 10% o the Hungarian population had died and the country was in ruins. Through a campaign of terror, the Soviets took over the government, even though they never had more than 20% of the vote, dissolving Parliament, abducting and killings political lleaders, until the dictatorship was firmly in control. Ending private ownership, requiring large quotas of agricultural products be sent to the USSR while the Hungarians starved, ending the judicial system, urging people to inform on their neighbors and family members, repressing the religious organizations, it was a terrible time. A resistance arose, the AVO and then the AVH (secret police) brutally repressed anyone who spoke out, and tens and thousands spoke out while thousand more were executed. The brief and unsuccessful revolution in 1956 lasted only two weeks, and as the Soviets called the resistance fighters fascists (how similar to Ukraine now), they brought in the tanks and brutally put down the uprising, jailing tens of thousands and executing thousands as well. The political repression continued, Hungary slowly rebuilt itself (20% of their post-war budget went to pay reparations), and they remained isolated for 30 more years. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Gorbachev actually apologized to the Hungarians for the occupation, repression and putting down the revolution. The last Soviet soldier left Hungary in 1991, and the last Hungarian prisoner of war returned from the gulag in 2000. The building where the House of Terror is located was the headquarters of the secret political police, both Hungarian and Russian, and in the center stands one of the tanks that blazed through the streets of Budapest in 1956. If you go to Budapest, I highly recommend this (though it is not for children). http://www.terrorhaza.hu/en/index_2.html
We went to see Anne Godon, daughter of Catherine Godon and a friend since the girls first met in 3rd grade at Ecole Bilingue We meet her boyfriend and housemates, and go for a lovely Italian dinner on Andrassy.
She is now in Budapest doing a year abroad in her Master’s program in psychology. We saw her flat and met her boyfriend, Thijs, who is Dutch and very nice. It was great to see Anne again … it has been a few years. We visited for a while and caught up, and then took her out for dinner ot her favorite Italian place. We had an interesting conversation, about what marriage really means and why people get married, and it was quite a stimulating and intellectual conversation. It is so wonderful too see young people that we've known in some cases since age 5 or 8 years, now grown into young adults who are bright, well-informed, and making their way in the world. We hope Anne will visit California sometime soon, and are glad that Madeleine will be seeing Anne in Paris in July.
Sunday, 25 May 2014
We wake up early in our hotel, have a quick continental breakfast, and we’re ready to go. It is raining now, so we really lucked out with our weather.
After 30 minutes on hold with AirCanada with no success, I go to the Lufthansa website and voila we are able to confirm our seats. However, this then requires a printer or mobile phone to send the passes to … aaaargh! Luckily, the very nice desk clerk offers to let me us their computer and we print out boarding passes to Frankfurt and then to Calgary. After that we’ll deal with it, but at least we have seats across the pond. A quick, smooth drive to the airport in a cab (public transit trains are far apart early on Sunday morning), and we’re in the airport. Miraculously our boarding passes seem to be valid, to my relief. Security went fine … it amazes me how different systems are from place to place. Shoes or no shoes, computer by itself or not, etc. We’re at the gate, flight looks on time, so we’re off!
The river cruise was overall quite nice, and just perfect for spending time with relatives instead of dealing with transit and tickets, etc. I think the pace was nice for Carl and Sally, Chris enjoyed doing his photography, and Thomas enjoyed the music and culture. The service on the ship was superb, the food excellent, and it was really nice being close to the central city in Regensberg and Budapest. Interestingly, it was after we left the tour and went on our own to the Hungarian National Museum that it really felt like our normal vacation.
So glad we have Memorial Day to recover. Auf wiedersehn!
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