After a much needed, but short, nights sleep, we woke up to a lovely breakfast and then it was time to get our busy day started.  We began with a short walk from the hotel, we found a Sunday morning organic market.  This market is hosted in old “ruined” houses which we are told double as a bar in the evenings.  After we took in the sights and smells of the delicious food on offer, it was off to our first spot an Orthodox Jewish Synagogue.  Before the Second World War, there were many people of the Jewish faith in Budapest, and our guide pointed out how liberal the country was/is towards religion and how each religion coexisted in harmony.  Inside the synagogue, our guide told us all about the traditions and practices of this community, which sadly now only numbers about 30 families.

 

After this, it was on to the biggest synagogue in Europe and the second biggest in the world (after the one in New York!).  We didn’t go inside, but we could see the influences of both the Muslim faith and the Christian faith in the architecture (minarets, and non-Jewish stars).  We then hopped on the bus and went up to Buda Castle and Fishermans Bastion where we got amazing views of the entire city (as well as some souvenirs).  After admiring the view and listening to some beatles being played by a street busker, we returned to the bus.  

 

Before lunch we checked out the Budapest Parliament building.  This building is the third largest in Europe as they were trying to outdo the Austrians.  It was very impressive.  There was a competition to see whose design would win, and since they liked second and third place too, they built them just across the street!  (our guide joked that for 1000 years Hungary had no parliament, and in one year they had three!)  Just to the left, we saw a statue commemorating the leader of the 1956 revolution, as well as a Soviet memorial that just happened to be right in front of the American embassy.  (A little remainder of the Cold War)  This is officially Russian soil, so when we walked it, we were in Russian soil.  Another country visited!

 

Finally it was lunch.  We ate  beef goulash and potatoes.  After eating all of this, we went to St. Stephen’s basilica, a Roman Catholic church.  Here we saw one of the most important churches as well as the mummified hand of the saint. We also saw one more example of the mixing of religions as there was a statue of Joseph, which is more of a Protestant icon rather than a Catholic one.

 

After a quick Starbucks stop, we went to the Square of Heroes.  Here we saw statues to the heros of Hungry and learned 1000 years of history in 4 minutes.  

 

After this, we were off to the Terror Museum.  Here we saw the old KGB headquarters which was used to keep people under control.  We saw were people were tortured and killed.  We also saw various artifacts during this time.   A pleasant surprise came when a former student (Maria) joined our group.

 

After this it was a lovely trip to the baths.  Here we enjoyed the hot water and many of our students played chess in the pool with a local.  The fastest game was a loss in 4 moves.  

 

Finally we went down to the Dunube river and we had our dinner cruise.  We saw the whole city at night.  Included was lots of food, singing and pictures.  
Number of bags recovered: 1