Thursday, September 2, 2010

Andrassy Utca

We spent Wednesday mostly on skype and email, frantically trying to track down tires for the Grey Wanderer. It's a size (previous post) that is apparently unusual in Europe. At length, we think we have found some, here in Budapest, through Automax.hu. We'll see; Friday morning. Thursday we lazed around, eventually tramming into town for a Hungarian lunch at Stex's (again; we like this place), and a promenade of Andrassy Ut, Pest's great northeastern boulevard. It's an old-style tree-lined boulevard, many great buildings to look at (but rather little in the way of shops and restaurants), ending at Heroes' Square and the park and spa beyond.
On the way is the House of Terror, now a museum, but
earlier the headquarters of the Hungarian secret police










It's exterior walls are lined with names and
photographs of the scores murdered within,
particularly after the uprising in 1957













Along the way, too, are many beautiful but now delapitated
buildings, awaiting renovation; this appears common in
eastern bloc countries; the problem is not so much funding
as ownership and clear title; after fifty years of turmoil in
these countries, the Germans, then the Russians, war,
genocide, and then communism, matters of ownership can
be quite obscure















Andrassy Ut, looking northeast to Heroes'
Square














Heroes' Square (1896); which celebrates--I am sure you are
aware--the millennial anniversary of the Magyar conquest
of the Carpathian Basin (did I skip that chapter in my
western civ course?!); lots of things here, including the
central market, were built in 1896, sort of a high-water
mark in the Austro-Hungarian Empire







Main part of Vajdahunyad Castle, in the park just up from
Heroes' Square







Wider view of Vadjahunyad Castle (lots of renovation
here), which includes Baroque, Romanesque, Gothic, and
Tudor styles (what? no Moorish Revival?!)
















Back downtown, another beautiful building












And we ended our long stroll with another stop at the
central market for some tokay, paprika, etc.

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