Our last, and only, morning in Budapest

As previously noted, I stupidly only booked 24 hours in Budapest.  Actually, fewer hours, but Carol was able to change the time of our train.  

We woke up a bit groggy, but got our acts together enough to stagger out of the hotel and into a mostly sunny morning.  The only time it wasn't sunny is when I was trying to take pictures!

Wandering around the Pest side, we found a Costa Coffee shop that was open near the Basilica and that Christmas market.  Not many Budapest restaurants serve breakfast.  From my personal handheld Google machine (you should get one -- you can text, make phone calls, answer email, look things up -- it's gonna catch on!).

(Editor's Note: It's NOT a Google machine -- it's an iPhone, which doesn't use Google!  Writer: If that's what you wish to believe, but I'm sticking with personal, handheld Google machine!)

It's funny, there were Costa Coffee shops all over Barcelona, but we never stopped in one.  It's like a Starbucks, only not quite as ubiquitous.  We each had a croissant, and the ladies had each had a huge cappuccino.  I continued my streak of drinking sparkling water with meals.

We headed over to the Parliament to wander around the outside.  It's a stunning building, with lots of neat memorials and statues.  The sun was hiding behind clouds, but would occasionally peak out and bathe the building in sublime light.

Because it's the only thing I really understand about Hungarian history, the most interesting memorial was the one to the victims of the Hungary Revolution of 1956.  It's an underground memorial that, alas was closed.  However, the entrance was affecting -- metal panels with bullet holes and a few references to 1956, including one to October 25th specifically.

The building was already open for tours, but we skipped it in order to go to the Doheny Street Synagogue.  

On our way there, Torie took us to the Shoes memorial.  Wikipedia describes it as thus:

The Shoes on the Danube Bank is a memorial in Budapest, Hungary. Conceived by film director Can Togay, he created it on the east bank of the Danube River with sculptor Gyula Pauer [hu] to honour the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank.

It is very affecting, and serves as a reminder of the evils of Nazism, totalitarianism, and that not that long ago, the world was on the brink of the end of humanity. It's certainly something to reflect upon.  Never again.