Walk through District 5

Today we took a walk through some of Budapest that we hadn’t previously thoroughly explored. We started at Kossuth tér where the Parliament building is. Although we have seen this square many times now, we turned down to follow Vécsey utca. Here there is a two-sided reconstructed monument dedicated to martyrs of the Red Terror in 1919; the original was town down after WWII.

Vécsey utca leads to Szabadság tér, a big park with several monuments. The first we came to was the Ronald Regan statue, who was a staunch supporter of anti-communist movements in Hungary. The statue of George Bush memorializes the speech he gave in Kossuth tér when it was raining and his papers got wet, so he spoke without his notes. This statue is right by the US Embassy, which is hugely fortified with gates and guards. In the middle of the square is the Soviet War Memorial, which is a holdover to the Soviet occupation. Although some think this monument should be removed like most of the Soviet monuments have, I am glad that it remains. If we remove all symbols of a past, then when is there to remind us not to repeat that past? This was part of Hungarian history, whether it is a part that was liked or not. The statue Ronin is mimicking is of Harry Hill Bandholtz, a US WWI officer who saved Hungarian artwork, which I think is cool.

The final picture is of a hugely controversial statue, which is supposed to symbolize the victims of the German occupation. However, opponents believe the statue doesn’t take into account the fact that Hungary was closely allied with Germany until the bitter end of the war and that many Hungarians freely collaborated with the Nazis after the ‘invasion’. This is perhaps an example of selective memory of history, gaslighting, and encouraging an internal locus of control that blames others for the poor choices that are made. Incidentally, a makeshift memorial was put up in front of the official monument to account for all victims of the acts of humans in WWII, not only those due to the Germans. Although I am definitely not the one to be arguing politics, I have enjoyed listening to each side of these intriguing discussions.

We saw some lovely architecture surrounding Szabadság tér.

The kids were excited to see the sign of the US Embassy and to learn that was where our friend Steve works. We walked toward Szent István Bazilika, where we passed the beautiful Nemzeti Bank and other lovely buildings. I can’t say much about them because I don’t know what most of them are, but they are pretty.

Near Szent István Bazilika is Gelarto Rosa, a shop which shapes the gelato into roses. It is really pretty, and even though more expensive than most gelato shops it was good. We have passed this shop several times now and promised the kids to get some eventually, and today was a good day to do so.

We then got some lángos (Ronin’s favorite food) and passed the Fat Policeman Statue, where everyone needed a picture. Today he was wearing a mask to keep him safe from all the tourists!

We made our way to the waterfront and past Széchenyi István tér, where we took pictures of the Boy with the Dog, the Little Princess, and the Shakespeare statues.

Our next stop was the Orthodox Church, which has one steeple the is black and one that is green.

We walked down Váci utca, which is a big touristy street with lots of souvenir shops and tourist restaurants, which was fun but not really indicative of the rest of Budapest. However, this street has the first Adidas and McDonalds shops open behind the Iron Curtain. When these were first opened, the lines to get in were supposedly hours long.

The trek through Pest took us south past the Március 15 tér and the Town Center Parish Church, which had a beautiful inside. We then made our way through Ferenciek ter, down Károlyi Mihály utca, to Egyetem tér (University square), and finally to Károlyi Kert where the kids could play on the playground. I took some pictures of the architecture and beautiful buildings, but the pictures just don’t to it justice.

Zoey had been collecting giant leaves throughout our walk, and here was her collection. It was a nice walk through the city, but now we were ready to go home for a rest!