Bupadest Part 2

So, I started my Friday a bit slowly. I moseyed over to Parliament, and I managed to still get tickets for the early tour, even though Rick Steves said that they sell out awfully quick. Parliament is gorgeous! However, the 45 minute tour was a tad disappointing for the hefty ticket cost.

I saw both the crown jewels:

And there was the deliberation chamber, which featured the Polish eagle in memory of the Jagiellonian dynasty which once controlled Budapest.

 Next, I went to the House of Terror, which is this really cool, modern museum about the Nazi/Soviet occupations of Budapest. I couldn't take photos inside, sadly, because there was some really nifty stuff. However, I did get a shot of the outside. Yes, in another example of Poland following me everywhere, the House of Terror was featuring a movie schedule that included showing of Katyn.

Next, I moseyed on down to Heroes Square. Rick Steves kind of left me in a lurch on this one, but basically there are a bunch of important people here.

It's also close to the official monument commemorating the Uprising of 1956. You can see that it begins with a few, short posts, and solidifies into a group effort powerful enough to break concrete. It was pretty basic symbolism, but it's a cool monument nevertheless.

 Of course, I managed to find the most American thing in the park, a statue of George Washington, before continuing on to this old building that was built for a national fair a while back. But the Hungarians liked it so much that they decided to rebuild it as a permanent structure. It now houses a few museums, including the museum of agriculture, which I decided to skip.

Finally, I ended my afternoon explorations at the thermal baths where I watched chubby, old Hungarian women feel that it is perfectly acceptable to wear bikinis. Eventually, I wandered to the subway where I caught a train back to my hostel for a nap before meeting Tyler for the evening. We went to a ruin pub, which is a pub in an abandoned building, frequently old apartment buildings with court yards. This one had a bar and a DJ in the court yard, and all the rooms off the courtyard were filled with thrift store furniture and beer pong tables for the social crowd.