DAY 95 - Fish Pedicure or Hungarian Spa?

June 22 - Night at the Museums in Budapest

For our 2nd day in Budapest, we toured the city and tried to see it all for FREE.  We definitely saw a lot from Gellert Hill....fantastic views of the city.

The Famous Chain Bridge linking Buda and Pest across the Danube River

Looking down to Pest from the Buda side of the River

                                                         
                                        

The gardens are beautiful next to the Hungarian Parliament Building

Very nice views from up here on a beautiful hot June day

Beautiful buildings that also contain the crown jewels

Some of the old ruins from the Medieval Castle were left standing

We didn't go inside, but the outside was grandiose

I went on an excursion by myself.  First I treated myself to a gelato.  I can't remember where Rich went, but he didn't want to go where I was going.

Who is the chick in the middle of the flower?

Yummy Vanilla-Cinammon Gelato in a Flower shape

So I chose a fish pedicure over a Hungarian spa...this is for you, Hailey!

These little guys chewed on me for 30 minutes.  It was pretty creepy!

SUCCESS!!  I uploaded my first video here on my blog.  You'll probably see some more in the future because it was pretty easy.  This is a short one of the little fishies nibbling on my toes and my legs.  Later I dipped down further into the water and the fish crawled clear up to my knees.  It was definitely an experience I won't forget and my feet were so very soft and smooth afterwards.  It was heavenly!

It happened to be "Free Museum Night" in Budapest so we were so excited to choose some museums out of the 'over one hundred' of them.  We went with Sam and a friend of his named Timea.  It was a fun evening.

On our way we saw some interesting sites in the city.

A Beer Wagon - We saw something like this in Berlin except they all biked on bicycles.

Whoaah!!  I guess it's pretty hot outside.  I cure hope they don't stand up!  (Actually....they did....)

Earning a living on the streets

 We started in at 6 p.m. going first to the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art.  I took some pictures of some of the modern art.  We also went to the National Museum, Agriculture Museum, the National Gallery of Hungarian Art and the Terror Museum.

Terror Museum was very eye-opening.  The museum is the former headquarters for the secret police of both the Nazi and Communist governments. The building's awning has the word TERROR cut out of it, and when the sun projects through these letters, it symbolizes the terror which was projected onto the Hungarian people for fifty years.  Hungary was overtaken by the Nazi-affiliated Arrow Cross in the last days of World War II. Arrow Cross members did their best to exterminate Budapest's Jews. They killed Jews one-by-one in the streets, and threw them into the freezing Danube River.  They executed hundreds in the basement of this building. When the communists moved into Hungary, they took over the same building as headquarters of their secret police. To keep dissension to a minimum, the secret police terrorized, tried, deported, or executed anyone suspected of being an enemy of the state.

Built where thousands of Hungarians were held prisoners for many years after WWII

Only a portion of the pictures of the prisoners who were interred here in labor camps

Everywhere you walk there are more monuments and sculptures

Having fun at the "Night of the Museums"

A nice concert in one of the museums - Hungarian folk music

Dedicated to "the memory of the heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of our people and our national independence," Heroes' Square (or Hosök tere) is one of Budapest's grandest landmarks.  Millenium Monument, called so because its construction was begun in 1896, Hungary's 1,000th anniversary. At the base of the famous column (topped with the archangel Gabriel) are statues representing seven Magyar chieftains—considered to be the founders of the Hungarian nation. Behind the column are matching colonnades with 14 statues of royalty and other important figures in Hungarian history.

We're going home to bed - Midnight is just too late for us old people.  The Museums were open til 2 a.m.