Koln - Dom

We went up the spire of the Dom. A very long walk. I was disappointed because it was not at all as I recalled from a visit there in about 1980. I think it has a little to do greater emphasis on safety these days. My memory had close ups of flying buttresses and gargoyles. B

Koln

We went from Munich to Brussels to meet up with the Seraphim Choir via Cologne - Neil had not been there and wanted to see the cathedral , which is a ripper I'd have to agree.

It was a gay pride festival so the streets were packed.

Streets of Budapest

No that is not a song title.

Budapest is a city in transition. A huge amount of restoration/renovation has happened in the past sixteen years since the Soviets left. Enough for the visitor to see it was an extremely beautiful city. Another five to ten years and it will be amazing again.

Terror in Hungary

Dr Crumble suggested we visit a museum called The House of Terror. Dr Quake didn't feel to keen, however we went anyway.

On one of the most fashionable streets of Budapest, the facility was used by the Fascists in their relatively short reign and then the NKVD when the Soviets "liberated" Hungary in 1945 and just didn't go home. Or not until 1991 at least.

At street level it is one building but at cellar level, where all the interrogations and torture happened, it extended for the whole city block.

The huge banner is three storeys high and carries life sized etched images of the faces of all the people who died there. In a separate room they had images of the faces of the people who did the torturing. The creepy thing was that for the most part you could have interchanged them, so ordinary did the torturers look.

Oh. The flag. The abortive uprising (post Melbourne Olympic Games and the infamous Hungary/USSR waterpolo match) went for 13 days only before the tanks rolled in. The symbol of revolt is the national flag with a great big hole in the middle. That is where the protesters had ripped out the Soviet emblem previously superimposed on their flag.

St Stephen

St Stephen is the patron saint of Hungary. If I recall correctly he was an early king who did a pretty fair sort of job.
So career path: soldier, officer, victory, king, saint. That is Stephen on the horse, sitting very still. Well they both are really, when you look closely.

The huge church on the flat of Pest named after him is magnificent. Quake and Crumble both went beserk in here with cameras so editing down the resulting collection has been a challenge.

Parliament building in Budapest

This gave a real sense of deja vu. It was the big building on the river front in the previous post.

Where have you seen this before?

Castle complex in Buda

From the castle in hilly Buda you get a pretty good view of the mighty Elb and flat Pest.

There are some pretty cool bridges over the Elb.