Budapest

We had left Vienna in mid-afternoon, arrived in Budapest, (about 150 miles) in the evening. We were instantly impressed with beautiful Budapest. Many people were shopping and strolling on the downtown streets in the early evening.

We finally found the crowded campground, on the east side of the Danube River, north of downtown. A nice man who spoke German helped us get settled in the Budapest campground. Emmy was impressed when he kissed her hand.

Our Visitor’s Visa was only good for one night, so we left the campsite early morning to visit the city. Budapest is divided into two parts; Buda, the hilly part on the western bank, and Pest, the flat plain on the eastern bank of the Danube River. These two parts (names) were merged together in 1873.

The stores were to open at 10:00 AM, so we drove downtown and walked the shopping streets. Saw very little we would like to buy, Budapest had the poorest shopping area we had seen in any major city in Europe. Several times men came up to us on the street in Budapest and asked if we wanted to exchange money. Since we couldn’t find anything we wanted to buy, we didn’t need more of that kind of money.

Near downtown we drove past a race track and a sports arena, we saw some nice office buildings, and passed a Railway Station that was housed in a very beautiful building, dating from the late 1880’s. Then we drove across the Danube on the Chain Bridge (1849), now a symbol of Budapest. This was a magnificent sight when we saw it illuminated as we arrived in the city last night. We also crossed the Danube on the Margaret Bridge (1870s), but only had time to stop at Margaret Island (Margitsziget), one of Budapest's finest spots, for a moment.

Built at the turn of the twentieth century, the Parliament building in Budapest, as viewed from across the Danube, is about the most grandiose, stately government building we have seen in Europe, or elsewhere, for that matter.

At the top of a hill overlooking Budapest, we found a group of Soviet tourists, accompanied by a Soviet Army Officer, visiting the Russian Monument that commemorates the “liberation” of Budapest in 1944-45. They gathered as a group for pictures and I introduced myself as an American. I asked if they were Russians, and they smiled and said Soviet.