pimlico4: Free Budapest Walking Tour.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Free Budapest Walking Tour.

ArchDuke Joseph and Suzi

Well, after visiting more than a dozen major European cities we have finally found the FREE city tour that walks you around the towns and tells you everything you wanted to know and more. Then at the end of the tour you simply tip if you are satisfied. Thanks for the heads up Joanna.

http://www.triptobudapest.hu/

So, on our second day in Budapest we met our tour group at 10.30am on Vorosmarty Square at the Lions Fountain. About 40 people turned up for the tour and after brief introductions from the leaders we split into two groups and headed off with our two energetic and informative female tour guides for a 2 and a half hour FREE tour.

Hungary put on a scorching 35° degrees for it's capital on our tour day. As we sat under the shade of a wilting tree our guide Suzi talked of Hungary's troubled past. Budapest is a city that has been downtrodden over the centuries and its people bear the weight of countless defeats. The decisions of past leaders have had them on the losing side of every battle, war and conflict they have ever entered into.

EGO SUM VIA VERITAS ET VITA
St Stephen's Basilica

The day after our tour (20th August) happens to be St Stephen's Day, the National day of Hungary which commemorates the life of Saint Stephen, the First King of Hungary. His coronation was on the 1st January 1001 and a magnificent gold crown was given to him by Pope Silvester II as a blessing. This crown still exists and is the oldest surviving royal crown in history. Also said to still exist is the right hand of King Saint Stephen and many miracles are said to have occured at his tomb.

Statue of St Stephen

For many centuries the towns of Buda and Pest existed on either side of the Danube River until 1872 when they united and formed the capital city of Budapest. The Buda side is home to the resplendent Buda Castle and palace complex. It is more hilly and therefore has the best views over the river of the picturesque townscape. It is slow paced and romantic. The Pest side is far more lively with its shops and eating areas. The very impressive parliament building is on the Pest side. This is apparently the largest parliament building in Europe, built to be exactly one metre longer and one metre wider than London's Parliament house on which it's design is based. Saint Stephen's crown is displayed here.

From Fisherman's Bastion on Castle Hill looking over the Danube to Parliament House

We walked over the Chain Bridge built in 1849, the first bridge over the Danube to link the two towns. It was considered an engineering marvel in it's day and today the heavy iron bridge stands for the strength of the people.

Upon crossing to the Buda side it was an immediate uphill hike in the searing heat to the castle. This medieval castle has been partially destroyed and rebuilt numerous times in its 700 year history having been beseiged 31 times. The last being in 1945. The Siege of Budapest was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of WWII. The fierce battle lasted 102 days between the Soviets and the German/Hungarian forces and resulted in the deaths of more than 80000. The Soviets occupied Hungary for the next 45 years during its communist rule.

St Matthius Church. Coronation church at Buda Castle

We ended the official FREE tour under the 100 year old statue of St Stephen on horse back. Our tour guide collected so much money from her positively pleased group that Paul had to lend her his cap to hold it all in. She then invited us all to join her for lunch at an 'unknown to tourists' eating place behind the castle. It was a typical Hungarian meal at a very decent price. Lots of meat, paprika, soup and dumplings. Not finished yet, our ever-enthusiastic guide sent us out with instructions to visit the Festival of Folkart and Crafts. Here we found another hat to add to our collection . This one comes with the memory of Uncle Buck. "A lot of people hate this hat. It angers a lot of people, just the sight of it!".

Locks attached to a gate and inscribed with lovers names
have their keys thrown into the Danube to seal their love forever.

The heat was almost unbearable for some Aussie girls. We just had to cool down with our feet in some water and since there was no salty blue ocean within cooee we dipped our toes (and more) in the closest water fountain we could find.

We ate Hungarian doughnuts which are like a tubular coil of pastry covered in sugar and baked on an open fire as we watched craftsmen and women make and sell their wares while children danced and sang the Hungarian way.

Apart from the history and culture of Hungary we also learnt that the Rubics cube, the Biro pen and the match were invented by Hungarians along with the concept of nuclear chain reaction.

HistoricaLee.

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Books that Madison has read this year. Will she get to her goal of 52?? YES. Congratulations Maisy

72. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
71. 101 Dalmations by Dodie Smith
70. Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
69. Mr Majeika and the Ghost Train by Humphrey Carpenter.
68. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
67. Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
66. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
65. Robin Hood by Stephen Colbourn
64. Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
63. The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
62. Dragon Moon by Carole Wilkinson
61. Garden of the Purple Dragon by Carole Wilkinson
60. The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan
59. The Best Kept Secret by Emily Rodda
58. The Cut-Throat Celts by Terry Deary
57. A Whole Nother Story by Cuthbert Soup
56. Gladiator - Fight for Freedom by Simon Scarrow
55. Ancient Rome with Cicero the Cat
54. King of the Cloud Forest by Michael Morpurgo
EXTRAS 53. Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpugo
*** 52 52 52 52 52 - HOOORAAAY!!! *** Blood Ties by Rosemary Hayes. It is an AWESOME book about a kid whose grandma dies and soon she gets very ill. She also has these wierd dreams about her grandma's childhood. Will she die of the illness? What do her dreans mean? Find out in the book.
51. Pony Pals by Jeanne Betancourt. There is this group of teenage girls and they live on a farm and one day an orphan foal gets dropped off there and they want to take full control so soon enough they find out that it is not as easy as it seems to look after a foal.
50. Sweet Valley Twins by Francine PascalI. It's about a girl called Jessica who likes her brothers enemy Ben and her brother Steven is purposefully dating Jessica's enemy, so it is like who can get more revenge.
49. The Wombles by Elisabeth Beresford. I first found out about it from my dad because he watched it when he was little.
48. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. The book is almost the same as the movie. My favourite bits are at the end and if i told you them it would ruin the story. I prefered the movie to the book because it showed you more.
47. Merlins Dragon by T.A.Barron. This is now my 3rd longest book i have ever read. I think there must be another book that follows in the series. It is definately in my top 3 favourites. I am not going to tell you about this book because it would ruin the story if you are thinking about reading it.
46. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Roderick Rules By Jeff Kin. At first I thought I had read all the books in the series but then I found out I hadn't read this one so like all the others in the series I loved it . The main thing I liked about it was the mum bucks and I asked my mum if we could do mum bucks in our family then we had a little talk and it ended up as a NO.
45. I Am Jack. by Susanne Gervay. This book is about a boy called Jack and a bully at his school. Jack can't tell anyone except his sister Samantha and his friend Anna about the bully. His mum is too busy and his teacher wont listen.
44. James and the Giant Peach. by Roald Dahl. I had heard the story on my i-pod and i loved it then my birthday came and i got the book from Donna, Garath , Olivia and Charlotte. It is a story of a little boy and he once had a lovly life untill his mother and father had to go to London and while they were there a rhinoceros escaped from the zoo and gobbled them up. So poor James had to stay with his mean, lazy aunts, Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge...
43. Rose Blanche. By Roberto Innocenti. This book is about a girl who lives her life in World War II. One day she sees a truck and a little pale boy jumps out and runs down the steet to accidentally run into the big fat mayor who roughly shoves him back in the truck and when they open the truck she sees lots more poor boys and girls. She was so disgusted by how they were treated so she follows the truck to a place she wasn't allowed to go..........She sees the Jewish people at the camp.
42. Flat Stanley. By Jeff Brown. Once there was a little boy who woke up with a white board on top of him. When his mum lifts it up he is FLAT. Soon his brother gets jelous and then the adventure begins.
41.Clarice Bean Dont Look Now. By Lauren Child. It is about a girl called Clarice Bean and she has a best frend and her name is Betty Moody and ther bouth LOVE this book charickter called Ruby Red fort.but B etty Modie moves away and there is a new girl at school. Clarice Bean thinks she is best friends with the school bully and is trying to get Karl into huge trouble off all the teachers. Is Clarice Bean mistaken for the girl??? Find out int the book.
40. An Elephant in the Garden. By Michael Morpurgo.It is about an old lady in a nursing home and she tells the nurse and the nurses son about her life when war was happening. She was escaping the fighting in Dresden and had to take an elephant with her. The elephant saved her life when a bomb blew up their house.
39. L-L-L-Loser by Catherine Forde. It is about a boy and his brothers. His brothers make a copy of the main characters song called L-L-L-Loser and get heaps of money.!!!!!!!
38. Storm Boy by Colin Thiele. It is about a boy called Storm Boy and he becomes very attached to a pelican and the pelican saves 6 men's lives and they offer to pay for Storm Boy to go to boarding school and then something really sad happens.............
37. Pippi and the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren. It is about a girl called Pippi and her father is a king on an island so she is a princess. All the childreren there play in this cave and in there is a whole 2 weeks supply of coconut for heaps of children.
36. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. It is about a girl called Pippi and she is the strongest girl in the world and it is about her life with her 2 friends.
35. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell. I read this book ages ago but I for got to put it in on the list. It is my 2nd favourite book and my 2nd longest book. It is about a greedy class pet rat but Emmy lets him go and then finds out that if he bites you once you hear him and the second time you shrink and the 3rd time you turn into a rat yourself.
34. The Dragon Keeper by Carol Wilkinson .This was the biggest, fattest book I have ever read and it was brilliant. It is about a slave girl from Huang Ling mountain and her family sold her when she was young. She had to work hard for her master. One of her jobs was to look after the dragons. One dragon dies and then she goes on a journey but everyone tries to stop them. This is the best book I have read all year. 10/10
33. Pony Pals - The Baby Pony by Jenny Betancourt. I read this book in the car while we were going to the beach in Copenhagen. It is about an orphan foal who nearly dies because it did not have enouph fluid in him. It was a 7/10
32. The Four Musicians of Bremen by The Brothers Grimm. I read this in Bremen but the four animals ( the donkey, the dog, the cat and the rooster) never get to Bremen. They saved a robbery from happening with their lovely sounds. I saw the statue in Bremen but it was only small. I thought it would be much bigger.
31. Tin Tin and The Black Island by Herge. I read this when we stayed in Bruges because it was written by a Belgian man in 1930. It is a comic book about a very adventurous boy called Tin Tin and his dog called Snowy who gets into lots of mischief. Snowy got drunk on whisky and got a smack from Tin Tin. There are lots of other comic books with Tin Tin adventuring around the world. I've always liked reading comics and I will definitely read another Tin Tin comic book.
30. The Burnt Stick by Anthony Hill. It is about an Aboriginal family and the boy has a white father so this boy gets taken away from his mother and the story tells how his mother tries to keep him. It was very sad but I loved reading this book.
29. The Web by Nette Hilton. My teacher from Distance Education sent this book to me to do work on it and i really enjoyed it. It is about a grandma and spending her last few days with Jenny her great grandaughter and all their friends including a possom, a blue tounge lizard and the new 7 legged spider.
28. The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett. I would recommend it for my next door neighbour Gwen who loves donkeys, and anyone who likes animal stories. Two sisters go to their favourite woodlands and find a soldier who ran away from the war and could get shot if any one else knew. They go back the next day and find out that he is blind. Read it if you want to know more. I would give it a 9.5 /10
27 . The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume. It is about a sister and a brother and how their family copes.
26. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. I watched this movie last year for school and I thought it didnt have much difference to the movie. The ending was abit different.
25. Somtheing Invisible by Siobhan Parkinson. It is about a boy that has a new next door neighbour girl who has heaps of little sisters and a brother but.......soon they have one less . Jake tries to help.
24. Whistle and I'll Come. by Jean Ure. This book was about a family that has always wanted a dog so they go to the rescue centre and find it hard to only choose one so they come back with three dogs. Two puppies and one older dog called Bess (Beth). There is a really, really sad part at the end of the book.
23. Take 6 Puppies. by Bette Paul. It was about six baby puppies and one was a runt. Sally liked the runt the most and she tried to convince her dad to keep him. They all went to families close to her.
22. The story of Robert the Bruce and The story of William Wallace both by David Ross. They were about Scottish history and had lots of gruesome killing and after we read the books we watched Braveheart the movie. So if you cant stand killing I wouldn't recommend it for you.
21. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. By Judy Blume. It is about a boy that gets soooo frustrated with his brother. I read it for school and I hope my teacher sends me another book in the series.
20. Horse Pie. By Dick King-Smith.It is about a donkey and lots of horses trying to stop a robbery.
19. Fern Gully by Diana Young It was a story about the creatures in a rainforest and this evil spirit Hexxes comes and ruins everything.
18. Paradise Palace by Wendy Orr. It's a funny story about a family and what they will do to get this paradise house and is paradise always as good as you expect??
17. The 39 Clues - Book 3 The Sword Thief This book was AWESOME. each book in the series is better than the one before.
16. Cool by Michael Morpurgo. This was about a boy in a coma and how he comes back.
15. Heartbeat by Sharon Creech. I read this book for Distance Ed and it was quite good. It was like a long poem about a 12 year old girl and her family and friends.
14. The 39 Clues - Black Book of Buried Secrets. I didn't read this book in order. I just read the parts I wanted to know about.
13. Gulliver's Travels. by JONTHAN SWIFT. A really funny book about a man and his life. I would give it a 8.5 out of 10.
12. Shah Jahan. I read this book with mum and Charlotte. It is about the man who built the Taj Mahal and how he loved his wife so much. It was good because it is a true story and I saw the Taj. It is amazing that he built that for his wife to be buried in.
11. The 39 Clues - Book Two. I didn't really get the ending but I think I will when I read Book 3
10. Mahatma Gandhi - A biography by Wilco. He was a clever man who did everything he could to make his people free and happy.
9. The Paw Thing by Paul Jennings. Do you really think Singenpoo read the book?
8. Little Brother by Allan Baillie. I read this with mum and it was so good to read it while we were in Cambodia and seeing the places that Vithy saw when he was escaping the Khmer Rouge.
7. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I thought it was a sad and happy book. Very nice.
6. Ivy and Been - Bound to Be Bad. by Annie Barrows.I really enjoyed it. This my first ever ebook I read on the computer. I'm going to look to buy another one. It was good.
5. The 39 Clues - The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan. So exciting I can't put it down.
4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Last Straw. by Jeff Kinney. This is even better than the first two Wimpy Kid Books. Awesome
3. Around the World in Eighty Days ...by Jules Verne. It is a story abought a man called Phileas Fogg and his servent Passeppartout. He bet another rich man that he could go around the world in 80 days.
2. Fantastic Mr Fox. By Roald Dahl. I have already read it but I have to read it again for Distance Education.
1. FREAK STREET Wizardsons on Holidays. By Knife and Packer. Charlotte gave me this book for Christmas and I absolutely loved it sooooo much.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Free Budapest Walking Tour.

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