Budapest Day 3: Shoes by the Danube

We began the day by going to look for this memorial to the victims of one of the many Holocaust atrocities committed during World War II: people who were rounded up and brought to the bank of the Danube, forced to remove their shoes and sometimes their clothes as well, and then shot, so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. There is a good article about the shoes here. This powerful memorial moved us more than anything else we saw in Budapest, and given that it brought us to tears I can only begin to imagine its effect on Jewish people, especially those with a direct family connection to the victims of this brutality. Many who have visited have left candles, flowers and even notes.

As well as the extra shot here, there are five more on Flickr. By the way, I'd like to thank Eptas for blipping this memorial a couple of months ago: astonishingly it isn't mentioned in either of the guide books we brought with us, so we might well not have seen it if we hadn't specifically sought it out.

After this the rest of the day seemed rather ordinary, but we did make the most of our time. Firstly we went to the Royal Palace and looked at part of the national art collection (a tip if you're about to visit: if you want to take photos in the gallery, ask for a photo ticket at the desk, because they might not offer you one even if you're carrying a huge camera). Then we went around the Mátyás Church, which is an astonishing building: there are three exterior shots here, including one of the Trinity Column which is a plague memorial, and five interior shots showing the extraordinary level of decoration throughout the church. We also wandered around the Fishermen's Bastion, which looks as though it was designed by the Disney Studios, and wandered back to the river through Buda, which has a very different feel to Pest.

Finally we took an evening walk so that I could get the almost obligatory set of night shots: the Royal Palace; the Chain Bridge, with a pair of young lovers sitting beside it; the Parliament building; St Mátyás and the Fishermen's Bastion; the dome of St Stephen.

Other things that caught my eye today:

The amphibibus - you wouldn't catch me getting into it.

Some more statues: the Turul Bird which guards the Presidential Palace; Eugene of Savoy outside the Royal Palace; István Bethlen; St Mátyás.

A replica of the crown jewels in the Mátyás Church; the originals are kept in the Parliament building, and are guarded around the clock.