Summer Continued in Budapest and in Slovakia!

And so, after Warsaw we flew in to Budapest. I can't say that I can tell you much about it though. We honestly didn't have that much time, and we spent most of it just taking the tours around the city. They're free, and quite worth taking.

The morning tour, would be the Peace, Democracy (and something) walk. Basically taking you through history in terms of Hungary being ruled by the Soviet Union, the Nazis.. etc. The afternoon tour is about Budapest in general.

I would say that I did enjoy learning about the history of Budapest. And this is one society, I realised, that draws a lot upon the symbolism of things. Each statue is symbolic, and each act is too.

Take this fountain for example. It symbolises the democracy of the country. If you're far away from it, the fountain is up high (see the water level on the right of the picture). Come near it, the fountain disappears and you can walk inside it. Once inside, it will rise again, and it represents bars (like a prison cell).

But then the beauty of it is that, in a democratic society, people are free to come and go as they see fit, unchained by the political realities of the day, because the people ARE the backbone of society. So as easily as you can imprison yourself, you can also walk out of the prison by walking near it (the level will go down) and step out.

Another (cheesy) example. The locals here believe that if you take a lock, and lock it to the bridge (they have multiple) and throw the key into the river, your love will last forever. And so they write their names on the locks as well. It's rather sweet, if you think about it.

Those, among other things. It's really a beautiful city. A must go. Would have loved to spend more time there. Go to the hot baths and all. But there was no time!

However, a VERY good eat was at this restaurant called Ruben. Do go there if you're in Budapest.

And as for Slovakia (we went to Bratislava).. I must say that there is nothing much to see there. It's pretty though! Some historical sights here and there... But yeap. The interesting place was this church. It's really different and it looks like a place out of Alice in Wonderland.

Yeah. It's a marshmallow blue. Kids were playing Hogwarts outside it! And as for the good eats (and trust me, they're REALLY good)

The Slovak Pub

Verne

So well, for Slovakia, it's a slow-paced place. Nothing much to see (it's so tiny!) but the food is good. Budapest though, is a place to go. Slovakia? 5 out of 10. Budapest, 8. :)

P.s. I don't know why the pictures turned out weird (for the marshmallow church).