Catching up on our sleep meant we didn’t make it down in time for the free breakfast, so we purchased our breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 10:00 a.m. this morning. Following that we headed out for our own walking tour of sights that will not be included on the “official” tour on Saturday. Our first stop was St. Stephan’s Basilica which was just a few blocks around the corner from the hotel.
From St. Stephan’s we walked to the Dohany Synagogue where we began with a guided tour, then spent some time on our own in the museum. This is the largest synagogue in Europe and second largest in the world. The architecture is a combination of Moorish, Christian and Jewish influences – purposely done when it was built in the mid-nineteenth century to try and assimilate to the culture around them. On the grounds there is a cemetery with the remains of some of the Jews killed at the end of WWII.
At the back of the synagogue is a garden area which has, among other things, a metal weeping willow tree with 6,000 leaves with names of victims of the Holocaust in Hungary near the end of the war between November of 1944 and January of 1945.
After leaving the synagogue we walked back toward the Danube River and headed along the river to the Parliament building. English-speaking tours were sold out for the day, but we spent time walking around the outside of the building which is quite large.
From the parliament building we walked back to the hotel arriving at 3:00 p.m. to find they were just in the process of cleaning our room, so it was a perfect excuse to head back downstairs to the bar for a couple of drinks. A little over an hour later we returned to our room to relax and freshen up before we need to meet in the lobby to walk to the Akadémia Klub in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for our welcome reception and dinner as the trip officially begins.
After gathering in the lobby around 6:00 p.m. we walked one block from the hotel for the welcome reception and dinner. The space was beautiful. The food was fabulous. And we met some wonderful people.
Following dinner (which ended at 9:00 p.m.) we meandered back (YES, you can meander in a one block distance!) to the hotel where we had a night cap and up to the room. Tonight we actually have to set an alarm as the tour leaves from the hotel at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. And so ends Day Three.
[Note: I have not had time to try and post any videos.]