Parliament and Traffic....am I in Ottawa?

Hello Hello,

This weekend is a long weekend. You can tell because the city isn't as busy as normal. Lake Balaton isn't too far from Budapest (1.5 hours driving). Apparently this is where the 'locals' go in early summer (before it become too full of tourists). This weekend, I thought about doing a couple of day trips to some local towns outside of Budapest, but then I just decided to stay here and relax. The weather has been just gorgeous, and I have taken advantage of this. After work on Friday, I decided to go over to Leopold Town (where parliament is) and take in more sights around there. Really I find that area very pleasant just to roam around, and well it was so nice outside, I couldn't resist.

I took a tram that runs along the Danube, with perfect views of the Buda side of the city. I had to pinch myself to make sure that I was actually on the rickety old tram, speeding down the Danube river. It was such a great feeling. I got off a Kossuth Ter, and walked over to parliament. My first stop was the gate near the Danube.

There was a really neat statue there. It is of a famous Hungarian poet, and the statue is supposed to a reenactment of one of his poems, sitting beside the danube on a blistering hot summer day'. It was a pretty cool statue (the details were Fabu! it was kind of haunting actually). I must also note that the statues in this city are all that detailed! They are just great!

Then I walked up to a barrier to look at the Buda sky line. This is the barrier, and what I saw as I was approaching the barrier.

When I got there I was immediately taken out of tourist la la land when I saw there was a huge traffic jam...... and of course the source of the traffic jam (I, of course, took a picture). What I found most interesting about this (besides the hilarity of watching a man push a car down a one lane city highway, while cars mount behind him), was the fact that cars were backed up by miles, I heard not a single car horn. No one was screaming, no one was shouting. It was very odd. I bonded with the security guard, who also thought the whole situation was funny :).


Then I decided to wander.....I had my RS book with me, so I looked to see if there was anything interesting to near where I was. There was.


This is the Postal Savings Bank. Designed by a guy named Odon Lechner. The roof top is spectacular, and uses colored mosaic tiles that are very 'Hungarian'. The molding on the top is supposed be look like bee hives, because hives are where bees store their honey, and well, this is where people were to store their money, so apparently there is a connection. Lechner is reported to have answered the following question "why such an intricate roof" by stating "i did it to please the birds". Amen.

Near there was St. Istvan's Basilica. Built in 1896 for the Hungarian millennial celebration, it isn't old (for european standards). There were three architects, with three different 'styles', which are reflected in the look and feel of the church itself. Neoclassical, Neo-renaissance and Neo-Baroque. I am not sure what that actually means, but you can tell that the design of the Basilica isn't exactly fluid....



The inside was really nice too (the statue in the middle is St. Istvan, who was the Magyar who converted the tribe to Christianity, at the time, Catholicism was the only 'choice'. The church also houses......the mummified right hand of St. Istvan. Yes, his"holy right hand" is still there in that little box that looks like a small house.


After I left the Basilica, I walked down the Zrinyi Utca. It's a pedestrian street filled with lots of eager tourists (and their camera's)....I stopped in front of a funny little statue. I am not sure what is is (RS didn't mention it, and there wasn't a plaque), but I thought it was cute. There were four Spanish people taking a photo while I was there, and the Spanish man asked if I wanted him to take a picture of me with the camera. I said "si si". He smiled :). This is the photo, while it was being taken I was wondering if I would get my camera back, or if he would run away with it. He didn't. :).

The end of Zrinyi Utca is the Danube river right by the chain bridge. You can still see the Basilica, it's huge eh?

At the bottom of the street I also saw a Canadian flag flying in front of the four seasons hotel....it was sort of exciting......then I wondered over to Vaci Utca (the huge shopping street), got 'stuck' in H & M due to a freak rain storm....and then headed home.....er...via three or four other shops....