Running Through Budapest and Vienna

Budapest at nightfall

60 Andrassy Street

The Torture Museum

"Terror" Awning

Famous Attila Jozsef "Sitting Man" Statue

Me, Martin, Matt in front of Parliament

The Three Misters

The Chain Bridge

Parlaiment from Buda

The city from Buda

Budapest Basillica

Vienna National Library

Vienna City Hall

"The Mall" of Vienna

Grabbing Lunch

Me, Martin, Matt outside of the Parliament

The Opera

Stephansdom

View from the top of the Stephansdom

The main ferris wheel

Matt and the clown

We were up before the rooster crowed – I joked with Martin that I should go wake it up to see how it feels – and out of Martin’s house before the sun rose (no rhyme intended). We trudged slowly down the snowy road toward the train station, it was our last day in Slovakia and as we bid farewell to Mister’s homeland, we headed out for the second half of our adventure in Central Europe.

We didn’t arrive in Budapest until about six hours after we left Martin’s house. And from the moment we stepped off the train, we had 6 hours until our next train to Vienna – naturally we were a little pressed for time. Of all the cities that we toured over the course of the week, I’d have to say that Budapest was probably our fastest run through. We started our tour taking a trip to the Torture Museum which was on the outskirts of the historical center of the city – symbolized by the giant awning which surrounds the museum reading “Torture”.

One of the things I never really thought about until our trip through Hungary, was how for the Soviet satellite countries, the end of WWII didn’t end the reign of suffering that they endured. Hungary was passed from the hands of the Nazi regime directly into the hands of Soviet communists. The Hungarian people suffered as a result of both rulers – in fact the feeling I got while I was in the torture museum was that it was the first time in all my time in Europe that the Nazi’s were compared to as being the milder group.

With video commentary, pamphlets and a unique design, the Torture Museum was created to tell the story of all of the suffering undergone by the Hungarian people under both regimes. The address of 60 Andrassy was something made to be feared by the population of Budapest as it was the headquarters of both the Nazi party and also the Soviet Nationalist party. The reconstructed basement of the museum was made to resemble the cells where prisoners were held, complete with the torture chambers. It was a harrowing presentation of a horrific past.

The rest of our time in Budapest was relatively limited. From the Torture Museum, we shuffled down to the center of the historic city, passing by the largest landmark of city: the Parliament building. The bright red towers and dome of the Parliament Building were magnificent and rivaled only the London parliament (the only bigger Parliament Building in Europe) for the best parliament building I’ve ever seen.

From Parliament we headed over to the Buda side of the river (Budapest was once two different cities – Buda and Pest – on opposite sides of the river, now they are united in one as Hungary’s capital). We scaled the hills of the Buda side and were able to catch some amazing views of the entire city at nightfall – in addition to a man snowboarding for free. As the lights turned on in the city, the clouds above began to glow in a manmade aura – it was one of the most relaxing moments of the relatively hectic trip as we stood admiring the city. Nevertheless, as the sun went down, the clock also ticked late and we hustled back to the train station (stopping first to the see the Basilica) then heading on to catch our final train of the trip – the one headed to Vienna.

We arrived in Vienna late at night, checked into our hostel, and immediately crashed, going to bed at about 10 – we had been traveling since 6am. The next morning we awoke around about 10, stopped at the grocery store for a cheap breakfast and lunch, and then headed in to see the sights of Vienna. Our hostel was near the train station and we began by walking down the main shopping street (the Mariahilfer strass) toward the center of town. The Manhatten-esque street took us right into the heart of the historic city.

The three Misters (Martin, Matt and I) wandered around the historical center of Vienna. With its Romanesque-style, columned buildings and large open spaces I was reminded of walking around the Mall in Washington, D.C. We saw the two major museums, the Natural History Museum and the Modern Art Museum, the National Library, and the Parliament Building. From Parliament we decided to take a trip over to the state house.

Encompassing the lawn in front of the City Hall of Vienna was one of the most intricate set of ice skating rings I’ve ever seen. Cutting through the trees and dividing the walkways was a web of ice trails filled with Austrians, young and old, darting, sliding, and crashing their way around – it really was a spectacle to behold. After stopping for lunch in the middle of the festivities, we headed through the historical center and to Stephansdom – the church with the tallest tower in Vienna. We climbed all 364 of the narrow, winding steps of the Stephansdom tower to see the city from above. After pushing the slumping Slovak up the last couple of steps, we all enjoyed the view from the top of the tower.

Once we had finished taking in all the sites of the city, we headed over to catch our StudentAgency bus (a bus with its own stewardess) to Prague. We walked the distance to the outskirts of the city, wandering through an amusement park along the way (we had time to kill) and prepared for our final excursion in Central Europe – Prague.