Like, I know they speak French there, don’t they?
This is mainly for the amusement of my Hungarian friend, Csaba.

This clip was taken from Fox’s show, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Kellie Pickler, who is apparently not smarter than a 5th grader, was formerly a contestant on that dreadful American Idol show.

(H/T Worldhum)

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Well, as you can tell from my previous post, I am back from Budapest and will now write a more detailed entry of my time spent in that lovely city.

First, though, a bit about the last day of Lent term. It was a beautiful day in London…the sun was shining, which, let me tell you, has not happened often in these past few months, and in general, the city’s population seemed to be in an entirely different, positive mood. Amazing what a change in weather can do. I turned in my final paper at 3:15, a mere 15 minutes before the due time of 3:30, yes! After turning in our papers, all of us (us being the RPSS program students) got together at the Three Tuns (student pub on campus), where we enjoyed 50 quid (around $100) of free drinks thanks to Crystal and her predisposition towards entering contests. After numerous pints of Strongbow and snakebites (oh, snakebite, how I love thee!) we headed off for dinner, and afterwards I went back to Bankside to pack. My plane was leaving at 8am, ugh, and I had to catch the bus to London-Luton airport at 5:35am. I thought that two hours of sleep would be sufficient, and was about to fall asleep when I was awoken by the piercing noise of the Bankside fire alarm! ACK! So, out I stumble onto the street, cursing the gods of fate who have seen fit to deprive me of sleep. (Note to whoever set the alarm off intentionally: there is a special place in hell reserved for people like you). Quite frankly, the constant fire alarms are out of control. We had one on Monday, too, around 2:30am. RIDICULOUS. So, I propose that the Bankside management institute some sort of punishment for the idiots that intentionally set off the alarms, or choose to burn incense sticks at 2:30 in the morning…I think the following would be quite proper, and hey, it’s English!

Anyways, I took the 5:35am bus to Luton, got on the plane (I flew WizzAir – it’s like the Southwest Airlines of Eastern Europe), and landed in Hungary. The passport control guy spent a while looking at my passport, shining a light on it, flipping through the pages, scrutinizing my Russian visa and Moscow residency permit, which was cool, because I love standing there, wondering if they are going to let me into the country.
Our group (oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention, this trip was organized by the LSE Central and Eastern European Development Society) stayed at the Yellow Submarine Hostel. Yes, I fly on WizzAir and stayed at the Yellow Submarine Hostel…amusing, no?

Here’s my room:

Ah yes, all the comforts you could expect from an Eastern European hostel.
So, what did I see in Budapest? A LOT.

Walked along the Danube River

Visited Statue Park, a large collection of socialist-realism sculptures and monuments from the communist era.

Purchased a Trabant. Like my new car? Heh, just kidding…this was at Statue Park.

Visited St. Stephen’s Basilica, which is home to St. Stephen’s mummified right hand (see below)

Visited Castle Hill, which has some AMAZING views of Budapest (and an awesome military history museum!):

Got my picture taken with George Washington in City Park:

Visited an old castle in Tata:

Hiked up to the Citadel to watch the sunset over Budapest:

(That is the Soviet liberation monument for World War II)

Visited the House of Terror:

I’ve been to a lot of museums, but I must say that the House of Terror ranks up there with the best of them, so I’ll expand a bit on what exactly it is. This building, located at 60 Andrassy Avenue, has a quite sinister past: it was the headquarters for both the Hungarian Nazi Party (Arrow Cross Party), and afterwards, the Communist regime’s secret police. Unfortunately, they don’t allow you take photographs inside, so I’ll “borrow” some from their website to let you know what I’m talking about.

First, when you enter the museum and purchase your tickets, you are greeted by a huge Soviet tank from the 1956 revolution. It is sitting in a pool of thick, oily liquid that is dripping down into the floors below, and the walls are lined with photos of people that died in the building:

The museum is divided into two parts, one dealing with the Nazi era and the other dealing with the Communist. One of the most interesting rooms was called “double occupation”, which had plasma TVs on each side of a wall in the center of the room. One side was showing clips from the Soviet Union, and the other from Nazi Germany. It’s quite obvious that a lot of money and work has been put into this museum, as it is quite modern. Another interesting room was the gulag room, which had TVs on both sides showing passing countryside (as if you were riding on a train). The carpet was a map of the Soviet Union, with conical shaped display cases that held letters from Gulag prisoners, clothing items, etc.

The most powerful exhibit, though, was in the basement, which contains the prison cells that political prisoners were tortured in.

In many books I’ve read about the Soviet gulags, they describe the various cells and methods of torture they used on prisoners. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine what the cell would look like, but at the House of Terror, they were all there, every single one I had read about in my history books. The cell that you can not sit or lay down in – only stand, or the one that is filled with a foot of water, and the other that is barely three feet high. Each cell had pictures of the people that died there…to say it was a powerful exhibit would be an understatement. It wasn’t the “haha, this is fun” of the solitary confinement cells on Alcatraz, but rather an “Oh my God…” It made me wonder if the Russians will ever turn Lubyanka into a similiar museum, but with the current administration, I doubt it won’t happen for a very long time. Instead, politicians bicker over returning Dzerzhinsky’s statue to Lubyanskaya Ploshchad, and the victims of the Soviet regime get nothing more than a simple, neglected monument off to the side.

Back to the museum, though…another room in the basement was dedicated to the Hungarians that left the country. The whole room is covered with reproductions of postcards they sent to their relatives back home in Hungary, and it was quite weird to pick out the places I knew: LA, Big Bear, Solvang, Orange County, etc.
The end of the tour necessitated a trip to the gift shop, which, oddly enough, was full of communist kitsch such as Stalin bottle openers, Lenin hair clips, and other various souvenirs that look like they came from a Moscow souvenir market. Seems a bit out of place for a museum dedicated to Nazi and Soviet terror, no? I didn’t buy anything, but I must admit that the Stalin candle was tempting, as who wouldn’t want to watch the Vozhd slowly melt away?

I’ve uploaded all my Budapest photos to my album, so check those out if you’d like to see some of the other sites I visited (instead of me rambling on and on about everything we did, which would add to an already way too long blog entry).

One last thing, though. The food in Hungary is amazing. We ate at this place called Sir Lancelot’s, where the waiters bring out this 4 foot board filled with chicken, pork, steak, fish, veggies, fruit, etc. Soooooo good. Oh, and there are no forks so you have to eat with your hands…reminded me of Medieval Times in Anaheim without the hokey jousting show. The best, though, was an authentic Hungarian meal prepared by Csaba’s mom. Delicious! Hungarian hospitality is amazing…truly amazing.

Oh, and on a random note, as we were leaving the hostel, I spotted a white car with “Office Depot” emblazoned on the side doors. Also, on the train to Tatabanya, I saw an Office Depot from afar! I kid you not…first the UK, France, and now Hungary (Unfortunately, did not get a pic of the car in Hungary). Ironic, as the Lindsay Fincher World Tour 2005 is sponsored by Office Depot, or, at least, the money I earned while working at office supply hell.

Also, I managed to pick up some Hungarian while I was there, and when I say “some” I mean three words: jo (good), igen (yes), and nem (no). A few more trips to Hungary and I’ll be fluent!

OK, so, in conclusion, if you have a chance to visit Budapest, GO! You will have a great time, I assure you!

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In short, it is a beautiful city with friendly people and delicious food! I’ll write a more detailed entry later and post some pics. Going to Brussels next, March 28-30.

For now, here is a pic of me with a Communist-era statue called The Martyr, which is located in Statue Park, a park outside the city where all the socialist relics go to die.

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Paper turned in…Lent term over, thank God.

And Spring Break commences…

Be back on the 24th.

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I was bored last night, so I made a map of places I have been (thanks to world66.com).

I’ve been to a grand total of three countries: Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Russia. I’m not really sure if Mexico even counts…I only went to Tijuana for a day when I was in the 6th grade.

So where do I want to go next? Would you be surprised if I told you I wanted to go back to Russia? I want to visit the areas of Russia that few tourists venture to…Lake Baikal, Yekaterinburg, Rostov on Don, Omsk, Yakutsk, Vladivostok…I want to ride the Trans-Siberian railway…how cool would that be?

Then I want to go to Georgia…Liz, Luke, and I are going out there together someday…then we’re going to visit Arshad and Amir in Pakistan.

I want to visit Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Turkey, Tibet, Nepal, China, Mongolia, and Egypt.

I’d like to go to Cuba, but my government says that I can’t just go to Cuba whenever I feel like it. We are still fighting the evil Reds, you see…or at least that’s what the Cuban exiles in Miami would have you believe. You know what’s funny? The persecution of Americans that travel to Cuba and are subsequently fined by the U.S. Government could actually be a violation of several international agreements the U.S. has signed, namely the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Helsinki Final Act. But remember that those are international agreements, and we can pick and choose what we would like to abide by.

I want to visit Australia, Greece, Italy, Spain, and of course, “Old Europe” – France, Germany, Benelux…ohhh and Ireland…gotta see where my ancestors came from.

I think I need a career in the Foreign Service…

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