Day 3

The apartment we are staying in is located in the old Jewish Quarter, not surprising since we are directed across the street from The Grand Synagogue. During WWII, Hungary was allied with Germany, albeit in a non-enthusiastic manner. In 1944, Hungary secretly start negotiations with the US and Britain. In retaliation, Hitler occupies Hungary and comes after the Hungarian Jews, a group we had not gone after heavily (in comparison to Jews in other countries). In Budapest, he orders all Jews to live in a ghetto around the Grand Synagogue. He sends them to Auschwitz. He has them stand on the banks of the Danube and executes them so their bodies fall into the river. You get the sick and sad picture. It is very humbling to know we are staying in this great apartment in a vibrant neighborhood that less than 75 years ago was the Jewish Ghetto. Technically, the area is now considered 'transitional', although I find it really nice.

I tell you all this to set the mood for Day 3. First, Susan and I went a Jewish Orthodox synagogue a few blocks from the apartment. It is a small but active synagogue that during WW2 was used by the Nazis as a stable for horses. There were some pictures from that time in the church.

After the synagogue, we split off to do our own thing. I went to two cemeteries that are removed from the tourist areas and separated from each other by a brick wall. The first was Keresepi Cemetery, which is where many of Budapest's more famous citizens are buried. The cemetery receives federal funding. The second cemetery was

After the cemeteries, I went to the House of Terror Museum, a building which was the headquarters for the Arrow Cross Party during WWII and Budapest's communist secret police after the war. The museum pays tribute to the victims who were tortured and/or killed by those regimes and attempts to give you an idea of what life was life. 90% of the museum is about the communist days, with a heavy focus on the 50's and 60's. It was an excellent museum, the highlight being the prison cells in the basement. One cell always had a wet floor. One cell had a low ceiling so you could never stand up in it, while another was so small you could ONLY stand up in it. In the 'standard' cells they had photos of the inmates who had occupied the cell, one of which was a Cardinal, who was imprisoned for 8 years before being freed during the 1956 uprising. The last thing you see as you are leaving the building are the photos of everyone who collaborated with the facist and communist parties, their names, and dates of birth and death.

Budapest Recap

I'm never going to get caught up if I keep writing a recap of each day, so I'm just going to do a recap of each city from here on out. Here are the highlights and stories from Budapest

1. Escalators
The escalators in most of the metro (subway) stations move at warp speed. Easily twice as fast as the average escalator in the USA. For the first few days, I noticed Susan and I both approached them in a manner similar to jumping into jump roads that are already being swung….study and sway, study and sway, annnnnddddddd jump on! I can't imagine helping a toddler learn how to get on the escalator.

2. Story to make Mom proud #1

I don't drink much; a glass of wine at dinner when out with friends is about the most I have. On Day 3 (mentioned above), I was really down after touristing at sad places. When I arrived back at the apartment late afternoon, I had a couple glasses of wine while getting ready for dinner. We went to a fantastic Italian place that you have to book far in advance called Comme Chez Soi that only has about 12 tables. I had a glass of wine there, but they they gave us 3 complimentary after dinner drinks. I wasn't drunk, but I was tipsy enough to wipe out in a busy plaza as we were walking home. (In my defense, there were Segways coming right at us, and I stepped in a bit of a pothole.) I had barely hit the ground when three guys were there to help me up. Susan said if things don't work out with her boyfriend and she wants to meet new men, she's going to just knock me on the ground when we are out somewhere so she can check out the guys that come to help. For the record, I'm fine…didn't even break skin. However, I decided no more than one sad "attraction" per day from here on out.

3. Story to make Mom proud #2

This one requires some set up, but I think it is worth sticking with me. Susan and I had decided that the last day in Budapest would be spa day. I picked out the spa, and Susan picked out the treatments. When we went to the spa on our first day to book the apartments, they recommended we have our mud treatments done by women, as that is what most women prefer. Fine. WE book mud treatments and a fish treatment. When the day arrives, the subway was down and we had other issues with mass transit, so we arrived about 10 minutes late. They graciously offered to reschedule us. Susan scheduled first with a woman for two hours later. They had a woman for me for three hours out, or I could have a man for the same time as Susan. Fine, I'll take the guy. The woman scheduling us says "are you sure?" and her eyes get real big. Sure, give me the guy. Susan had looked into the mud treatments and said they put mud on our backs as a method of detoxification. I've received massages from men, and I assume it would be similar. No big deal.

Our first treatment was with fish. We thought it was a pedicure-like treatment where the fish eat your dead skin, but it was more like reflexology with fish. The fish went to pressure points in your feet and did a vibration-like "thing" (allegedly they weren't biting us) of varying pressures. Where they went on the feet depending on where you had issues. Susan and I put our feet in separate tanks, and it was just the two of us with the therapist. With me, the fish were almost exclusively focused on my lymphatic system. With Susan, they were all over… her eyes (meaning she was tired), her neck and shoulders (sore muscles), her kidneys, etc. It went on for 25 minutes. It didn't hurt; it felt like mild jolts of electricity. It was fun…I don't know that I buy into it, but I don't totally dismiss it either.

Next came the mud treatments. Imagine a large room with 10 cubicles and each includes a treatment table and a shower. The cubes are separated by walls that are maybe 7 feet high, and curtains, so you can somewhere hear people in the other cubicles. My therapist (cute young Hungarian guy) comes in and hands me two packets, which he says are underwear and a shower cap. He tells me to take off everything, put these on, sit on the exam table, and he'll be back in about 5 minutes. The underwear was a paper and string contraption that was a thong. I thought that was a little odd, but didn't overthink it. I wrapped myself in a towel and sit on the exam table. The therapist, Gabriel, comes in and tells me to take off the towel. He then applies the very warm mud while I'm sitting on the edge of the table, which again, seems odd. I figured I would be laying face down on the table. When he finishes my back, he tells me to lay face down on the table. Oooookkkkkkkkk. At this point, have no clue what is happening, so I figure I'll just go with it and see what happens. Long story short, it was an ALL OVER mud treatment, except for my face. I'm fairly confident every inch of me was blushing. He didn't mud my breasts, but he pretty much piled it on everywhere else. Then he wraps me in saran wrap and four blankets and tells me he'll be back in 20 minutes. It was great; I fell asleep.

After 20 minutes he comes in, unwraps me, and I think the embarrassment is just about done. Oh no, Gabriel tells me to go into the shower, and he'll rinse off my backside. So, my new BFF Gabe and I take a shower together. At this point it is taking all I have to not collapse in laughter. Finally, Gabriel finishes hosing me down and leaves me alone to finish showering.

I go back to the waiting room and wait for Susan. When she comes in, I hiss "that was a lot more than the back!!!" She said when her therapist started slapping on the mud, she just laid there and thought "oooohhhh Lori". She said she started laughing. When the therapist asked if she was ticklish, she said "no, I'm just thinking about someone." Susan said she was so distracted by thinking about me with the male therapist that she didn't have time to be self conscious about her own treatment. FYI: when the therapist is a female, it truly is a mud-on-everything event.

We laughed and laughed and laughed. I have no idea if the mud treatment did any good, but it gave me a great story.

4. How to make friends with Hungarian servers

I didn't even attempt to learn any Hungarian words for this trip. Instead, I took an index card and made a cheat sheet for how to say the following: Yes, no, please, thank you, hello, goodbye, and excuse me. When eating out, I just put the card on the table so I can refer to it, and the servers obviously see me using it. Top this with Susan always asking the servers to teach her new words, and I think we were always treated well because they appreciated the effort. I think this is how we each scored three free drinks at the Italian restaurant that led to my stumble. I have similar notecards for the three remaining cities (Krakow, Prague, Vienna).

All the placed I visited in Budapest:

Margaret Island (including the spa)

An Orthodox Synagogue

The Grand Synagogue

Gellert Hill (for the best views of Budapest)

Szechenyi baths

Holocaust Memorial Center

Kerepesi Cemetery (including the Jewish section)

House of Terror

Memento Park

Boat tour on the Danube

The two famous Catholic churches, St. Stephen's Basilica and Matthias Church. I also visited a few churches of the beaten path, which I always prefer.

Lots and lots of walking the streets of Budapest

Memento Park and the spa visit were the highlights. Everything related to the horrors of the 20th century was well done. "Enjoyed" doesn't seem the right word for these placed, but I learned a lot and am glad I visited all of them.