Let us explain to you our predicament: it
is the day before our final exam and it is also our last free day in Budapest.
That meant we had to make some tough choices of what to do today and we were
always going to make a dumb choice.
Professor Hanson gave us an optional class
trip today to the House of Terror. Iris and I deliberated for a long while
whether or not we would go, but eventually decided the need to study for our
final outweighed the need to experience a few more bits of Budapest (or so we
thought). After sitting in our favourite study-café for an hour, sipping at hot
chocolate while staring mindlessly at the review problems, we decided to go for
a walk. We had to find something to tell you all about!
First we went to the Szechenyi Chain
Bridge. Last time we had seen this bridge was during the film about Istvan Szechenyi
when there was a scene of the bridge collapsing during its construction, so we
were pleased to find it fully functioning and able to bear the weight of no
less than four St Olaf students on top of a steady stream of traffic.
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| Szechenyi Chain Bridge. Years since last collapse: 167 |
Once we were on the other side of the
bridge, we headed up the river to find a few more landmarks. The Shoes on the
Danube Bank is a collection of sixty pairs of iron cast shoes on the very edge
of the river in memory of the Jews that were killed in World War II; they were
forced to stand on the riverbank as they were shot so that the water would
carry their bodies away.
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| The Iron Boots memorial |
Finally, we walked further onwards towards
Margit-sziget (Margaret Island) which seemed to be a lovely recreational escape
amidst a busy city. By this stage, our walk was nearing the
three-hour mark and our hands were so cold we could barely move our fingers.
What else could help warm our fingers and hearts but the steaming glory of
chimney cakes! As a very brief side note, you should know that Lily has been on
the hunt for these for days, coming up short with nothing but closed stores and
cold leftovers on offer, so there were legitimate shrieks of joy when we saw
the open stand and the steam coming out of the cakes. We ate them on
the bus back to the Professor’s Guest House.
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| Kürtőskalács... tubular! |
The rest of the evening was marked by the
struggle between study and procrastination. In order to preserve the illusion
that we have good study habits that lead us into our final exams with
confidence, we will leave you with a parting remark to say that there was an
attempt… Rest assured, if you are concerned about a student from any other
blogging duo then I’m quite sure they had a spectacularly productive day.
Szia soon!
Iris and Lily
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