Budapest Couple's Confernce

We had a "Couples Conference" in Budapest where all the senior couples got together.  We were were taken to some of the amazing sights in Budapest.  It was fun to meet several new couples and get to know them better.  (There are a lot of new faces).   

They took us to three places,  "Heroes Square",  a Castle, and "Saint Istvan's Cathederal."

We'll start with Heroes Square.  The pictures above are taken from there.

I'm not entirely sure who most of the heroes were, but the statues were impressive.  While Hungary was under Soviet rule, they had statues of Stalin and other Soviet heroes.  Once Hungary got their freedom they pulled those statues down and they are in a pile of dead statues somewhere.

As always I am enchanted by the buildings and statues.  We went through this gate to get in, AND it didn't cost us anything.  (I love it when a plan comes together.)

This is the Vajdahunyad Castle.  I have no idea what it was or is, but the architecture is beautiful, as are the grounds.   

 I always look at these old buildings and imagine what is was like when it was first built.  

The above are just some random pictures I took of it.  They are so enchanting to me.

These are a couple of statues on the grounds.  I'm not sure what this one above represents.  

For the castle in present-day Hunedoara, Romania, see Hunyad Castle.

Vajdahunyad Castle (Hungarian: Vajdahunyad vára) is a castle in the City Park of Budapest, Hungary. It was built between 1896 and 1908 as part of the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated the 1000 years of Hungary since the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 896. The castle was designed by Ignác Alpár to feature copies of several landmark buildings from different parts the Kingdom of Hungary, especially the Hunyad Castle in Transylvania (now in Romania). As the castle contains parts of buildings from various time periods, it displays different architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Originally it was made from cardboard and wood, but it became so popular that it was rebuilt from stone and brick. Today it houses the Agricultural Museum.

The statue of Anonymus is also displayed in the castle court. Anonymus lived in the 12th century (his true identity is unknown, but he was a notary of Béla III of Hungary), who wrote the chronicle Gesta Hungarorum (Deeds of the Hungarians). The castle also contains a statue of Béla Lugosi Just in case you want to know.

  

This is Saint Istvan (Saint Stephen) Cathederal in Budapest.  He was a hero from the end of the ninth  century to the middle of the tenth.  It is a huge cathederal  and very beautiful inside.  It is purported to be one of the biggest in Hungary.  

These are just some random pictures I took. Everything was so beautiful. There were several Japanese tour groups in there with us.

They have a hand in a shrine that is supposed to be his.  Obviously it was sacred thing to them. It didn't look so good after hundreds of years.

Someone came up with the idea of PAYING to climb the 302 steps to the towers. It was well worth the trip and the pain.  

This looks down into the square I was standing in to get the picture of the church.  If you look on the left side just by the shadow towards the top of the picture you can see Elder Adams waving to us.  

I took this because look at the church steeples you can see in the distance.  There are a lot of churches here.

I love the architecture.

Obviously we are going to eat somewhere.  The Strudel House was a great choice.

                             I just got this picture of kids playing in a fountain in the city.

                                     The building on the right is the American Embassy.

 I couldn't resist to include this picture taken out of our bedroom door of the sunrise.  It is a glorious world we live in.