More on Pest

So we both had a mini panic attack last night when we realized how much there is to do in Budapest, and how little time by comparison we had. We tried to do some planning to calm us down, but...didn't really work. Still managed to sleep though! And it appears that Australians do not snore, as opposed to Americans, which is great.

We woke up early and headed to the market near the Danube to grab some breakfast (we had langos in mind). I'll spear you the picture of the stuff, and content myself by saying that it's a deep fried potato bread then topped with whatever your heart desires. So bad for you, but so filling. 

Inside the Great Synagogue. Excuse the random hands.

We proceeded to walk to the Great Synagogue, the second largest in the world and the first in Europe. There was a tour included in the ticket price, and although it was rather rushed, I still learned a lot. What's fascinating about this synagogue is that it looks SO much like a church, and on purpose too. Apparently, it was made that way by the Jewish population at the time in order to prove how well they had integrated as a minority group. We also saw the Tree of Life in the garden, probably the most famous Holocaust memorial there is. It's made of stainless steel and silver, and on each leaf is inscribed the name of a Hungarian Jew that was killed during the Second World War. It wasn't a very happy morning, obviously, especially when you realize how small the community is today, but it was good time to contemplate. 

Close-up of the Tree of Life

Having no appetite whatsoever for lunch, we just decided to visit the Hungarian National Museum, in which we spent like, 3 hours and missed the guided tour of the parliament we had planned on. What can you do. There was an incredibly interesting exhibition that walked you through Hungary's history, as well as what Karel deemed "a world class archeology exhibition".

Since we'd missed the tour, we walked around some more and went to St. Istivan's basilica. Karel says it's because I haven't been to Italy, but I was truly in awe at the beauty of it. For dinner, we tried Cafe Kor, one of the city's most renowned restaurant (and managed to get a table without a reservation!). I still wasn't hungry from the morning's langos, so I had the grilled vegetables (probably the best I've ever had) with a glass of rosé. We spent a quiet evening hanging around the hostel, and were talked into going to tomorrow's 'pub crawl'. We'll see how that goes. 

Hanging in front of St. Istivan's basilica