Gardens and shoes

On Monday morning I packed up my bags and checked out. My train to Budapest didn't leave until the afternoon but I wanted to walk through Belvedere Gardens on the way to the station. There is also an Upper and a Lower Belvedere Palace (one at each end of the gardens) but I didn't have time to explore them. After a big walk through the gardens hand-in-hand with my suitcase, I took the Metro to the train station and caught my train to Budapest.

Lower Belvedere Palace

The fountains are dry for winter

Upper Belvedere Palace (because one palace is never enough)

Initially I had a the six-person compartment from Vienna to Budapest all to myself, but it didn't last. About halfway there another 4 people entered so the compartment was full (with my huge suitcase in the 6th seat). Not cool... It took so long for me to move around them all and get my things of the luggage rack and get my suitcase out, that I missed my stop and went about 20km further across the city than I wanted to go... So then I had to backtrack and catch another train back to where I wanted to be, and then get the Metro to a stop near my hotel. After all that I only had it in me to go out and get a few groceries before heading to bed!

I'm finding that the further north I go, the less people speak English, so there is less help when I fail at touristing! But I'm getting good at charades. 😉

The next day I headed out along the riverbank of the Pest side of the city.

Budapest is made up of two parts (Buda and Pest) separated by the Danube River. I found the 'Shoes on the Danube' memorial, which is a very touching memorial to the people of Budapest who were shot by the fascists during WWII. Wikipedia describes it much better than I could: "They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank.".

The memorial itself is beautiful, but my visit was somewhat marred by a huge group of teenage schoolboys who were showing very little respect and their teachers really didn't seem to care...

Next stop was the stunning Parliament buildings. Apparently they are even better at night, but I haven't been going out in the evenings much. My huge days of sightseeing are wearing me out! (Although I am out tonight... I am typing this in a laundromat in Krakow. Hard-core!)

Hungarian Parliament Building

After the Parliament Buildings I decided that it would be a better idea to do what I wanted to do on the other side of the river while I had time, and leave the stuff that was closer to the hotel for the next day when I only had a half day.

So I caught a tram and a bus and made it to Trinity Square where there is a church and a pretty good view over the city.

Looking back across the Danube to Parliament Buildings

Ten bridges cross the Danube between Buda and Pest

St. Matthias Church

I went on to see more of Buda that afternoon, but I'll save that for my next post. For now, bedtime...