The Cougar Patrol

So, just got back form Eastern Europe a few days ago. Not much to say that you don't already know, saw a bunch of museums, churches, bridges, bottoms of pint glasses. You know, the typical vacation experience. No automobiles were hurt in the filming of this documentary. Here then the pictures. This will be split up into a three parter, one each dedicated to the cities I visited. Let's kick it off with Budapest, shall we?


This is Keleti (East) train station. This would later be the departure point to Krakow. It was a wee bit shady after dark. Not a good thing.



Interior shot of Keleti Station. Pretty Impressive place, to be honest. It definitely had the feel of something out of a Bourne movie.


Goulash! This is an uber-tasty Hungarian dish, amazing in its simplicity yet perfectly executed.

Vajdahunyad Castle (yeah, it's a mouthful) with its moat drained, froxen, and converted into an ice rink. It looked awesome in the snow

A view of the Danube in the early evening. The lights belong to Buda Castle, Chain Bridge, Parliament, and Roosevelt ter. The fuzziness is due to my camera's lack of ability to properly get light at this time (although it was only like 4:00).

Chain Bridge from the Buda side at night. This was a pretty beautiful bridge.

Tram running down the side of the riverbank.

Buda Castle from the base at Clark Adam ter.

Tunnel under the castle.

Funicular railway going up the side of the castle. Beats walking any day.

Chain Bridge and Parliament from the top of the Castle walls.

Looking south from the top of the Castle at the bridges over the Danube (Elizabeth bridge in front, followed by Independence bridge)

Fishermen's Bastion on the Castle Walls

Statue of Marx and Engels at Monument Park. This park was full of statues that got ripped down following the fall of Communism in Hungary. It's a very novel idea to take them all, stick them in a park, and charge admission to see them. I bet it makes the fathers of communism roll in the graves ( or tombs, if that's how they buried you).

Giant statue of the worker who's thrilled to be running with the flag of Communism. Some of these statues really cracked me up.

Statues of Soviet Soldiers.

Giant hands holding something. Looked like somethign out of 1984 or Logan's Run.

Me in front of the Parliament building. Too bad it was under construction.

St. Stephen's Basilica, the largest church in the City. The dome was incredibly high, and could be seen form just about any elevated point in the city.

And that was Hungary. Good times were had, lots of booze was consumed, and I saw a bunch of cool stuff. From the train station we departed to the next stop on the trip, Krakow, Poland.

To Be Continued...