Tuesday, August 22
Budapest, Hungary
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| Holocaust Memorial at the Great Synagogue (Dohany Ut.) |
It's hard to describe how beautiful this city is.
We had breakfast at the neighborhood cafe just down the street from our front door. Why is it that baked goods in European cities are so scrumptious?
We arrived at the Great Synagogue a few minutes before opening time, and we were at the head of the line. At the Dohány Street synagogue is a Holocaust memorial. The artist, Imre Varga, made a sculpture of a weeping willow. The heart-breaking thing is that each of the little leaves has, engraved on it, the names of one of the Jews killed during the Holocaust. And all the names are not even here. Just some. It can make you cry. At one time the city had more than 250,000 Jews. After the Holocaust there were only 50,000 left, mainly those that were hidden by clergymen and other non-Jews, including Wallenberg. Believe it or not, this is a high survival rate during the Holocaust.
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| Homage to Rubik |
This is the famous synagogue in Budapest. Theodore Herzl became Bar Mitzvah here and was born in the house right next to the synagogue (torn down early in the 20th century). It follows the so-called Neolog tradition, which is very similar to Conservative/Masorti. There are few Neolog synagogues outside of Hungary. The development of this movement dates to the late 19th century, and its followers were ostracized by the orthodox community.
The Synagogue building also contains a Jewish museum, with the expected ritual objects, but also historical materials, like playbills from the Jewish theater. It also has some grave-stones from Jewish cemeteries of the Roman period. The rehabilitation of the synagogue and other Jewish communal buildings and activities were financed in part by Hungarian ex-patriots, like Estee Lauder.
Budapest is also the city of Mr. Rubik, of the Rubik's cube. There are murals on many of the blank walls of the city, and one of them commemorates Rubik. Why, one might ask, are there so many blank walls? Two reasons, (1) When buildings were destroyed either during the war or during the Hungarian uprising of 1956 against the Soviet Union, the intervening buildings were not replaced at the same height. (2) "Socialist" architecture from 1948 - 1989 didn't pay much attention to aesthetics, so blank walls just happened.
We hopped on the hop-on bus and got off at the great city market. This huge building has stalls where you can buy anything from sausage to souvenirs. We had lunch at the market, where we sampled goulasch and schnitzel, two of the signature dishes of the region. We weren't impressed.
We boarded the bus again, and rode to the huge City Park. After strolling in the park a while, we went to the Széchenyi Thermal Bath. Going to the thermal baths is de rigueur in Budapest.
At night we took a 2 hour river tour of the city, its buildings brightly lit. It is a beautiful city, and seen from the river, it makes quite an impression.
The Synagogue building also contains a Jewish museum, with the expected ritual objects, but also historical materials, like playbills from the Jewish theater. It also has some grave-stones from Jewish cemeteries of the Roman period. The rehabilitation of the synagogue and other Jewish communal buildings and activities were financed in part by Hungarian ex-patriots, like Estee Lauder.
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| Central Market GroundFloor |
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| Széchenyi Thermal Bath |
We hopped on the hop-on bus and got off at the great city market. This huge building has stalls where you can buy anything from sausage to souvenirs. We had lunch at the market, where we sampled goulasch and schnitzel, two of the signature dishes of the region. We weren't impressed.
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| Parliament Building |
At night we took a 2 hour river tour of the city, its buildings brightly lit. It is a beautiful city, and seen from the river, it makes quite an impression.
We have taken walking tours, boat tours, subways, buses, trains; you name it. We go from morning until night every day. We need to get back home to take a vacation.
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