Cities: Free Day Blog Post

One of my favorite free days that I had was when we went to Budapest.  We were able to see many different things all in one day.  Budapest is split into two different sides.  We started on the Buda side and went to the Fisherman's Bastion.  This was a beautiful place to look out and see much of Budapest.  The tower had beautiful architecture that featured colors and geometric patterns.  Then we went to the Parliament building which was one of the most unique buildings I have seen.  It was in a Baroque and Gothic style that showed pointing archways and colorful detailing.  Near the Parliament building there were shoes that represented an instance during the Holocaust were soldiers shot Jews into the river.  We finished with the famous Budapest baths which we learned was basically a public swimming pool!  We also had one of the famous chimney cakes that are a specialty of Budapest which feature a churro like cone with ice cream inside.  

All of these things are important to Budapest because it is what makes Budapest unique.  These things are what makes it worth it to go to Budapest.  We noticed unique architecture in the Fisherman's Bastion and the Parliament building.  These were different than any other architecture we had seen throughout Europe.  We also saw different kinds of Holocaust monuments than other monuments we had seen throughout Europe.  The shoes were such a small way to make a powerful statement about what had happened during this time.  We also were able to find fun things like the Bath's and the yummy chimney cakes that are unique to Budapest that gave us something different to do compared to the rest of Europe.  All of these things contribute to Budapest's history because it is so different than the rest of Europe.  It shows that Budapest is unique and is culturally different than other cities.  

These things contribute to Budapest as a cultural capital because it shows that Budapest is old and beautiful.  You can tell that Budapest was a cleaner kept city and what made it so unique was how beautiful it was everywhere, not just at the big sites.  The Parliament building was a big building right near the river that could be seen from the Buda side and the Pest side.  This shows the importance that they put into the government and that Budapest is a strong city because of its politics as well.  The other important sites we went to shows that Budapest is an old city just like other cities in Europe and has a rich history that contributes to making it a cultural capital.