Museums and Tours
Budapest is an extraordinarily beautiful city, and just walking around the city center I’m constantly seeing sights that take my breath away. We’ve been to a few museums thus far, but I’m planning to go to the rest of them the last week of the dialogue since our professor is buying us all week long museum passes then. I did go to the Museum of Applied Arts with my class, which was in a somewhat famous building–the roof had the prettiest tile I’ve even seen! The exhibits in the museum were somewhat interesting, but it was definitely not the best museum I’ve ever been to. We did go to the House of Terror as well, which is a about the Soviet and Nazi occupations of Hungary. The museum was actually in the building that housed the leaders of these occupations, and the basement still had the cells used for prisoners which we were able to tour at the end. It was really powerful and I also learned a lot about Hungarian history, so I’m really glad I went.
In terms of landmarks, I have to be a very classic tourist and say my favorite landmark is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, partially because you can see all my other favorite monuments when you walk across it! It was the first bridge to join the cities of Buda and Pest, and I think it definitely deserves the title of one of one of the most beautiful bridges in the world. The Danube may divide Budapest in half, but the bridges really connect the city in a gorgeous way. From the Chain Bridge, you get a great view of the Hungarian Parliament (this is the building you probably think of when you think Budapest), the other bridges over the Danube, Buda Castle, the Fisherman’s Bastion, Gellért Hill, and more. There is a lot of foot traffic across the bridges with major attractions on both sides of the river.
Our Dialogue plan also included two weekend trips to Bratislava and Vienna, and we just came back from our trip to Vienna today! I’ve wanted to go to Austria since I was a little girl because I was obsessed with the Sound of Music, so I was super excited. Vienna was a little more touristy and busy than Budapest, but it was extremely beautiful and I really enjoyed myself. We rented bikes on Saturday and were able to explore a lot of the major monuments and buildings. We also spent a couple of hours in a semi-permanent outdoor/flea market that had lots of yummy food and some interesting souvenirs. We only had about a day and a half in the city so I didn’t get to see the Schönbrunn Palace, which I wish I had done, and also I’d love to see a horse show at the Spanish Riding School (I did horseback riding for most of my childhood!). I hope I have a chance to spend a little more time in Vienna to see more of the city at a slower pace, but overall I had a great time and I’m really happy with what I was able to visit!
