Budapest Day 2

We woke up and went to the restaurant which serves breakfast for the hotel guests. Very lovely meal and very nice restaurant called Bali Café (which is not Indian as the name suggests).

Then we went next door to the Old Synagogue and purchased their tour. We started with a tour of the museum and our guide (fluent in English, Hebrew, Magyar, and Spanish!) provided an excellent overview of Jewish symbolic artifacts used in the Synagogue and in the home, showcasing items saved from the 1800s. They then have a room dedicated to the victims of the Shoa. Our guide's passion on this subject made the terrifying event very real. Budapest Jewry had largely escaped trouble from the Nazis (though the rest of Hungary had already been brutalized - in the country a Jew's chance of survival was 10%, and in Budapest it was 50%). Then, 5 weeks prior to the end of the war (who knew they had just 5 weeks to hold out????) the governor of Budapest declared he wanted to be a neutral city, not in support of any side of the war. Well, this didn't sit well with Hitler one bit, so he ordered a complete crackdown. He sent in Adolf Eichmann. Do I need to recount the terror? They fenced off the Jewish quarter making it a ghetto; forced 12,000 Jews per day to Auschwitz where 90% were killed upon arrival. Five weeks. There was more to see here that was beautiful and hopeful, but I am done with this subject for now.

We walked down to the Tour Bus and hopped on. The bus took us through all parts of the city - Heroes Square (awesome), the Castle, Gellert Hill, the Liberty Statue, Vaci Utca (the shopping district). What struck us most was the still present reminders of WWII and Communist occupation. The communists were ruthless here, destroying old cathedrals and many other religious sites. While touring the older sections of town, we noticed many buildings that didn't look so old - the city had been bombed quite liberally in the War, and all the bridges destroyed. The Castle and Parliament had been destroyed. Many of the government buildings and the bridges were restored in 1950s, and others simply torn down. This is why things looked new. On the other hand, old buildings throughout the city that survived remain in pretty much the same condition since WWII. We see shell pockmarks and scars everywhere. This is a city with depth of personality and we love it, like an old person's face lined with age and wisdom.

At the end of the day we went to our river cruise dinner and enjoyed a very beautiful and relaxing dinner while viewing the lit-up city of Budapest at night. We are having a great time and are wishing we had more time here in Budapest. We walked through the city, shopping on Vaci Utca and savored every minute.