After breakfast we left our boat in the steady rain and began our city tour. Lucky for us, the first part of the tour was basically driving to different parts of the central city. As we neared our first stop-Hero Square-the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy the spot in dry conditions. This large plaza was created in 1896 when the World's Fair was held in Budapest. It contains many statues recognizing important people in the history of the country.
The picture at the left shows one of the heroes. The center statue is of Mathias. Apparently he was one of the most well-loved leaders of Hungary. He was quite handsome and gregarious.
The first statue in the picture at the right is of Saint Stephan. He is always pictured holding that double cross because he was the leader during the Austrio-Hungarian reign and that represented both countries. He is the patron saint of the country who is honored by the festival and fireworks that we enjoyed last night. Only problem is, he didn't really like Budapest and Hungary in general. Needless to say, the feeling of many of the present countrymen is mutual!
We got back on our bus and continued viewing the Pest side of the city including the Jewish ghetto area. We learned that in just 4 months time, the Nazis exterminated 60,000 men, women and children. Many of them were chained together at a time at their ankles, forced to stand on the edge of the river, and then the first couple were shot. As they fell, there was not need to use any more bullets and one by one they pulled each other into the river and drowned. They were made to leave their shoes on the bank as the shoes had value to the Germans-unlike the people. The memorial area is now lined with shoes. Quite moving. Then we headed across the Danube to the Buda side of the city.
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