Budapest Day 4 (Monday May 25, 2009)

Budapest Day 4 (Monday May 25, 2009)

Today we went to see the Hungarian Parliament building and also visited the Castle District.

The Hungarian Parliament was in session so we saw the room where the House of Lords used to meet. Hungary has a unicameral parliament with only the House of Commons. The beautiful House of Lords deliberation room is only used for special occasions. In the lobby outside the House of Lords meeting room was a numbered stand for legislators to put their cigars before going into the room. They had to remember their number to pick up the correct cigar when they left the room. Today no smoking is allowed. We were also told that in the early days the room was cooled in the summer by putting blocks of ice underneath the building in small doors and then the cool air was circulated through the chambers with vents in the floor. We were not able to see the similar House of Commons room since it was in session.

We went later to the Castle district. This district was destroyed during WWII and had to be rebuilt. It was decided to use stone from the original buildings whenever possible and inter-mix the old stone with new stone. The buildings had a distinctive look.

We had lunch at a very nice pastry shop in the Castle district. We also rested at a Hilton Hotel in this district which had as part of the hotel the remnants of former Dominican Convent. There are remains of the old cloisters where the monks used to walk around a small garden and pray.

We also visited an old Matthias church that was built originally in the 1200s. During WWII they removed and hid the stain glass windows and but them back after the war. The building also had to be restored after the war. It is under renovation today. In 1309 Charles Robert of Anjou was crowned King here. In 1867 the Emperor of Austria, Franz Josef I was crowned and Hungarian musician Franz List composed the Coronation Mass for the event. We also saw the nearby Fisherman Bastion, a fairy-tale castle built in 1876 and has fantastic views of the Pest side of the Danube River. One can see the Parliament building, the new Budapest city along with the old city.

Near the church and Fisherman Bastion is a statue of a bronze horse. The word spread that touching the horses testicles would bring good luck, so the only part of the horse that is not tarnished is this part of the horse.

In the evening we went to another very nice restaurant, Kispipa, for dinner and afterwards walked over to see Peter Herczfeld’s high school.

We stopped briefly at the fancy New York café and looked again at the popular Vaci Street with all its shops and cafes. We then took the subway to see the Danube River at night with all the city lights on and the chain bridge lights were on. It was a clear night with a cool breeze and a new moon rising.

One comment is the acceleration of the buses and trams and the speed of the subway escalators. The buses and trams accelerate and decelerate very fast. If one is not holding on to something, once one gets into the bus or tram, it is easy to get thrown about. We had several people in our group fall into people’s laps or almost loose control and fall to the back of the bus or tram when it accelerates from a stop. The subway escalators are about twice as fast as those in the United States, one had to jump on and jump off the escalators.