Recently in Europe Trip 2006 Category

Today was my last full day in Budapest, and it wasn't as busy as previous days. Today we went to the not-so-exciting House of Terror, which is about the Nazi and Russian occupation of Hungary. It's in the old building for the secret police, and ironically they were watching me when I took a photo inside, and they wouldn't leave until I deleted it.

After that we went back to the Synagogue which we visited on the first day, and this time we took a tour. It was pretty amazing. Our English-speaking tour guide's father is somewhat famous, as he saved 200 Hungarian Jews from certain death during the Holocaust. The Nazis killed 400,000 Hungarian Jews during WWII.

The final stop for the day was Szentendre, another cute town north of the city. It was nice, but not as nice as some of the other villages I've seen here.

After the link you'll find the last bunch of photos for my Europe trip!

Today Tibor and I took a 2.5 hour drive to Vienna, Austria. It was well worth the trip. Vienna is a very beautiful city and (once again) a photographer's delight. We saw most of the major sites inside the Ringstrasse, and after that we went over to Schönbrunn (the summer home of the Habsburg's).

The shocker of the day was when we stopped in Starbucks (yes, they have them in Vienna) for a drink. A grande iced mocha, which normally costs $3.30 at home, cost €4.80 here -- that's six dollars!

I forgot to mention yesterday's surprise: if you think gas prices are bad in the US then you haven't seen anything. A tank of gas here in Hungary cost us $100!

Anyhow, pictures are after the link. Since you aren't allowed to take photos inside Schönbrunn, I only have exterior shots of that.

Today Tibor and I went to the village of Eger, which is about an hour away from Budapest. There's lots of nice Baroque architcture plus an old castle to check out. The castle is famous for keeping the Turks away for many years, though they got inside eventually. Pictures after the link!