Budapest, Hungary: (17 pictures) – Days 19 and 20
Parliament - This building was modeled after England's Westminster,
but it was built way too big because today the government only uses 12%
of it.
Boat Race on the Danube - This was one of the first few things
I saw in Budapest. It was right outside of the Parliament building.
These little boats were going quite fast and there were a lot of people
watching from the side of the river, so I thought it was pretty cool.
You can see the St. Matthias Church on the left side of the picture.
View from the top of St. Stephen’s Basilica- This shows Gellert
Hill in the distance on the right side of the picture.
View from the top of St. Stephen’s Basilica- I'm not sure exactly
what this shows, but still it gives an idea of what Budapest looks like.
Hungarian National Opera House - This is a huge opera house,
but unlike in Vienna, I didn't go inside to watch a performance.
Gellert Hill with Citadel on top - I saw a big mountain nearby
with something neat on top, so naturally, being Thomas, I wanted to climb
it.
Statue of St. Gellert - This statue and waterfall were near
the bottom of Gellert Hill. Gellert was a bishop who was hurled to
his death from the top of the hill by nonbelievers.
View of Danube from top of Citadel - Half an hour later after
beginning the climb, I reached the top of Gellert Hill and was rewarded
with this great view of Budapest and the Danube River. Budapest was
actually originally two cities named Buda and Pest, one on each side of
the river. It's now just one city, but the left side is still called
just Buda and the right side is known as Pest.
Chain Bridge with Buda Castle - This is the most famous bridge
in Budapest. You can also see the Buda Castle on the left, which
was destroyed in World War II, but now houses a few different museums.
St. Stephen’s Basilica - This is Budapest's largest church.
It was also destroyed by bombs in World War II, but today it stands again
so I can do things like climb to the top and take pictures.
Street near the Train Station - I don't really know why I took
this picture. I guess just to show what a street in Hungary looks
like. That is a subway entrance below the street.
Heroes’ Square - This monument commemorates Hungary's most prominent
leaders.
Vajdahuyad Castle - This isn't a real castle as it was built
only 100 years ago to celebrate Hungary's 1,000th birthday. But still
it is pretty and has a nice lake surrounding it.
Me in a Rowboat - I rented a rowboat for half an hour and struggled
to row around the lake by myself in the picture above. But even though
I wasn't very good at the rowing, don't I look so happy?
Hippo and Elephant at the Budapest Zoo - I had extra money and
time and I hadn't been to a zoo on my trip yet, so I decided to check out
the Budapest Zoo since it was close by. It was a little different
than American zoos because some of the animals didn't look like they were
being taken care of very well and might be a little sick. Also, it
was different how you could just walk right up to some of the animals and
pet them. It was good because I got to pet a camel, a reindeer, and
a couple other big antelope type animals. But it was also bad because
people were feeding the animals a bunch of junk food. The elephant
is in the background above the standing hippo.
St. Matthias Church - This church is at least 500 years old,
but it closed right before I arrived there, so I wasn't able to go inside.
Parliament from Fisherman’s Bastian - This picture was
taken after I walked across the river and up near the Buda Castle and St.
Matthias Church.
Continue on to Prague, Czech Republic
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