jó napot.

After a series of trips, it was nice to finally arrive in this beautiful city full of rich history where I will finally remain in one place, at least for three weeks.  For the past few months, I have been preparing for a service-learning internship in Budapest, Hungary and the first few days into it, I can tell it will be a stretching and rewarding experience.  Staying with an American family in the Pest side of the city is allowing for enriched lessons about the oppressed history that correlates to the current Hungarian culture.  In order to best be able to serve and apply public relations skills, we have taken the first few days to sightsee around the city to really grasp the city and fully absorb it’s richness and culture.

St. Mathias Church on Capital Hill

A view of the parliament building from across the Danube River

“Szikla Kórház” (Hospital in the Rock) is the former top-secret air raid proof hospital and nuclear shelter under the Buda Castle. It was intended to hold 200 patients but held more than 600 patients during WWII.

We had a somber visit to the Dohány Street Synagogue. It’s the second largest Synagogue in the world, the first is in New York.

This is behind the synagogue, it’s called the Raoul Wallenberg Memory Park. It’s the Memorial of the Hungarian Jewish Martyrs — at least 400,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered by the Nazis.  These metal leaves form a weeping willow tree that bear inscriptions with the names of victims.

This graveyard is the result of tragic historical events during World War II. In 1944, the Dohány Street Synagogue was part of the Jewish Ghetto for the city Jews and served as shelter for a lot of people. Over two thousand of those who died in the ghetto from hunger and cold during the winter 1944-1945 are buried in the courtyard of the synagogue.

Passing the historic and beautiful Hotel Astoria - Eichmann, who was in charge of the final solution of the jews, stayed here for two weeks.