EPIC TRAIN JOURNEY - Pest, but not Buda

I had to go from Venice back to Vienna overnight because of full trains, so in the morning I caught a train from Vienna to Budapest and arrived around noon.  It was a pleasantly sunny day, which means that with a 45lb pack the heat was swelteringly oppressive.  As such my short loop of downtown Pest was generously peppered with breaks.

To start I walked the roughly 2.5km to the Intercity Parish Church.  Unfortunately they charge for photos inside – so none of those, but it was a pretty church. From the church I walked to a popular shopping street in the city and fell asleep for an hour.  I didn’t sleep very well on the train.  The shops along the street were mostly well known international brands, and the people frequenting them were mostly tourists.

Next I walked to the river bank and saw the Chain Bridge, the first bridge to connect the two cities of Buda and Pest.  I did not walk over it to the other side, but the castle district on the other side of the river looked beautiful.  It’s a UNESCO world heritage site.  If I had more time in, I think I could have spent many days exploring the many historic landmarks in the city.  Also on the Buda side of the city are some of the famous Turkish baths which, having more time, I would have also liked to have availed myself of.  

It was a pleasant walk along the breezy Danube from the bridge to the Parliament building, which in Europe is second only to Britain in size.  Better than it being pretty however, it was nearby a park which was a wonderful place to sit and read Dracula, which I have recently downloaded on my e-reader.  Indeed I was almost dripping with sweat by the time I made it to the Parliament building, and as such spent most of the afternoon sitting in the park and reading my book. I know it sounds boring and unadventurous of me - but I thought it was oddly appropriate, given the setting of the book. 

Next I walked through Freedom Square which contains the only communist monument left in the city.  The park is really beautiful. It is laid out around a central obelisk commemorating the Communist liberation of the city with two gravel boulevards on either side.  The boulevards run parallel to each other beginning on the sides of the obelisk and ending in a large fountain with lots of little children playing in it. The fountain is much like the one we have at TU, with several streams of water coming up in a grid from a concrete pad with varying heights.  

This brought an end to my tour of the city and I headed back to the train station.  On the way I purchased four peaches, 1.5L of water, 7 granola bars, and a pack of gum for about $5. Good Shopping.