I am home, at it feels so good! I have always appreciated the relief of getting home after a long trip or vacation, and today is no different. It is odd to me that Vienna feels like home, though.
Yesterday we toured a bit more in Budapest. We got to spend a lot of time walking around the Roman ruins (Budapest was a Roman city, called Pannonia, from the first century AD through the end of the fourth century). It was crazy to walk through what used to be an amphitheater where people fought to the death, and a civilian bath house. It surprised me to find a lot of trash and broken glass in the amphitheater, and that there were no restrictions on where one can walk in the ruins. If those ruins had been in Prague or Vienna they would have been surrounded by fences or Plexiglas walls. I can imagine myself playing in the ruins of the bath when I was littler. That would have been great fun!
It was a nice day for the outdoors, so after our lunch on the Danube, we walked around the castle on the Buda side. From the castle wall there was another great view of the city below (and our cylindrical hotel). There seemed to be a little bit of a lack of respect for ancient architecture within the castle walls as well. For example, one of the buildings that was destroyed during bombings in World War II has been left in the exact state, and not refurbished.
Another thing odd about Budapest: After their independence from the Soviet Communists was gained, rather than destroying the Communist statues, as other cities did, the statues were collected and placed in a park. I'm not exactly sure why...Budapest puzzles me. Our tour guide mentioned that Hungarians like to laugh about their problems, and make things into jokes, so if they aren't laughing, things must be very bad. Perhaps this lighthearted culture is not one I can understand.
Tomorrow is the first day of our regular semester, and I am excited to begin! Gute nacht!
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