Guess who is here? 女儿的到来

June 24, 2022

We got up early in the morning and went to a small café across the street. Although we stayed in a bustling tourist area, and there were a lot of choices for food and drinks during the day and at night, the breakfast choice in the early morning was minimal. Only a hand full of breakfast cafes opened in the morning. The café was small, but the waiter took us to the lovely courtyard in the back. We had Bacon, eggs, and coffee, and it was a good breakfast.   

After coming to Europe, we were curious to find out any historic markers left by the communist period in Eastern Europe. We have visited three former Eastern European countries on this trip so far, and apart from the infrastructure being far behind Western Europe, there was almost nothing left to remind that period of history. But in Budapest, Hungary, they built a small park outside of the city called Memento Park, where they collected some of the statues that had been made under Soviet control.

We took the bus to Memento Park. Budapest had a reasonably extensive and efficient public transport system, including many buses, trams, and metro trains. But taking a bus in Budapest was a bit more complicated than in other countries on this trip. The tickets could be purchased from a ticket machine near some bus stops or downloaded from an app on the phone. A set of ten bus tickets was cheaper than individual ones. The price costs less than one euro for a ride. Each bus fare can only be used for one ride, with no transfer, regardless of distance. The ticket needs to be validated on the bus. There were different ways to validate a ticket depending on the bus you were on, and it could be putting a time stamp on the ticket or punching a hole. As first-timer, we did not know all these, and the machine didn't always work for us. Fortunately, the friendly locals quickly came to the rescue. To get to Memento Park, we had to do a bus transfer. We had a little trouble finding the right stop for the transfer and ended up on the bus in the opposite direction. The bus driver did not speak English, but he was so nice to stop the bus and even got off the bus to show us the one we should take.

Finally, we arrived at Memento Park. There were not many tourists visiting the park. It had three parts: the Statue Park, the Barrack Cinema, and the Photo Exhibition. The Status Park was small, featuring some Communist-era statues, sculptures, and plates. The park was not well maintained and was overgrown with weeds. The Photo Exhibition gave a brief overview of Hungarian socialist history, and the Cinema showed glimpses of the country's dark past with the government spying on its citizens. All of these reminded us of the dictatorship and its fall. In today's Hungary, people live a free life. Budapest was full of tourists as if they had long forgotten the new COVID virus.

After visiting the park, we stopped by the Buda side of Budapest and walked up to Gellert Hill. Unfortunately, Citadella was closed for renovation, but we had a fantastic panoramic view of the Pest and the Danube River at the top of the hill. We didn't stay there for too long as we needed to return to the city center to meet our daughter.

Our daughter flew from New York to Budapest to join us today. We knew she would take an airport shuttle to the city center, not too far from our rented place, and the bus stop for the shuttle. We went to the bus stop a few minutes earlier and had our iPhones ready to tape a happy family reunion. But the empty bus came without any passengers. "Oh, no. The passengers were dropped off somewhere else", we murmured to ourselves. We immediately used Find My on the phone to locate her on the other side of the street. She also planned to videotape us for the reunion but was very disappointed that we were not there when she got off the bus. Ultimately, we were delighted to see each other again on another continent.

We went to a vegan restaurant for dinner, and the food tasted delicious. Afterward, we went to a café on the river for coffee and enjoyed another beautiful night view of Budapest.

欧洲游第三十五天：一早起来就去外面转转，在民舍对面的小店吃了个早餐。然后就坐公交车去城外的纪念公园。在布达佩斯坐公交车比其他国家要复杂一些，一张票只能坐一次车，换车要用新票，上车后还要打时间，但价格还是便宜，一个欧元不到坐一次车。来欧洲后，很好奇想在东欧看看在共产党时期留下的痕迹。已经去了三个前东欧国家，除了相比之下基础设施要比西欧差一些，其它几乎已经再也看不见反映那一段历史的痕迹了。不过在匈牙利的布达佩斯，他们建立了一个小小的公园，把以前苏联控制下所塑造的一些塑像收集起来放在那里。里面杂草丛生，稀稀拉拉没几个游客。如今的匈牙利，人们过着自由自在的生活，布达佩斯满街的游客，好像早已把新冠病毒抛之脑后。

女儿今天从纽约飞到布达佩斯与我们会合，晚上去了一家素食餐厅，味道还不错。之后去河上的餐厅喝咖啡☕️+看夜景。