DOWN WITH TYRANNY - BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - DAY 19
I slept like I was dead, and woke up brand new this morning. We ate some free chocolate cereal in the common kitchen, showered, did a bag drop, and checked out.
I bought tickets for the Parliament tour with my Swedish passport, and Kay and I left for the Jewish Synagogue. When we got to the synagogue, tickets were $15 just to enter!!! Pardon my sacrilege, but HELL. NO. We skipped it. *(Not a great pun, nor sacrilegious, as the Jewish religion, faith, and people don't believe in a Hell).
We headed back to hang out at the hostel, grabbed lunch, and I went off to tour Parliament. Kay stayed back to journal.
I didn’t tell Kay this because I was too embarrassed, but... I had booked my ticket for 1:15PM, but when I got to the tour center, they told me that’s when the tour ended, and it was a non-refundable or transferable ticket. I was really angry at the website for not being clear even though I checked it a million times. And because I trusted my online booking, I didn’t bother looking at my ticket that had 12:30PM printed on it for the start time. The ticket lady sold me the cheapest ticket for 5 more U.S. dollars. Overall, it was still half the cost of a non-EU citizen, but if I could figure out the tickets online to the Palace of Versailles in France, IN FRENCH, then surely their Hungarian Parliament website in English is a mess. No wonder the building is made of money. Oh well, if it’s only an $8 casualty before the additional $5 for one tour ticket on this whole trip, I can certainly live with that. I’ve been spending my money wisely for the whole adventure otherwise.
................
I’m glad I did the tour, but it wasn’t worth the money I spent, and I certainly pity the people who are forced to pay $26 for a regular ticket. I want to try and be more reserved about my outrage at the risk of sounding like a middle-aged white woman writing a bad Yelp review, but the cost to get into this place is unbelievable! They even charge you to go to the bathroom- Fucking Parliament!... Anyway, the history was pretty interesting. The empire began in 896 AD, which is why the dome is 96m high, and the main entrance has 96 steps. The entire palace theme maintains that number. In the Golden stairway, everything is made of real gold. Using gold leaf, it’s about 42g of gold total, and the arches stand 3m *(almost 10ft) high so no one can touch it. (Sounds like Capitalism to me). All of the windows are original, and the marble columns in the main entrance are carved from a single marble mountain from Sweden. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the Crown Jewels to protect and preserve them. They’re over 1,000 years old, and were given back to Hungary from the States during Jimmy Carter’s presidency in the 40s to establish peace with Hungary. One wing was under construction, so we went to the other wing and saw where they conduct political decisions and elections. A few more fun facts include: cigar holders throughout the building although they are no longer in use today, the vent system was so advanced when it was built, that they used coal and ice to manage temperatures in the building until the 1960s, and lastly, the lamps throughout the house were designed for gas AND electric at the same time, with gas bulbs sitting at the top of the lamp, and the electrical hanging at the bottom. Very cool, but very lavish. If you don't consider yourself to be sheeple, then you know the government is corrupt in every country. Sadly, it's so visually obvious here, between the immaculate House of Parliament, versus all the derelict buildings and sadness amongst the people, the wealth divide is stark. Too bad. Other than that, I only had one other tourist (literally) follow me, and take a snapshot of everything I would photograph first. I was passive aggressive in hopes of shaking him, but it didn't work. I know imitation is the highest form of flattery, but I have to confess, I have always loathed when people "steal my eye". I don't care if that sounds pretentious. It's happened since childhood, and I don't like it...Get your own picture / art / video / idea!
Whatever, it will probably just stay on his memory card, or he'll upload it to the cloud so he can post it on Instagram with a crop and a filter.... It's not like I'm bitter at all.
I headed back to the hostel and met back up with Kay. She did homework for a bit, while I hung out in the lobby. We had dinner next door, and I had my last goulash soup and a beer. This was the best goulash I've had, they added sliced jalapenos, and I asked for a side of white rice to mix it in. There's no fear of eating well here because everything is so cheap, and I loved having a full, warm meal. I made it to the clean plate club.
We pay the tab, pick up our bags from the bag drop, and hit the train station. I’ll talk next again in Prague!
Love you!
-eM
Xoxox
