St. Olaf Budapest Interim 2015: Schnitzel, Parliament and Numbers

Sziastok!

View of Westbahnhof railway from the bridge

After a long weekend in Vienna (Wien locally), we were back to our dear Budapest. We had a really good time in Vienna, where most of the group stayed in the same hostel and so we stuck with each other over the weekend. The hostel was much like a college dormitory with a very similar atmosphere. The presence of other people of our age from around the world made us feel very comfortable. During this weekend, we had the pleasure of having the company of Professor Berliner, who did not return to Budapest with us and will spend the rest of his interim visiting one or two places in Europe. This weekend in Vienna was mainly about visiting museums, seeing the sights, exploring the city and eating good "schnitzel", a gigantic Austrian escalope, a classic there.

Wiener schnitzel bitte. Danke!

On the train back from Vienna, we already had our heads focused on doing Number Theory. So most of us took advantage of the long train ride to complete the homework assignment due the next day.
Back to our Budapestian routine: class in the morning and activities in the afternoon. On the program of today, we had class in the morning and a guided tour of the magnificent Parliament building.

The Parliament building seen from the outside

Everyone in class seemed fairly tired from the trip to Vienna, it was hard for one to keep his eyes opened. Ask Bruce about it. After an extended lunch break, we were on our way to Kossus Lajos tér and the Orszaghaz (Parliament). We really enjoyed seeing this massive building from the inside and getting to know a couple of important facts about it. Did you know that the Parliament building was hit by no less than three hundred bombs during World War II? And also did you know that it is the third largest Parliament building in the world? Another thing that was worth writing about is the architecture seen from the inside. Here below you can see two pictures of the inside: the main staircase (left) and the Room under the dome in the middle of the building (right):

Apparently, the Parliament was made using a mix of baroque and gothic architectural style, which gave a really beautiful result. Last but not least, the Session Room, where everything happens, I guess. Surprisingly, the Session Room was fairly small compared to the size of the whole building.

The Parliament Session Room

The Room could accomodate no more than two hundred Members of Parlament divided into five political parties with a majority of a party of the Right. Hungarian citizens could also attend and the sessions were recorded on T.V.
After the guided tour of the building, it was time to focus on Number Theory again and start getting ready for the following lecture. But before that, some of us had dinner at the Café Intenzo near the Kàlvin tér subway station. We really recommend this restaurant to anyone that is planning on going to Budapest. Cheap and tasty.