Day 27 - Hungarian Parliament Building

David was unfortunately still sick this morning. Evan arranged for a doctor to come and pay a house call and afterwards walked to the local pharmacy (luckily very close by an Andrassy Utca) to get some supplies. Buying brandname medicines was not difficult but explaining to the pharmacist that I wanted carbon was a little more difficult. After trying a range of descriptions, Evan simply wrote a large 'C' on a piece of paper handed to him by the pharmacist who then understood immediately. Thank heavens for the universal language of science (and those chemistry classes Evan never thought he'd use)!

After setting David up for the day, Evan headed towards the Parliament Building down by the Danube. On the way there, he discovered a bookshop selling an Hungarian cookbook, in English, that could not be had for love or money in Australia. Our previous attempts to get it had ended up with finding people who were prepared to sell it for about USD 300. It was, however, yet another book to take home in an already heavy suitcase.

Evan arrived at the Parliament about an hour before the next English tour--tours were available in a range of languages including Hebrew. They were free for EU citizens but not for the rest, so Evan bought his ticket and had a look around the surrounding streets. Out the front of the Parliament there was a memorial to those massacred in the 1956 uprising, including a Hungarian flag with a hole in the centre (symbolising liberation from the 'foreign' communist regime by removing its coat of arms). Across the road from the Parliament one of the grand old buildings had smallish iron balls arranged in an interesting pattern all over romanesque architecture. They were clearly former bullet holes from the massacre of those who challenged the regime in 1956.

A memorial to those who died in the 1956 uprising, with the Parliament in the background.

The Parliament Building itself was very Victorian and was based on the Houses of Parliament in London. It had the standard gaudy grandness--acres of gold leaf, gothic revival vaulted ceilings etc, and some interesting porcelain statues all over the place symbolising an idealised view of the typical Hungarians at the time. There were the standard two chambers. Near the entrance the tour group was shown a model of the Parliament Building made by a family during the communist times out what appeared to be match sticks. It was so big that the to get it out of their apartment, the authorities had to pull a wall down. The family was rewarded for their patriotism with a new apartment.

The Upper House.

The matchstick parliament.

In the lobby of the Upper House, we were shown the apparently famous numbered brass cigar holders. Members would put their cigars down in a numbered slot to go and hear speeches being made. If the speaker was good, the cigar would burn down and his oratory would be said to be 'worth a Cuban cigar'.

In the central dome, the group was shown St Stephen's crown and other crown jewels in a solid glass case. This is the famous crown with the cross bent at an angle. Why it is bent is a mystery--it may just have been broken at one point but has now become iconic. While we allowed to use flash photography anywhere else in the building, we were asked not to use it on the crown jewels, but of course a handful of people completely ignored this. Tourists!

The Crown of St Stephen, with its distinctive bent cross.

After the Parliament, even did some shopping at Lush, taking advantage of the exchange rate to get some good deals and bath ballistics to cheer David up. It was then back to the hotel for an early night.

The Lush store on Szt. István Krt.