Nerd Goggles - City V

If you wanted to make Budapest at home, it's a simple recipe. Take about 3/4 Eastern European vibes and slowly mix in a dash of Turkey (the country not the meat) flavor. Budapest is clearly European but the Turk occupation definitely left its mark on the city. Or should I say, cities? Budapest is actually 2 cities, Buda and Pest, who decided to combine forces and become one.

Let's start with the Buda side of the Danube river. The Buda Castle is unlike any I have seen. It's gorgeous! Can you see the tile work on the roof?

The stately Chain Bridge connects the Buda and Pest cities across the Danube River. These were all taken on the Pest side, with a view of the Buda side.

The Pest Side of the Danube is where we spent most of our time. The Parliament House is one impressive building. 

It was in Pest that I learned the most about Communism and living behind the Iron Curtain. I really didn't and still don't know that much about it, but I find it fascinating. Life behind the Iron Curtain was highly controlled and manipulated by those in power. You couldn't trust anyone, because you never knew who would inform on you. Brothers told on fathers, neighbors told on neighbors, priests told on their parishioners. Those in command controlled all media and what the people knew about the rest of the world. My tour guide remembers being allowed to watch a James Bond movie. When the line "you dirty Russian Communist" played for the rest of the world, those in Budapest heard dubbed voices say "you dirty Chinese pirate." Small acts like that are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the power of the hammer and sickle. An homage to communism was erected in Pest before the fall of the Iron Curtain. They choose to leave it there today as a reminder of how far they have come in a short amount of time.

Nerd Goggles - City IV

Prague, the Bohemian Gem, survived both WWII and the Iron Curtain virtually unscathed. For this area of Europe that is no small feat, and that may explain why it holds a certain charm. It has a gorgeous atmosphere that both Hitler and the communists went out of their way to protect.

The Charles Bridge is the main walking bridge that connects Prague Castle with the old town across the Danube river. All along the bridge there are different symbolic statues, mainly of the religious variety.

Prague Castle has it's own stunning, gothic-style cathedral. St. Vitus Cathedral is probably the scariest looking cathedral I have ever seen.

Now let's head across the river to the old town square. Gorgeous buildings by day and by night. Period.

In the old town main square there is a clock. But this is not your everyday, run-of-the-mill, old town square clock. This one is special. 

The Prague Astronomical Clock not only tells the time in modern roman numerals, but also in ancient Bohemian time. The clock also shows the sun and moon phases as well as the astrological calendar. It is easy to be unimpressed by all of this mumbo jumbo in today's world of technology, but what if I told you this clock was built by an engineering genius in 1410? Got your interest peaked? Now that you're interested, let me tell you of the demise of this genius engineer. The king of Bohemia feared that this engineer would take his clock design to other cities, thus taking away Prague's one-and-only astronomical clock status. So he lured the engineer over for dinner and had his guards remove the engineer's eyes and cut out his tongue, so as to silence him forever. The distraught engineer, unable to live a life worth living, poetically climbed to the top of the tower and threw himself into the gears of the clock, breaking the clock and killing the only person who would have been able to fix it. It remained broken for a few hundred years, awaiting the birth of an engineering genius who would be able to fix it. Luckily for us, it is all put back together again. Every hour, on the hour tourists gather to see the show the clock puts on. Knowing the back story really does make it a magnificent wonder.