Our landlord at the Liesel/Pierre gave us lots of great visiting tips that turned out to be indispensable. In regards to sightseeing, he indicated that the old inner city was small and compact enough that we might want to avoid the numerous commercial touring schemes and set out on foot to explore.

This turned out to be great advice, but in terms of picture taking it has lent itself to a lot of this and that. So that’s how we’ll finish up our trip to Budapest, in bits and pieces with a few frayed ends.

Meaning “satellite” or “companion” in German, the Trabants were produced in East Germany. Originally, you’d pay for the car then be put on a list and wait for as long as 6 to 8 years for delivery. This meant that used Trabants sold for more then new ones. The downside was they ran like crap, were smokey as hell and produced 10 times the pollution of conventional cars. The upside was that they were manufactured, almost entirely, from recycled materials. The Trabant was regarded with derisive affection as a symbol of the extinct former East Germany and the fall of the Eastern bloc.

I have absolutely no idea what any of these people are selling.

Public baths were introduced by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire and are a huge part of popular culture. They are great facilities that have swimming pools (with three different temperatures), saunas, thermals, restaurants, cabins and anything you might need to have a great day. Two of the most popular are the Gellert Baths at the luxurious Hotel Gellert and the Szechenyl Baths at the city park. We spent the day at Szechenyl.

The Great Synagogue or Tabakgasse Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Europe.

Shoes on the Danube Bank is a bronze sculpture that honors the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. It depicts one of the saddest stories in modern Hungarian history.

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All the rest.

Lets top it off.

That’s all for now. See you in Austria.