Epic European Cycle : 2015-08-18 : Bonus Day in Budapest

Tip
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Notes Actions
Handy DAM Blog Link $0.00
Reminder Laura and Michelle depart $
Activity
Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total Notes Actions
Other Fish Pedicure $50.00
Sight See Memento Park $30.00 Incl tour in English
Accommodation
Type Name Service Provider Confirmation Location Cost Notes Actions
Hostel Budapest Fortuna Hostel Budapest, Hungary $0.00 Four nights, incl breakfast


Trip Log

Notes Actions
Today Brent and I took a "bonus day" in Budapest to do a couple of last things, plus wait out the weather a little bit. We did two things - visited Memento Park, and had a Fish Pedicure. Memento Park was really interesting. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the city's administration decided to gather up all of the statues that had been erected for political reasons and put them in a park/memorial site. There are a number of statues, including a couple I particularly enjoyed - the Béla Kun Memorial by Imre Varga and The Republic of Councils Monument (the enormous scary guy running with a cloak). In addition to the statues, they have a museum building (Northern Barrack) with pictures, descriptions, and timelines from the era, as well as a set of four really interesting films. Budapest used to have a secret film production studio which produced training films for Soviet operatives. When the memorial park was created, they took a bunch of these training films to create a film titled "The Life of an Agent", which consists mainly of four "montage" films with commentary. The chapters are:
- The Way to Hide Bugs
- Introduction to House-Searching
- Methods of Recruitment
- Effective Networking

Brent and I were both spellbound by the films. It was cool and kind of eerie to watch top secret training films from a time that terrified me as a young person. The Fish Pedicure... well... the Fish Pedicure was a really neat experience. A novelty. But, I'd have to go back every day for six months for the poor little fellas to keep up with my heel callous production.
From Brent:

Before we left Budapest, Rhonda & I visited Memento Park. In Hungary Soviet symbols are banned. No red stars, no hammer & sicle and a lot of the Soviet art has been destroyed but someone had the idea to save some of the statuary and bring it all to one place; Memento Park. I thought it was really cool seeing some of the old statues and hearing some of the history behind them. There is also a small museum with stories of various Hungarian rebellions against Soviet rule and a theatre to view KGB training films (Subtitled in English).


Photos