Várkert Bazár

We went to an exhibition created to mark the centennial of WWI. It is located at the Várkert Bazár on the Buda side of the river at the bottom of the hill on which the castle sits. This was wonderful, immersive experience. Three floors of a pretty fancy building have been turned into three layers of the history of Hungary (and Europe) starting in the late 19th century and ending (after a quick dash through WWII) with the 1950's and the 1956 rebellion against Communism.

Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside or I'd show you more. However, as we sat nearby at what is quickly becoming a favorite place to stop for a coffee and a sweet to perk up the afternoon, we found ourselves becoming engulfed in what seemed to be a demonstration.



It turns out that we had done this outing on the eve of the October 23rd National Holiday when the 1956 uprising and the National Day (declaration of Hungary as a republic) in 1989 are both celebrated. This was a re-enactment of the student march on Parliament.

The striking thing about the parade wa not the Soviet era trucks, but the fact that the marchers were carrying lit torches. Image a parade carrying fire in the US!

While it was not the kind of turn out we've been seeing in London over the Brexit, it was a good sized crowd.

As the parade progressed and the torched continued to burn, the smell of the paraffin got quite strong.

Certainly a much calmer crowd that I imaging the original was.

We just sat at our street side table until they passed and then we headed out to catch the bus.