Rain, terror and faded grandeur

The rain came tumbling down today, our first day in Budapest. It was a bit disappointing as we were so eager to explore the crumbling buildings with their faded grandeur. The city feels like a mix between Italy and Cuba. Italy for the wonderful architecture, Cuba for the peeling, crumbling buildings. A piece of a building actually came away in my hands as we walked down Andrassy Avenue, the main road through Pest, in the rain.

We have not done many museums in Europe because they are so expensive. But due to the weather, we decided to visit the aptly named Terror House (I have tried to put in exclamation marks and speech marks, but cannot seem to get them to work on this European laptop). It was the headquarters of the Nazis when the occuped Hungary for the last year of the war, and then the headquarters of the dreaded Communist secret police. It was an exceptional museum combining haunting music, photos, videos and artefacts to tell the story of the recent brutal history of occupied Hungary. There were harrowing videos of those who were convicted and deported by the secret police, telling of their terrible punishments and even one video were a group of woman confronted the guard who had mistreated them after the end of Communism (in 1989). Most distressing was the underground floor which contained the cells, gallows and torture rooms. One cell was shaped like a closet, so you could not sit down, the other wide, but with a low ceiling so you could not stand up - brutal.

As with the other Eastern European country i have visited, Czech republic, many of the older people in Budapest wear haggard, tired expressions and treat you with a fair amount of suspicion and distrust. Definitely a mindset the result of the terrible decades of Communist rule, where nobody could be trusted and their were spies everywhere. Having visited the museum, I have a lot more understanding and sympathy for this sad demeanour.

Terror aside, some pics from Budapest to enjoy....including our awesome accomodation:

Our boudoir, trains, peeling grandeur...