Tuesday in Budapest

Yesterday we took the Metro from our hotel, under Andrassi St, to City Park.   City Park was developed during Budapest's "Millennium Celebrations" in 1896, 1000 years after the Magyars (Hungarians) took over the area.  So while a lot of the architecture here looks older, even medieval, it was actually built in the early 20th century.  It reminds us of Balboa Park, which is not as old as it looks - built around that same time for the Worlds Fair. 

Here's a replica of a 1214 Benedictine chapel, built closer to 1905.

a close-up of some of the detail - apparently this is a replica of an actual chapel near Austria
Dick's smirk at the park
the locals ice skating
The Museum of Fine Arts - we were in this same square (Heroes Square) earlier in the week, but we were on the tour and weren't able to take any time to visit the museum.  Now we were actually able to go inside.  The Picasso, Klee and Kandinskij exhibit was fantastic.  I had not been to an exhibit like this since taking art classes last year - so it was cool to be able to recognize some of the techniques and mediums that we had studied.

Here's another shot of the Millenium Monument in Heroes Square.  We had some patches of blue sky which made for a more interesting photograph this time.
 

During the uprising in October 1956, protestors cut the Communist insignia out of the flag.  When Communism finally fell 33 years later, the flag with the hole became a symbol of national pride.  This flag stands near Heroes Square, memorializing the 1956 event.
After visiting City Park and Heroes Square, we walked back toward the hotel and river, then got back on the Metro to return to Market Hall in order to pick up an afternoon snack and some souvenirs.  The lower floor of Market Hall is filled with fresh vegetables, salted meats, pastries, loaves of bread and spices.  If you lived in Budapest, I can't imagine why you'd go anywhere else to get your groceries.  The building is lined with a large balcony, where vendors sell hot lunches and beer (like the meal we had on Sunday).  This level is also filled with booths of people selling table linens, ornaments, and other little goodies.  The rule here is that you're supposed to barter.  I was able to get a deal, reducing the cost of my purchase by 900 Ft, but I still think I could have done better with a little more confidence and a little less language barrier.  
After a long day we returned to our home base.

Of course we went out again later last night for dinner.  We took the metro again to Heroes Square and then took a 10 minute walk to Paprika Vendeglo, which is where we had what was quite possibly our favorite meal so far. We were so full that we thought it best to walk the 1.5 miles back to the hotel (30 degree weather or not) instead of taking the metro.  Halfway home we remembered that because the metro stops running at 11:30 pm, we would have had to walk anyway.  The walk brisk down the upscale Andrassi St was a great way to end the day.