June 17th (Day 3) Budapest

Holocast Memorial 

Jew's Synagogue 

If there was a day to call us “typical” American tourist it was probably today.  On our first full day here in Budapest, we began our morning with a lovely breakfast before heading out with Szilvia to learn all about Budapest and it's history.  Our first stop took us to the 2nd largest synagogue in the WORLD!  Over 150 years old, this synagogue has with stand both World Wars and was even a large part of a ghetto located in downtown Budapest during World War II.  Renovated in 2000 it still includes much of it's old charm with a number of 8 point stars and stars of David located on the outside.

After our quick visit to the synagogue our next stop was the famous Hero's Square.  Here we learned all about the different statues all of which were famous Hungarian leaders or saints.  Szilvia informed us all about Hungary's proud history and their conquest in 896.  Because of this reason 96 has become a popular number.  Right next door to Hero's Square was one of Budapest many thermal baths.  We all were surprised to find that a thermal bath here is actually is a lot like an American pool.   

Next came lunch time and personally my favorite part of the day.  A few of us girls visited a small cafe where we all ordered some form of an Italian dish.  Hailey and I both chose to go with pizza and they were very good!  

Following our short lunch break/free time we all rejoined as a group to head over to Memento Park, an open air museum dedicated to monumental statues from Hungary's Communist period (1949-1989).  Located within this museum are 42 statues that were removed from downtown Budapest in 1990's after the end of the communist rule.  We also watch a short film on Hungarian spies and their role during the Communist reign.  To end the day thus far we took underground tram back to the hotel to rest up for a bit before our adventures for the evening.  Additional pictures from today can be found at the end!

That's it from us today!
The Griswold's (Taylor)