Budapest Trip by Train, Aug. 15, 2016

 

On August 15, 2016 we made a trip to the city of Budapest to apply for a passport renewal for Jer. This was the second time since she came to live in Hungary that she's had to renew her passport. Although Jer doesn't care for cities, we decided to make the best of it and check out some things near to the American Embassy while we were there, which included the nearby Hungarian Parliament building.

 


 

 

 

 

Far left, 6:15 am at the station a couple of kilometers from our house and Jer was ready to have some fun in Budapest while there applying for her passport renewal; Left, a view of the station from the platform; Right, Jer and Joey on the train heading for Budapest; Far right, stopping in nearby Györ along our way. The trip from our station to Budapest's main station generally takes about 2 hours.

 


 

 

 

Left, after a number of stops and a long trip we finally start to see the outskirts of Budapest out the window; Center, after getting off the train we headed towards the Keleti Train Station in Budapest; Right, a view of the inside of the terminal. It's a big place!

 


 

 

 

Left, a view of two upper corners of the Lotz Entry of the station, with some lovely murals painted by famous Hungarian fresco painter Lotz Károly Antal Pál (in English Karl Anton Paul Lotz, b.1883 - d.1904) They are beautiful; Center, the front of the Keleti Station; Right, Józsi went into this ticket office to buy some subway tickets.

 


 

 

 

Left, you often see these bike rental stands in cities around Europe, and Budapest is no exception. They are very popular, we saw a lot of people riding around on them while were there; Center, near to U.S. Embassy stands this statue of  U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan, and as you can see by the wear on his hands and feet, his is a popular attraction. His statue was erected at the end of the 1980s when Hungary finally broke free from the grip of the Soviets, as he was seen as a champion for the freedom of European countries from communism; Right, the old Soviet monument... located directly across from Pres. Reagan's statue.

 


 

 

 

Left, a monument remembering the people who were executed at this spot for their part in the Hungarian Uprising of 1848-49. (trying to break free from Austrian rule); Center, a fountain and behind it, a memorial for people lost their lives in WW 2 in camps etc. It was a hot day and a lot of people were having fun in the water; Right, the area just in front of the American Embassy. It's a nice, green area. (but with good security!)

 


 

 

 

Far left, a statue commemorating American General Harry Hill Bandholtz, depicting him with his famous riding whip. (according to legend, he ran off robbing Romanian soldiers who were trying to steal from the Hungarian National Museum using his whip!) Left, a view down a street by the embassy... the buildings at the end are actually on the other side of the Danube River; Right, random photos of a black cat on a sign and a Vespa scooter. (two things we love, black cats and Vespa scooters!)

 


 

 

Left, a shot taken in front of the Parliament building looking across the Danube. We went out on the pontoon and took a shot from there as well; Right, Józsi snapped this shot of Jer with the Hungarian Parliament in the background.

 


 

 

 

Left, next to the Parliament Building are a number of statues including this one (obviously being renewed) of Count Gyula Andrássy (1823-1890), a famous prime minister; Center, a statue of Count Tisza István (Stephen Tisza)  who was also a former prime minister. He was assassinated in 1918 (on the 4th attempt); Right, we saw these guys doing work, hanging off the parliament building.

 


 

 

Left, in the area near the parliament is this very cool model of the parliament building and its grounds, with the legends all in Braille!; Right, close up detail.

 

 


 

 
Left, the Hungarian Parliament building as seen from the pontoon on the Danube; Right, this is the place!

 


 

 
Left, a fountain in front of the parliament building. It looks like people are in the water from a distance, but really they are in a space behind it; Right, one of the old trams.

 


 

 

 

Left, the subway walls near the parliament building are all brightly painted with murals like this; Center, back at the Keleti station. This place looks like a zeppelin hanger when you're inside it... it's huge; Right, there are a few stalls along the platform and Jer spotted these books by an author she loves... but since her Hungarian is still pretty limited (even after all these years) she didn't buy any, just snapped a photo.

 


 

 

 

Left, we had to wait a bit for a train so we just checked out the stuff next to the station, including this tram bus. (which runs on electricity just like the old trams); Center, there were a lot of new yellow taxis, which is something new here. (yellow for a taxi color); Right, following these people back inside to get on the train. (the one you can see waiting) It was a long journey home but we were happy to get back to our village and the kitties.

 


 

When we arrived back home, we found Elvis (the only one of our 8 cats who is a male) watching for us at the window. You can see he was thinking "What took you so long? There are hungry kitties here!"