It was too late when I discovered that the umbrellas wouldn’t fit into my baggage! There was no time to buy a new bag. I checked at the reception whether they had something to help me. “No, we have only laundry bags,” the receptionist confessed. That gave me the idea. Laundry bags at both ends, three layers of tape, and the umbrellas were packed. Hopefully, it will remain.
It was the last day. For the first time in life, I was not anxious to return home. I was sad for reasons unknown. The last place remaining to visit was Heroes Square, and that was the agenda for the day. But first there was the check-in to be taken care of.
“Internet is available on the second floor,” said the receptionist, “but you can’t use it. The computers are broken.” Great! I weighed my options. Should I go to McDonalds for their ‘free wifi’? “But you have to eat something there!” Snag pointed out. I finally decided to take internet connection in my room.
Vaci ut was as usual busy, even though it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed. A little girl stood playing a beautiful tune on the flute. She seemed really engrossed in her performance. I wanted badly to take her photo, but Snag forbade me. She handed her some coins. The girl was extremely happy and gave her a courteous bow.
Andrassy Ut was full of revelry. Traffic had been blocked. There was some festival on. Strangely, there were people performing yoga. Was this another one of those ISKCON crowd? I wondered. Our first stop was The House of Terror – “The Scary House”, as Snag had mentioned it, much to the amusement of Gabor. Not a haunted house, but a museum dedicated to the two “ages of terror” in Hungarian history – the rule of the Arrow Cross Party and the Soviet rule. The guy at the audio guide desk was amused by my “Squeal” T-shirt. “Funny T-shirt”, he exclaimed. “It’s a spoof of a famous painting,” I replied. “Yeah, I know,” he replied. Finally someone recognized it!
The place took us more than two hours. Finally, when we were in the basement, Snag decided she had enough. “It’s really depressing! All those people were killed! Those cells are really spooky!” she moaned. Outside the Museum, Snag pointed out to me something I missed last time around. On the sidewalk stood a sculpture consisting entirely of chains! It was called the “Iron Curtain”, a tribute to the imaginary fence that stretched from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, according to Churchill. “You are supposed to kick it,” said Snag. She had apparently spotted someone doing it. I obliged.
I pointed out the huge column of Hosok Ter to Snag. “Do you think you can walk till there?” I asked. She responded positively. The festivities had died down. They were dismantling all the roadside shops. There were a few still open, selling Funnel cakes and sandwiches. We stood there hoping to buy a funnel cake, but Snag got fed up with the long queue. “Let’s go,” she said, “no use waiting for such long time!” Something seemed to have happened to Andrassy Ut. The road was filled with chalk drawings. It had probably been used as a huge drawing board by the kids in Budapest. And during our childhood we are told that we shouldn’t draw on the walls or the floor!
Heroes Square was sparsely crowded today. There were only a few people setting up their tripods, compared to the huge crowd I had encountered during my last trip. The highlight of the crowd was a couple who were dancing. There were a quite a few others photographing them. This time Snag did not forbid me from clicking. The skaters were just about warming up. I pointed at the huge statue of the king and said to Snag: “That’s Arpad.” “Oh! Is that the same guy who is named after the bridge?” she shot back.We decided to take a stroll in the park, and headed towards the Harry-Potteresque castle, Vajdahunyad. It no longer had that eerie look I had seen last time. There were quite a few people wandering around in the gardens, and soft music floated in from the Anonymus Restaurant on the adjoining lake. On the way back, I pointed out “Robinsons” to Snag. She immediately took an immense liking to the place. “You should have treated me here!” she exclaimed.
As the sun set, we were back at Hosok Ter. It was now fully lit. This time, I decided to just gape, and not click photos. It was the last glimpse of Budapest I would have.
And that’s how it ends…not with a bang, but a whimper.
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