Greetings from Budapest! For those of you who don't know the plan, I'm in Budapest as the first leg of a trip that include Krakow, Prague and Vienna. I'm group traveling, something I thought I'd never do, but the group doesn't show up until Wednesday. For now, my friend Susan Potter and I are traveling together. "The group" is a Wright State group led by a history professor from the Lake Campus.

First, the drama. We had 6 hours to kill in O'Hare airport, my wallet fell out of my backpack and in between the cushions of a sofa in a private airline lounge...but I didn't realize it until I tried to pay for dinner at a restaurant. It took about 30 minutes to find it, and the Chicago PD were involved. That will get your heart pumping when you are less than an hour from flying out of the countr.

Flight was fine. We flew LOT (Polish) airlines, and it was their inaugural flight from Chicago to Budapest. The press was at the airport to cover the event, and we were offered cake and sandwiches. The best part was the plane was barely half full. I had a row (3 seats) to myself, which meant I could lay down. I also had toddlers on 3 sides of me that didn't enjoy flying much…so I laid down, but I didn't sleep. Oh well.

The apartment in Budapest is fantastic, thank you, once again, Airbnb. We dropped our bags and went out to walk the city. (This was on Sunday). We got into the apartment at 11am, and I set a goal of staying out until 5pm. We walked and walked…at this point we'd both been up for well over 24 hours. The weather was perfect, low 80's and sunny.

Today was more adventuresome. We started by going to a Turkish Bath for a few hours. These baths are all over Budapest, where hot springs are common. It was packed, but we had fun trying out all the pools with different temps, including a couple that were over 100 degrees. Fun tip: if you suffer from body image issues, go to a bath house in Budapest. There were people of all shapes, sizes, and ages….and most were in speedos (men) and bikinis. In fact, it was almost as if the older ones showed the most skin. It was excellent people watching. Following a long day of travel and another long day of walking, the warm mineral waters felt great.

I forgot, prior to going to the baths, we toured St. Stephen's basilica. Nothing super exciting to report; it was a beautiful chuch.

After the baths, we toured the State Opera House, which was a joke. The auditorium is closed for two years for renovations, so we basically had a 25-minute tour of the lobby and stairs. Big bummer….touring the Paris Opera House is one of my favorite memories of Paris. To make up for the lame-o tour, two of the opera signers performed 4 songs for us, which was nice.

After Opera, we chilled for an hour or so and then headed to what I think could end up being the highlight of the trip….Memento Park.

When the commies were in power, they erected many statues, reliefs, and other over-the-top art/propaganda throughout Budapest. Post-commies, the Hungarians understandably no longer want to look at this stuff. In 2006, a park is established on the outskirts of the city wayyyyyyyyy off the tourist track, and at this park they relocated the statues etc from the communist days. Lenin, Stalin, 'the worker', etc. The park is a dump. It is slightly larger than a football field, and there is no easy way to get to it. The grass and shrubbery is all overgrown. They put down some stone walking paths, but that is about it. It was edgy, and I loved it. It was a Park of Disgrace. All those statues together make a strong statement, "we'll say we are friends, but in reality, we dominate you and don't you ever forget it." On the one hand, the statues are out of the city, so Hungarian's don't have to walk by them every day and be reminded of how the Soviets controlled them for four decades. On the other hand, they still exist and tell a powerful story, which younger generations may need to know and be reminded of what can happen when lunatics are in power.

After the park, we found a restaurant for dinner that had a quartet playing music from what turned out to be a largely-American crowd. Ironically, the band played "Somewhere My Love" from Dr. Zhivago; this was my birthday dinner, and I was named after the character Lara from Dr. Z. Of course, Susan had to let them know it was my birthday, so I was allowed to make a request. There were two violinists in the group, and it took all the self control I have to not request The Devil Went Down to Georgia. Instead I went with Sunrise, Sunset. The 3-4 minutes the lead violinst spent at my side while he played the song were some of the longest and most embarrassing minutes of my life.

Tomorrow is do-our-own-thing day. I'm going to focus on history museums and synagogues. More on that later.

Some general observations about Budapest, focusing on topics of interest for some friends who are going to Budapest this summer:

-There are pockets of beauty (mostly around the Danube), but a lot of it just looks like a city. Probably not surprising since it was largely destroyed in WWII. As I was prepping for the trip, I read many references to it as "the Paris of the East"…but I would say that is stretching it.

-Food is good, but the "grab and go" street food that you find in Italy and Paris isn't as common here.

-The public transit system is great…clean, cheap and easy to use.

-The city is clean and the crowds are not overwhelming. I've felt safe at all times.

-There is no trouble finding English speakers. People are nice.

Overall, it is a great city. I have 6 days here, and I think I'll be able to cover most of what I want to see during that time.