Exploring Budapest

I started the morning out by having breakfast with Sister Esthes. Then we took the tram to Parlament, a huge building with beautiful architecture. Sister Esthes explained that some parts of the building are black because of the smog while others are white because they just finished cleaning them. I thought it was interesting that the smog could make the building so dirty. But despite the black on the outside, the inside was beautiful. There was marble and gold plated ornaments everywhere. All of the windows were stained glass and there were frescoes painted on the ceilings. The tour guide took us up to see the crown and scepter that may have been King Stephens. She informed us that when they dug up his body they found his right hand perfectly preserved so they put it in a case to display to the public. The tour guide also took us to where Parlament votes. The design of the entire building was very grand.

After seeing the Parlament building we went to a Ethnography museum across the street. One of the main exhibits was about hand woven rugs that used to be part of a woman's dowry. The rugs were beautiful and very intricate. The museum also had exhibits on Transylvania churches and the Amazon. When I informed Sister Esthes that I swam in the Orinoco River with the Piranhas they showed she looked pretty shocked.
After visiting the Museum we went back to the house for lunch and then traveled to the Buda part of Budapest. The Duna River divides the city into two parts, Buda and Pest. I was told they used to be two cities and then united to become Budapest. We took the tram to the top of a mountain to look over Buda. All the leaves on the trees are changing colors so the view from the top of the mountain was wonderful! We took something like a lift back down the mountain and I took the tram the rest of the way back to the house. After dinner, Sister Esthes and I went to the ballet. It was interesting to see that you don't need to watch something in your language to understand what is going on. Today was quite the day! and I can't wait to do it again tomorrow :)