Pest, Pest, Pest - Part 2

After the horrors of the House of Terror, I needed something light for the mid morning.  I also felt like a walk was just what I needed, so I headed up the main blvd to the Opera house.  Fair warning, I am not an Opera fan, so the descriptions and pictures will not do it justice if you enjoy Opera.  I think Opera is something you have to grow up with and/or have very academic leanings as a young child to get into.  I wish I liked it - I appreciate people who do.  Maybe I just need more exposure.

The Opera house in Pest is quite a sight.  It was badly damaged in WWII as most of the cities were, but the populace went through great personal sacrifice to rebuild not only the Opera, but other historical sights as well (including all of the bridges over the Danube).  Here are some pictures from the Opera:

Did I mention it was warm in Pest?  It was so great.  I even glowed some.  I won't say I miss sweating all the time, but it was nice for it to be hot enough to have the option.  Notice too that I was smart this time and wore my fashion trainers.  Good call, because I'm pretty sure I walked 5+ miles.

After the Opera, I headed to St Stephen's Cathedral, which was just down the road from the Opera.  I hate to say it was just another European church, but that's what it was.  Ornate and amazing, yet something about it makes you feel guilty given that all of the money on upkeep and creation of the church doesn't actually feed anyone.  But that's not a criticism of Pest specifically, it's just an observation I'll most likely make in the next few years as I continue to blog about Euro travels.

When I finished at the cathedral, I headed to the Gresham Palace, which is now a Four Seasons hotel.  The palace was designed by a London based company (Gresham Life Assurance Company) and has a grand history up until WWII, from which time it fell into Soviet disrepair.  After the fall of the Soviets, the palace was restored and purchased by Four Seasons, making my hotel across the river look downright silly. 

That last picture is the Chain Bridge just outside the lobby.  So cool.

After that walk through, I then caught the tram on the Pest side of the river to the Great Market Hall.  I hadn't intended to hit the site because I figured I would have some logistical transportation issues (See Nice), but things were going so well, I went outside the list of places to see and called an audible.  Great Market Hall was totally worth it - I would have been sad if I missed it.

Great Market Hall is in what appears to be an old train station.  The bottom floor is food stands (produce, meat, etc) and the top floor is souvenirs and prepared food (goulash, goulash and potatoes).  I wandered through the food some -  it was a great mix of tourists and locals.  The souvenirs were really interesting - everything from Italian scarves to embroidered table cloths.  I bought a Hungarian bowl as I'm collecting porcelain from countries that are relatively known for it.  I'm up to Polish, Czech and now Hungarian.  I like my Polish bowl the best, but the Hungarian is really nice as well. 

Part 3 coming.....