Budapest (Hungary)

I wanted to show Terry Budapest after Prague so we boarded a flight for Hungary. Our hotel in Budapest was significant historically. During World War II, while Nazis committed atrocities against innocent Jews, Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat posted in Budapest, quietly went about printing diplomatic identity cards ("shutzpasses") he used to save thousands of lives. Our hotel used to be the factory that printed those life-saving passes. We put our bags in our room and left to explore the Hungarian version of a Christmas market, differentiated from Prague's by local crafts and foods. We had hot fruit punch and huge potato pancakes (used as plates to hold beef or stuffed cabbage). I thought it was too cold for my wife to enjoy a walking tour so I hired a private guide and car and we spent the next day exploring what felt like every street and building in Budapest. We saw the (huge) Parliament, crossed the Danube, saw Margaret Island, drove to the castle on the "Buda" side of Budapest, saw Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church, and stopped at Gellert Hill for the panorama. Then we crossed the Elisabeth Bridge and went to Heroes' Square on the famous Andrassy Avenue (akin to Paris' Champs Elysees). Our guide's grandfather was a Communist so we got a firsthand taste of life under Communism and the ramifications when it ended. We toured Franz Liszt sites, Rubik's (yes, Hungarian!) cube sites, and the second largest synagogue in Europe. As we continued, my wife saw something and asked to disembark. It was the wall of the Jewish ghetto from which 600,000 people perished at the hands of the Nazis. The inscription asked for all who read the words to pray for the dead, which we did. Hungary, an ally of Nazi Germany, protected its Jewish population until Germany invaded in 1944 after which deportations to concentration camps began. Interestingly, last year a controversial Holocaust memorial was erected. We drove past and noticed a demonstration; apparently Hungary still struggles with its role in World War II 70 years afterward. Our guide took us to the outskirts of the city where we saw Communist era housing juxtaposed with Roman ruins and aqueducts. The original Hungarian tribes, from over the Urals, developed a society ruled variously by Rome, Arabs, the Ottoman Empire, Nazis, then Communists. The next day we strolled along the Danube, crossing bridges, up and down hills and boulevards. When our trip ended and we boarded a plane back to Amman (by way of Paris) we had a lot to talk about; especially you readers (and emailers) from all over the world, to whom I wish a Happy New Year.