János Hill and the Parliament

After teaching my class, it was such a nice day that we wanted to take the opportunity to do something outside with the kids before the weather turns chilly. After lunch, a 45-minute bus ride northeast of the city took us to the bottom of János Hill, where we took the Zugliget Chairlift up to the top of the hill. This hill, located in the Buda Hills, is the highest point in Budapest. The ride was very peaceful, and the kids and adults both loved it. I think we all would have ridden up and down several times if we could. At the top of the hill it is a short, but uphill, hike to Erzébet-kilátó (or Elizabeth lookout). The tower was built in 1911, and we could walk all the way to the top of the tower while stopping at each platform for views over the entire Budapest valley.

On the walk back from the tower, the kids ran on the running path, which was padded like a squishy track and actually felt really nice on my feet. There was also a playground, where of course we had to stop. The kids are getting used to me saying “20 minutes”, because we usually let them stay at a playground for 20 minutes. Although they never really know if we stay longer or shorter, they will now ask, “Can we have 20 minutes, pleeeeeeease?!?” During the chairlift ride down, you could really see the views coming down from the mountain. Ronin was not happy with me because he had to sit with me this time instead of with daddy, so he was pouting.

While on the bus we decided that instead of going home we would go to the stop by parliament and walk around looking at some of the sights in the Leopold Town area of Budapest. We stopped at Olimpia park first since it was on the way to the parliament from the bus stop. The playground was pretty nice, and we could have stayed longer than the 20 minutes but we had lots more to see before the end of the day.

The Parliament isn’t as spectacular-looking during the daytime as it was at night, but still stunning with its frilly spires and its elegance.

There are several statues in Kissuth tér, or the grassy square behind the parliament building. The Kossuth monument is a large white monument in tribute to those who led the 1848 Revolution against the Habsburgs. The reflecting pond is a tribute to those killed during the 1956 Revolution against the Soviets. On the big horse is Ferenc Rákóczi, who led the unsuccessful War of Independence in the early 1700s against the Habsburgs. Two other statues are located on either side of the Parliament; both are a mixture of white and black materials creating an interesting contrast. Another statue was that of the poet Attila Józef (or as Ronin called it, the guy with a hat), but the kids thought it was a fun one for a picture.

The Ministry of Agriculture, the second runner-up for the Parliament, is really pretty. We got several pictures of this building from different angles.

In Kissuth tér there are two staircases leading down into the ground. Unless you knew these were here and to go down them, they would be easily missed or taken for metro entrances. In the first one was a history of the architecture of the parliament building, which included fragments from renovations of the building. For each fragment there was a picture that showed where each was located on the actual building; when we left the kids actually found some of these on the real building. Apparently when the Parliament was first built there was some pretty shoddy craftsmanship and materials used, and parts of the building started deteriorating within a decade. So lots of renovations have been conducted, particularly after WWII. The second underground staircase held a memorial to the 1956 Uprising, where a massacre of bystanders and protesters were killed in this square. This was a very poignant exhibit with photos, historical recollections, and personal testimonies of the event.

A few yards down the Danube south of the Parliament is the memorial to the Hungarian Jews killed during the Nazi occupation of Hungary. These 50 unique pairs of shoes are on the spot where many Jews were shot and thrown into the Danube. This was a huge teaching moment for the kids, since some of the shoes were child sized. They couldn’t believe that people would kill mommies and children, and we had a discussion about war and how even people that aren’t fighting and are just regular people get hurt and sometimes die.

There was more to see around Leopold Town area, but it was getting late and this was a good stopping point for today.