Today is our final day in Budapest before we head back to Charles de Gaulle and then onto LAX. Wow, it’s been an amazing and wonderful journey! I even want to add another exclamation point, even though I despise them!
Today’s stroll along the Danube took us by Orban’s House of Parliament. I tried to take a selfie with the facist guards, soldiers and police at the gate but they were having none of it.
Liberty Square boasts several monuments to people who died fighting for Hungarian Freedom over the Soviets and the Nazis.
This one is a tribute to victims of German occupation.
Below it, people posted tributes to Jewish victims — from 1944 and 2023.
But the day wasn’t all somber. We walked in the sunshine. We shopped for souvenirs. We saw a movie set in a park made to look like old Paris (Angelina Jolie is reportedly filming a biopic of Maria Callas here right now). In the evening, we heard a string concert in St Stephan’s Basilica, an appropriate and uplifting finale to our week in Budapest.
And, of course, our last Pastry of the Day had to be Dobostorte, a Hungarian sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel.
And while we’re talking about things Hungary is famous for, I have to mention Harry Houdini, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Tony Curtis, Bela Lugosi, Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly, Franz Liszt, Adrien Brody, George Soros and Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube. Random, but kinda interesting.
Thanks for reading!
