Budapest Final Day.... Sad Face.... Sad Face

Well Well today was my day in what has been and probably be my favorite city from the entire trip. Yes berlin did have great things but I thought that Budapest had a lot more to offer and I was happy to be able to take part in what is offered. During the entire week that we have been here I have been able to learn about the country in the short time that I have been here, and today was no different. Today I was so lucky to go and visit a park titled "Statue Park." This was a park that had all of the statues of different things that represented communism during the Soviet era and before. When I got off the bus I was greeted by this archway that had the fathers of communism on one side who were Karl Marx and Frederich Engels. on the opposite of it had the man who was the best at implementing the communist beliefs of all of the Soviet Union. That man was Vladimir Lenin. But, across from that there was a monstrous statue of what looked liked a plain pair of boots. But I learned just what that statue was. The statue was that of Joseph Stalin. This was the man that spread so much fear throughout his land that he would kill anyone that opposed him. So what ended up happening, was that the statue was the only one in this park that was torn down due to what he did. As we kept walking through the park I was amazed at all of the different statues and what they represented. The door was closed when we got there but that was done on purpose because I believe there was an inscription on the door that our guide pointed out that said something like "If there is a closed door there is a window that you can still go through." This was to signify that there can always be a way to get to what you want, so right beside there was a smaller doorway that was open to the park. There were a few statues that interested me the most. The first was that of two men shaking hands. It was to represent the Hungarian-Soviet relationship. The interesting thing about that statue is that the Soviet man in the statue was keeping one hand back as to keep his guard up where as the other was the Hungarian and he was using both of his hands to shake the Soviet man's hand. This part from what I heard represented distrust due to the fact that the Soviets did do a lot of stealing from the Hungarians including wristwatches. So this is why he was shaking the Soviet man's hand with both hands and that was to protect his watch from being stolen. The second statue was of a woman who looked like she was working. This was to represent that Women can do anything that the men can do. This statue was titled the Ideal woman of the 50's. The last one I think interested me the most as to how the propaganda worked at its best. This was of a man that was an underground educator of communism during the 1930's when I looked at the picture that was in the pamphlet and it was nothing like the statue. The picture of was a man that basically looked like The Wizard Harry Potter, but when I looked at the statue I saw this bust of a man that looked to be very athletic and powerful. This really made me see that those who were in fact trying to continue the spread of communism really were made to look live very powerful men in their pictures, statues, etc. Lastly the tour came to a close at a brick wall that represented the end of communism. But when you turned around, the road towards the front of the park was to represent the road to democracy. After the tour was over, we made our way back to the hotel for those who were not going to the hot baths could get out. As for the rest of us we had an experience like no other. When we started out to the baths when we got there it was still cold enough to see your breath, but then when I stepped that first foot in the water, that feeling of being cold went away in an instant. the water was so warm I mean it literally felt like an overgrown hot tub. So we stayed in one area for a long time and then we decided to move to another which was a big mistake LOL. We had to run from one side of the baths to the other and I thought that my hair was going to freeze before I got back into the water. But when we got into the other bath It was the best feeling in the world. I mean it literally felt like I had melted into the bath just going from so cold to so warm in that short amount of time. Following that we went inside for a while but we saw that we enjoyed it more outside afterwards, so we decided to head out and walk back to the hotel. When we got about 100 feet from the hotel there was this little shop that was right there so I ducked in for a second and saw these glasses that were there and they were only 40 cents american so I said what the hell and bought one for a scotch glass when I got it i didn't notice that there was a picture of freedom square or either liberty square I can't remember which one it was called, but anyway I had just been there and took a picture of it so that was awesome. Now I am at the point to what I am doing and that is writing this entry into my daily blog. As for tonight, I am going out and doing a minor pub crawl with some of the greatest friends that I could have ever made while on this trip. It has been an honor to be able to visit the place that Yehuda is from and to be able to learn so much about the culture and what Hungary is all about. Tomorrow is a new day and the journey to a new country. I cannot wait to see what is in store for me, but I am sure that it is going to be great.