So today, I had class and then took a quick nap and headed back ot he cittadella (built by the Hapsburg empire to keep an eye on the Hungarian towns by the Austrians) inside which was used as an anti-aircraft/bunker complex during WWII. I thought it would be a quick little museum, but I ended up spending over 2 and ½ hours there. Of course iread every little plaque and such. It was really neat as part was a wax museum with all kinds of nazi artifacts and part was a photo gallery of the siege of Budapest. Budapest was the site of some serious fighting during the war. Originally the Hungarians were allied with the germans, but then they switched and so the germans laid siege for 102 days, longer than Stalingrad but not as long as the three years of st. Petersburg. However, unlike st. Petersburg, but more like Stalingrad the soviets invaded the german occupation and they had to fight it out street by street, building by building, floor by floor, room by room. 60,000 dead in this city combined between german, soviet, and Hungarian. Both sides german, and soviet, blasted the hell out of the city and the pictures how recognizable buildings that its unbelievable they were restored.
I pride myself on being pretty callous to the events of WWII, but they had a room of pictures of children that suffered and it was quite hard to bear. I took photos of two photos that really hit me. One was a 7 year old boy laying on the street and the other was 3 little girls crying. I love WWII and the study of it and this has added another layer to my understanding. Our tour guide has added Mathausen, a concentration camp in Austria to our list of sites to see, that was not originally there. I’m excited, I think it will be a strong experience. A lot of other people went to the medicinal baths that this city is known for but they all hated it and left early, I haven’t got the full story but no one was happy with it and I’m glad I didn’t go. For the evening we went on a riverboat dinner/tour up and down the Danube. It was beautiful, but as it was dark all my pictures ar blurry and don’t do justice. We had; paprika chicken, caviar, wine, champagne, mussels, stuffed chicken, gholash, and assorted other Hungarian foods. All excellent. Also, I know I will forget soooooo much of what I learned unless reminded but the patron saint and first king of hungary is Saint Istavan aka St. Steven, which makes sense that uncle and grampy steve’s names are what they are. I haven’t been able to find any st. kenneths, but I’ll keep looking. Another huge Hungarian folk hero is mathias aka matthew, so beard your name has been figured out. So far Budapest has been the nicest city I’ve been to, not counting my Russian experiences in Europe. I am pumped for the next leg of my journey as it is through 3 of the greatest Germanic cities ever. Vienna, capitol of Austria, praguge, former capital of the holy roman empire aka greater germany, and berlin…of course capitol of germany. We leave tomorrow at 9am and are stopping in kutna hora and should be to Vienna pretty early. I must say this program has been pretty good, the class is interesting (although not very well taught) and the cities are amazing and I love having the taste of each. I really missed America, but now I could do without. It has revitalized my interest in Europe and I highly recommend these cities for a visit. If anyone ever goes and wants to know what to look for/eat/see/tips I’d be more than happy to provide. After the cruise we all went to a gay bar, because one dude wanted to check it out. Not really my scene so after like an hour a bunch of us just went home when the trannys started doing karaoke.
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