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.