From Vienna I caught the train to nearby Bratislava, just over the
border in Slovakia, and spent several hours touring the historic
section of the city before catching another train to Budapest in
Hungary.

Hungary is very interesting, and very depressing. Their entire
history is nothing but constant wars, invasions, and occupations, and
the 20th century had them occupied by both German Nazis and Soviet
Communists. Then I went to Memento Park on the outskirts of town,
which featured a Museum of Communism and a large park filled with
Soviet-era statues of Lenin, Stalin, other Communist leaders, and
various pieces of propaganda art.

The other day I took a bus tour and walked around the historic
district on top of a hill with a castle and fortress, lots of churches
and cathedrals, and cobblestone roads that were very hard to walk on.

Budapest is divided into several architectural zones, from buildings
dating from the 17th century to mid-20th century Soviet design. The
city is definitely not third-world, more like second-world like Mexico
City - industrialized but run down.

Yesterday I visited the Terror Museum, which details the history of
Nazi and Communist occupation, the secret police, the murders of
dissidents, and so on. And in what should be a warning to Americans,
they described how the Communist government was in the habit of
passing secret decrees which gave it the authority to spy on and
arrest anyone suspected of subversion.

The food is excellent, and for lunch I've been eating some kind of
Turkish pita falafel sandwich stuffed with pork freshly carved off a
spit. And I must have spent at lest $25 at a fancy restaurant last
night with a Gypsy band.

Earlier I had complained about the way Austrians smoke like chimneys,
but Hungarians are much much worse. It seems that the more miserable
the country, the more religious its people are, and the more they
smoke.
Hungary is a VERY catholic country, so I made sure to wear my favorite
Marilyn Manson shirt, which had them glowering at me. Earlier this
year Marilyn Manson performed in Budapest, causing a protest where
Hungarians prayed and fasted to ward off the evil.

I was supposed to leave today, but I missed my train because Hungarian
train schedules are very hard to read, so I get to spend the rest of
the day touring before catching the 23:00 train to some scary place
called Serbia. All I know about Serbia is that we went to war with
them in the late-1990s, and that they hate Americans, Croats, and
Bosnians, and probably everyone else.

Until we hear the safe word, we will not stop!

Étvágygerjesztök