Saturday, May 18, 2013

Budapest

Alrighty. So here is some Trivia that i didn't even know about myself. Where my Jewish ancestry came from. Hungary!!! So, it was really cool to go to a city that most likely, especially during world war 2, housed my ancestors.

Well. It was cool for me. So, now about Budapest. Who knew that Budapest is actually 2 cities? I didn't till this trip.

There is a Buda side






And a Pest side



The river splits the two. It was interesting to look at the difference. Though both sides have there good and bad things. I feel the best way to describe the 2 is that Buda side seemed more royalty and government area while the Pest side was more everyday people, metropolitan busy city.

So, I mainly explored the Pest side because here, somehow, I hurt my foot. Autumn and I got caught in a massive downpour. Like, it's been years since I've seen rain that hard and amount. So after we got home, we were drenched. So I wore my flip flops while my boots dried out. Bad idea I guess. Cause for a week afterwards my foot did not like me. I was worried I did something really bad. But it's all good now

Ok. Getting off that tangent. So I explored the pest side because it was flat. Not as hilly as Buda. So over on the pesticide was one of my favorite sites in Hungary. It's the worlds 2nd largest Jewish synagogue, only out sized by the one in New York.







Here they have 2 synagogues on the same ground(one large and one small for winter), Holocaust museum, multiple Holocaust memorials, Jewish family history center, and a Jewish Cemetery.

The inside of the synagogue was gorgeous. It was so large and beautiful with gold trimmings everywhere, original chandeliers hanging in the side halls and a replica of the massive chandelier in the middle. Though it looked very fancy and posh posh. You could still feel the reverence that it held as a sacred/religious building. Here are some pictures.















And look at the name I sat behind.



I thought it was funny. Since most people pronounce my last name like this is spelt.

I actually got to see it with all the lights on and everything because some important person (lots of security guards and an announcement of no taking pictures for the next 10 min) came in. It lights up very nicely. But as soon as he left. Half the lights went off. :/ of well. At least i got to see it lit up.

So, I'm a little bummed that I didn't take the tour. But I overheard usually you don't burry your dead near a synagogue but during World War Two when all the Jews on Hungary were forced to live in Budapest, there was nowhere else to burry them. With starvation and inadequate homes during one of the worst winters there, they had to burry the dead somewhere. So they put them in their gardens. It's still unknow exactly how many and who is buried there but in the Jewish faith( not sure if the same in others) you do not disturb someone's final resting place. So this is only(according to the tour guide) that has a cemetery in their gardens.



So the two memorials( out of like7 or 8) was a wall of names with pebbles set all around on the ground, and in the cubbies under each name. Unfortunately I only have pictures on my digital camera. So no pic till June of that wall. Then my second favorite was a metal tree. And on each branch there were metal leaves with names written on some of them.





And other ones that were left blank for all the people whose names are unknown but died in any way during the holocaust.

I have more pictures of the tree on my digital camera as well. So more pics come June-ish.

So. Other than the synagogue we got to see beautiful catholic churches


Churches that were carved in mountain sides and tunnels.


Cool bridges
(Picture is not mine)


Happy food


And a cool indoor market that looks like it could be really busy and cool, but I think we went on the wrong day or time. Half the shops were closed :(



But we got a Hungarian got dog



Yes. It is massive. With lots of interesting toppings. It was yummy but way overpriced. Yay being tourists. :)

So. That is my quick blog for Hungry. I wouldn't say I had an amazing time there and want to go back tomorrow. But I wouldn't mind going back in a couple years and exploring more of the country and not just Budapest.

So there are a lot more pics that I'm going to upload on Facebook. So go there to check them.

Next post: Croatia

- Posted on the go.

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