Buda + Pest = Sehr Gut!

Last weekend, I went to Budapest. This was the one city outside of Wien that I especially wanted to visit.
Budapest is quite a convoluted city. There's a palpable mix of old Hungary as well as new multi-cultural metropolitanism.

Among the sights I saw:
Franz Lizst Museum - small museum dedicated to none other than the pianist and composer Lizst. It was in the same rooms that he stayed in when he lived in Budapest for 6 years near the end of his life. It had a collection of keyboards, most made especially for him. I touched the keys on one of them, even though you weren't supposed to. I couldn't resist.
The House of Terror - A new museum (2002) dedicated to the victims of the Nationalist Socialist party in Budapest during WWII (Arrowcross) and the Communist party after the war. (http://www.terrorhaza.hu/en/index_2.html)
Memento Park - A park just outside the city walls which houses Soviet statues collected from around Hungary.
The Castle Labyrinth - Series of tunnels underground in the Castle Hill which formed naturally and then were expanded and used, among other purposes, to shelter people during the war. We went in the evening, when they turn out the lights and give everyone kerosene lanterns to navigate the tunnels. Damp and creepy, but I liked the fountain of red wine as well as the various statues and old paintings on the wall.
Mátyás Church and the Fisherman's Bastion - famous church which was badly damaged during WWII. It was reconstructed, and the current building was finished (I think) in the 1970's. Designed in a picturesque neo-Gothic style and has a colorful tiled roof. (A church in Zagreb had one as well. I've decided that I like these a lot) The Fisherman's Bastion is situated on the cliff behind the church. It faces the Danube and gives a good view of the city and surrounding area. It's also across from the huge Parliament Building, which has over 600 rooms. Near the beginning of the 20th century, the Parliament Building used more electricity than the rest of the city.
Marzipan Museum - In the back of Buda Hilton, next to Mattias' Church. It's a small museum. If one is in Budapest and a great fan of marzipan and all that can be created out of said substance, I would recommend it. It's delightfully kitschy.
Marxim - A great pizza place with Communist decor and amazing pizza. I had the Pizza a la Anastasia, which came with Bolognese meat sauce, mushrooms and cheese. It went perfectly with the Dreher Bak I was drinking.

I went with Ann Rider, my Holocaust Lit. professor, as well as her friend and former student, Melanie. Also with us was Matt, my friend from Marian who's also studying in Wien.
We had a great time and had some delicious food. Our favorite restaurant was just a block away from our hotel. It was called Kampa and was in a cellar. They served delicious typical Hungarian cuisine (think goulash, as well as and stuffed paprika with tomato sauce). Their food was filling and quite cheap. We almost felt bad paying as little as we did. One of my meals was only about 5 euros and I had a drink, some coffee and a full entree. But I'm not complaining :) We also went to a restaurant that specialized in crepes. They had sweet crepes, savory crepes, and other things like stuffed baked potatoes. I had a crepe with mushrooms and ham for lunch and then a chocolate-stuffed crepe for dessert and I was full for a long time afterwards.

Hungary's currency is the forint. The exchange rate is about 230 forints to the euro. Therefore, it is common to receive a restaurant bill for thousands of forints. It always threw us off a little til we remembered to convert it in our heads to euros.

I would write more about Budapest, and I probably will later, but right now I have a paper to finish for Ann's class and I can only write so much in one night.

Bis bald!