We began our first full day in Budapest with a wonderful breakfast at our hotel. We had plans to attend a lecture at the Franz Liszt music academy, but our guide at the academy was ill. Professor Sletto and our tour guide Szilvia improvised and arranged a guided tour through the Hungarian Parliament instead. The building is massive and absolutely beautiful. There were many parts of the building that was original, but most of the inside and all of the windows have been renovated since WWII. Much of Budapest was destroyed during WWII, so many buildings in the area surrounding the Parliament have been rebuilt since. The Parliament houses both of their political bodies, the House of Commons and the Senate. These used to be called the Lower and the Upper house. We were able to view the Senate, the former Upper house. It symbolically had blue carpet, as opposed to the red carpet in the rest of the building and the Lower house, because the Upper house was traditionally made up of blue bloods.
After the guided tour of the Hungarian Parliament, we traveled to the Budapest markets. The vendor booths were housed in an old train station. There were three levels of vendors selling their goods. The first floor had fresh produce, meats, and pastries. The second floor had multiple different vendors selling anything from souvenirs to china and purses to intricate lace doilies. The third floor had more merchandise and restaurants. Many of us had much success at the markets.
Touring the Parliament and market took us into the late afternoon. Many of us headed back to the hotel to relax and we all had dinner on our own. It is hard to believe our trip is almost over. We are looking forward to our last few days in Europe and then returning to the states.
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