Today we continued the theme of “Visiting Awesome Places Tour Busses Don’t Go, Thank God” and took the very inconveniently timed once a day bus (what the hell is with the best places having the worst timing — I’m looking at you Hohenschonhausen) out to Memento Park in northern Budapest.

Which was awesome. (I realize I use that word a lot – this trip is just awesome all around so deal, peeps.)

When the communists were ousted from Hungary in 1989, there were dozens if not hundreds of statues throughout the country celebrating communist achievement and idealizing (and idolizing) communist heroes like Lenin and Stalin. Rather than melting them all down, the Hungarian government decided to hold on to them and create Memento Park, placing them all in one area so they can be used as reflection and education (and be poked fun of). We took an excellent guided tour (which I highly recommend or else you are just really looking at statues with no context) which was both informative and appropriately cheeky.

In addition to the typical Stalin and Lenin statues, there were statues like this, dedicated to the “friendship” between the Hungarian and Soviet peoples. It’s not hard to tell which one is the Soviet, and despite the “friendship” message the body language in the two men makes it clear who is in charge and who is the supplicant. A lot of the statues are like this, idealizing the glory of the Red Army and the oppression of the Hungarian people.

That’s me, practicing for the day I become a dictator. (I need to be taller though, I could barely see over that wall.)

This is a recreation of a spot not far from heroes plaza where a giant statue of Stalin once stood called Stalin’s Grandstand. Communist dignitaries and party leaders would stand about where I am and wave down at the marching people/soldiers/etc. When the Hungarian people rebelled against communism in a bloody 1956 revolution (which was put down two weeks later) the crowd cut the statue at the knees and pulled it down, then basically ripped it apart. Nothing of the original statue remains, but the grandstand and the “boots” were recreated for the park.

After the rebellion was quashed, there was a change in the level of oppression in Hungary, a transition to something they call Goulash Communism; “communism light”. Having proven they could be irascible, the Soviets instead chose to loosen up the reins and things improved greatly in Hungary. By the time the borders were opened (peacefully and by a vote) in 89, Hungary had a fairly high standard of living for the Eastern Block.

After the bus took us back to downtown, Jim and I walked the length of the Danube between the Erzebet and Margaret bridges (about six miles in all) and took pictures and just did the walk and hold hands thing. You know, like people do. We took some great pictures of the river and all the buildings we saw on our tour.

At the far end of the walk I finally got a chance to take a picture of the monument to Saint Gerard (Szent Gellért in Hungarian) a Benedictine monk and evangelist in Hungary in 1046. The story we were told was that Gellért was martyred for his proselytizing by being put in a barrel pierced by nails and pushed down the hill (from the point on which his monument stands) until he landed in the Danube.

Wikipedia says he was pushed down the hill in his carriage, after which his head was beaten in with rocks and his body pierced with a lance. Either way, an ugly death.

After our walk we went for dinner at Váci Utca, a pedestrian mall not far from our hotel. Once again I had the far less photogenic dinner, but Jim’s was cool. (That’s my dinky salad in the back).

Tomorrow we are off to the Hungarian countryside, just us and our guide. After that we have a waterside dinner and a private water limo ride up and down the Danube to see the city illuminated at night. Why private? Because while we like people individually, we are very done with people in groups.

Home stretch now.

Until tomorrow, Gang!

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