Budapest, Day 3

Even though Budapest is modern, it is hard to forget hints from its Communist past. A interesting and terrifying history, we explored Memento Park (Statue Park) which is a graveyard of Communist Statues. Momento Park made it interesting and you can see the propaganda exuding out of the metal.

Beneath a replica of Stalin's boots, all that was left after Hungarians tore it down

Communism brings out a lot of opinions from just about everyone. I once had an old man tell me "If you want to know a man's a commie, give him a Reese's Pieces and see if he likes it." I'm not sure if this is a surefire way to determine if someone is friend or foe, but you never know.

Memento Park is a bit out of the way and took half a day. If you only have two days in Budapest, I would skip it. But it was interesting so I would recommend if you have three or more days. We booked the tickets online and took a direct bus from downtown Budapest.

If it seems like we jovially enjoyed the park, we kind of did. However, the gravity of what real life was under Communist rule was not lost on us. We will never understand what life was like under Communist rule. Most of what we know about that time is perpetuated by movies. As a communications major, propaganda and its effects fascinates me and so we enjoyed (for lack of a better word) this park. Plus, who doesn't like posing in front of an extremely large statue.

Plus you get a chance to sit in a smelly old car. This is a real, original Trabant car a "terrible car" synonymous with Commies. It was really a little smelly.

After jumping back into present day we finished off our day by visiting St. Istvan's Basilica and waited in line for the Gelarto Rosa which turns gelato into darling rose creations. The line is long but we had time to kill.

Our plan for the rest of the afternoon was to visit the Great Synagogue and Jewish Museum and walk along Andrasay Ut. But it was Whitsunday which apparently means everyone shuts down. What?! Who knew? So we people watched in a square before hopping on our overnight train to Poland.

Practicalities:

• Transportation: Public transportation was super easy to use. We utilized both the metro and the cute yellow tram. We got a three-day metro ticket (72 hours) and used it very often.
• Info about train travel in and out of Hungary on seat61.com
• Currency: Hungary uses the Forint which is hugely inflated. $1 =295 forint. So get used to your 295 times tables and division. It was hard for me to work out costs on the fly. 
• Accommodations: We stayed here which was super cheap (can't beat $35 a night) and close to public transportation. Most people we spoke to recommended staying in Pest because that has the greatest concentration of tourist sites. However, Buda is more residential. If you don't have an Airbnb account, use this link to get $35 off your first stay
• Guide Books: Rick Steves for life. Other helpful sites included: 
• Traveling to Hungary Infographic
• Bargain Weekend in Budapest
• Where to Eat in Budapest here and here
• Top 12 Things to Do in Budapest

Traveled May 2015