A few years ago, my wife and I took a New Year’s Eve week trip to Budapest. It was bitter cold, with an icy Danube River and a day or two of snowfall. Our terrific hotel room had a fantastic view of the famous Chain Bridge and the Royal Castle on the hill across the river.
Our hotel concierge told us a tale that the sculptor of the Chain Bridge lions had forgotten to include their tongues, and was chastised so much by the people that he committed suicide by throwing himself off the very same bridge. I’m sure this tale was retold many times to interest the tourists. I did get a good night photo or two of the bridge from the Danube banks and our hotel window.
One sunny day I captured some restaurants and their offerings plus the obligatory Little Princess Statue on the riverbank railing. We did tour the art museums and bought some of the famous paprika, but did not make dinner call at the Fatal Restaurant.
I enjoyed the zoo, but the Hungarian wine requires an acquired taste in my opinion. My wife caught a bad case of the flu the first day of arrival which cancelled many of our plans for good reason. I regretted missing Memento Park which houses all the Soviet era statues. I was stationed on the other side of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War and had hoped to see this park. Maybe next time.
We did take a days trip to Budapest right after the wall came down and the Warsaw Pact countries opened up to western visitors. Most all Budapest stores had empty shelves, but the streets were crowded with locals hawking their homemade goods to visiting tourists especially lace items which we purchased for family holiday gifts.
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