Molly and I bought candy at the neighborhood store and Samatha sketched a Halloween Pumpkin and we shared our gifts with the hostel staff and guests. Other than that, there was little celebration of the holiday, unlike at home. The only ghosts I saw were at the Monument Park.
I headed off on this venture on my own. Molly wanted to run again, regardless of the blisters on her feet and the late night before.....no worries. I headed off on the adventure of finding this park, where many of the statues from Communist rule had been relocated. I believe in a symbolic gesture, when the new democracy was formed in 1989, all these icons from the past were removed from the central area of Budapest. Together, they were placed on the outskirts of town. Replicas of the boots remaining from the torn down Lenin statue highlight the park, although my personal favorite was the hands holding the world in their palms. A statue of Lenin holding out his hand was also there. The story was that his outstretched hand often held bread with lard, placed there by disgruntled factory workers.
A subway ride, a tram ride, a bus ride and one hour later, I took the half hour speed walk thru the park as the air turned colder and colder. I took pictures of the monuments and read about the history and took a bus ride, a tram ride and a subway ride back to the hostel. I was glad I went, but actually liked the ride thru the suburbs more than the park itself.
We moved to a different hostel in a different area of town today. We are staying in the "Japan" room in the Adventura Boutique Hostel. The gal here is a sweetie and so helpful and cute. The eight guys from Greece aren't too bad either and then there is a Turk, a Columbian, an Australian, two gals from Malaysia and April, from San Francisco. Once again, I am the oldest one in the ranks......and my next trip might be with an AARP group, just for a change of pace. Sometimes I really like an elevator over stairs.
