Budapest - Part 2
The next morning, I woke up and had some really gross berry-flavored tea in the hostel while watching the video for "Dead Ringer For Love" by Meat Loaf and Cher on VH1 Classic. Then I headed out to take the Metro to the Museum of Fine Arts.
The M1 line of the Budapest Metro is the oldest subway line in continental Europe. It's pretty efficient. My favorite part about it, however, are these little musical jingles that they play whenever the train is approaching a station. The subway fare system is really confusing, as the fare depends on how many stops you go and how many transfers you make. I just bought all-day passes so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Like in Vienna, buying tickets is pretty much on the honor system most of the time. I was only checked once for my ticket in Budapest and it wasn't on the train, but by the escalators leading out of the station. I thought he was some man trying to sell me something, so I brushed him off with a wave of my hand and tried to walk past him. He moved laterally and blocked me, and then I saw his badge. A couple of gay men laughed at me. I kept on seeing them over and over again throughout the night. Boy, was my face red.
The Oktogon Metro Station
The Museum of Fine Arts is pretty sweet. It's located by the Heroes' Square which is a nice monument to a bunch of dead Hungarians you've never heard of. The museum, for some reason, has lots of Spanish art - the largest collection outside of Spain. My guidebook told me to look for a sculpture of an Egyptian priest that looked "uncannily like Julia Roberts." He wasn't lying.
After a stroll through the nearby city park, I decided I was feeling too cheerful so I headed toward the House of Terror. The museum is in a building that used to be the headquarters for the Arrow Cross Party when the Nazis controlled Hungary, and later it was used by the secret police under Communism. Both regimes used the basement as a prison. It's really dark and grim with crazy atmospheric music playing all the time, while you learn about all the atrocities committed and watch videos of executioners describing their duties and whatnot. It was a blast!
House of Terror
Back at the hostel, I ran into some friendly young German ladies who, like me, had purchased tickets for the opera that night and were about to go out to eat dinner. They asked me to join them, along with a Canadian guy named Luke who was leaving the next day for England to start graduate school. We asked the hostel owner for a good cheap place to get Hungarian food. He led us to place which was good, yet not cheap. I had a delicious duck thing. We were starting to get nervous cause it was taking so long and we had to get to the opera on time, but luckily things worked out. Luke didn't have a ticket but decided to tag along - though he was embarassed cause he was wearing shorts. He was able to get a ticket, though, and we all had a rollicking good time enjoying two ballets and a one-act opera (The Wooden Prince, The Miraculous Mandarin, Duke Bluebeard's Castle) by Hungary's own Béla Bartók.
If you look closely, you can see me
in the third row by an aisle on the top ring.
Meat Loaf (featuring Cher) - Dead Ringer For Love
The M1 line of the Budapest Metro is the oldest subway line in continental Europe. It's pretty efficient. My favorite part about it, however, are these little musical jingles that they play whenever the train is approaching a station. The subway fare system is really confusing, as the fare depends on how many stops you go and how many transfers you make. I just bought all-day passes so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Like in Vienna, buying tickets is pretty much on the honor system most of the time. I was only checked once for my ticket in Budapest and it wasn't on the train, but by the escalators leading out of the station. I thought he was some man trying to sell me something, so I brushed him off with a wave of my hand and tried to walk past him. He moved laterally and blocked me, and then I saw his badge. A couple of gay men laughed at me. I kept on seeing them over and over again throughout the night. Boy, was my face red.
The Oktogon Metro Station
The Museum of Fine Arts is pretty sweet. It's located by the Heroes' Square which is a nice monument to a bunch of dead Hungarians you've never heard of. The museum, for some reason, has lots of Spanish art - the largest collection outside of Spain. My guidebook told me to look for a sculpture of an Egyptian priest that looked "uncannily like Julia Roberts." He wasn't lying.
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After a stroll through the nearby city park, I decided I was feeling too cheerful so I headed toward the House of Terror. The museum is in a building that used to be the headquarters for the Arrow Cross Party when the Nazis controlled Hungary, and later it was used by the secret police under Communism. Both regimes used the basement as a prison. It's really dark and grim with crazy atmospheric music playing all the time, while you learn about all the atrocities committed and watch videos of executioners describing their duties and whatnot. It was a blast!
House of Terror
Back at the hostel, I ran into some friendly young German ladies who, like me, had purchased tickets for the opera that night and were about to go out to eat dinner. They asked me to join them, along with a Canadian guy named Luke who was leaving the next day for England to start graduate school. We asked the hostel owner for a good cheap place to get Hungarian food. He led us to place which was good, yet not cheap. I had a delicious duck thing. We were starting to get nervous cause it was taking so long and we had to get to the opera on time, but luckily things worked out. Luke didn't have a ticket but decided to tag along - though he was embarassed cause he was wearing shorts. He was able to get a ticket, though, and we all had a rollicking good time enjoying two ballets and a one-act opera (The Wooden Prince, The Miraculous Mandarin, Duke Bluebeard's Castle) by Hungary's own Béla Bartók.
If you look closely, you can see me
in the third row by an aisle on the top ring.
Die Wiener Kompilation
Meat Loaf (featuring Cher) - Dead Ringer For Love
- The Go! Team - Hold Yr Terror Close
from Thunder, Lightning, Strike [US version] (2005) - Petula Clark - I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
from I Couldn't Live Without Your Love (1966) - The Small Faces - I'm Only Dreaming
from There Are But Four Small Faces (1968)
posted by Evan C. at 10:49 AM
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