There! It's also a RIDER wad!
So sadly, since it's NOT the rider we're supposed to take as a guide, we wandered around quite lost and were put on the right track only when the kind caretakers of the Matyas Templom found us roaming the streets 15 min later =P
Qte self-explanatory here - this is simply THE correct rider. *chuckles
This is the nondescript entrance to the labyrinths. It's so easy to miss, being among all the normal buildings as it is. Bah! Anyhow, we did find the place. Happily, we entered. I think it was 1100Ft each (student price). ahhh... I don't know if I regretted this visit. But it sure did remind me that I don't really like dark dark places... Thank god there was twin to cling on to. =P
Some background though: In Ottoman times, these limestone caverns under the hills were turned into a 10 km system of passages and chambers. They were used as an air-raid shelter during WW II. You can walk along some of the bit spooky complex - made spookier w sound effects from discreet speakers in well-like things within the interior... Don't like... :(
But there's lots of those pre historic/ cavemen kind of etchings on the walls where it's bright enough to see... and those are quite pretty. Like this one:
Yeps. It's bigger than twin. =P hahaha
eh. btw, you'll see us in the same clothes over and over. And it's so totally not cuz we didn't change k! It's just we have to travel light backpacking and it's constantly so cold that we kept the same jackets on for 9 days. (Yes. Laundry was a dreary affair upon returning to Warsaw...)
This is supposed to be a month dial of sorts. Though how it works, we didn't manage to really find out cuz there's not enough description given... But in this labyrinth, there's sort of only 1 path you could follow - so you have to go through all the places to get out eventually. Prob a good thing - else I might have ended our tour pre-maturely. sheepish grin..
Ok. This was quite fascinating - cuz these 4 fountains back to back were just spewing red wine non-stop. It's REAL red wine! Ok ach I don't know cuz I didn't taste it. But the smell was the same and the color as well... Didn't taste it cuz - obviously they won't be wasting all that wine - they recycle this over and over. I wonder how long the same wine's been circulating alr... euks
Dark dark excavated stones. Frankly, some of these look like laptop keyboards... and we do doubt the genuinity of some items. heh they do put in effort to live up to our expectations of labyrinths and spooky caves though, I guess...
After we re-emerged into the sunshine, we headed across the bridge to the Pest district for this widely acclaimed tour - ok ach only 1 Brazilian guy (hostelite @ e same hostel we were at) endorsed it... but we decided to trust him anw =)
The Parliament tour cost about 1200Ft (Around S$12) per person btw... and lasts around 40 min. But we've got such good reviews about this place that we thought - it should be well worth the money. And you know what? We practically ran here - haha cuz we went to some far away place to get lunch; and they took so long to prepare our kebab that we had to make it a take away and eat it after.. hehe Picture later!
The Parliament (Országház - but don't ask me how to pronounce that) was built between 1885 and 1902, at the time the largest parliamentary building in the world. The building has a length of 268 meters and is 118 meters wide, containing more than 20 km staircase, and 691 rooms.
The main style of the building is neo-gothic with renaissance influences, but the base ground plan is Baroque. Fusion at its best! - or so I think. =)
A model of the Parliament within the main hall itself. One of the most imposing buildings in Budapest, this Parliament is kind of a national pride - simply because it is an achievement to be able to build and keep a piece of architecture after years of war and turmoil as a result of being sandwiched between Germany and Russia (among other wars). Nothing could be built w/o being destroyed in the clashing of weapons prior to that. It is no wonder then, that this parliament is built with the best materials they could get within Hungary itself.
This dome hall has a height of 69 meters! Look at the stained glass windows of different colours. Pretty, isn't it? There's 16 of them and beneath each, there's a statue of previous Hungarian leaders. This hall houses the Hungarian Coronation Regalia. (See picture below) It's really super protected with sensors and alarms and barricades around it and all...
This is the most prized treasure of the Parliament, it includes the Holy Crown, the orb, the sceptre and a Renaissance sword. If you look at the crown, you'll see that the cross atop it is actually crooked. It wasn't made this way. But this crown had made many journeys and during one of those, the cross was knocked crooked. But because it's so ancient, no one wanted to do anything about it - and you'll find that the crooked cross atop the crown stayed - documented in many of the paintworks/sculptures within the Parliament and in paintings depicting it. =P
This gold colored thing lines the window sills outside the debate chambers. Cuz you're not allowed to smoke in these chambers, so these numbered cigar-holders are installed so that smoking politicians can leave their cigars in the holders when they enter chambers to vote. They only have to remember the number they placed the cigar at to retrieve their own cigars.
Then again, you guys know I'm super anti-smoking - so seriously, why can't they just quit. Boo!
This: in the words of the guide - repeated some 5 times or so within his 15 min introduction of the place - is a WORKING parliament. Basically, stuff I remember about this place is that they employed the winner of the quickest shorthand writing competition to take notes during those parliamentary sessions. grin What a job!
And as promised... hehe a picture of our lunch - bought nearly an hr b4 we consumed it. It was superb I tell you - Hungarian rice w chicken kebab/salad. Not very cheap - haha but the best bit is... we ate this at the tram stop outside the Parliament. Grin Can't tell you how many glances we drew... mostly cuz of e little bits of rice we dropped on the pavement - Ah well. =P You can't penalize 2 beginner backpackers too much yeah? =))
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