Hungary 


This is a project board. See the number with FT?
This is not a measurement in feet, but money in forints.
26 thousand million. Aud 1 = about 230ft.

Budapest 


The Danube again, but not 1km wide as at Galati.

The Old Town on Castle Hill in Buda and the Parliament in Pest. Most of Pest was redeveloped from 1859, when the Austro-Hungarians settled their politics. This coincided with the railway age. The history is convoluted.

These are the seven original Fathers of the nation.

This is the President who fell foul of the Russians after the 1956 Revolution.

This memorial of shoes remembers the Jews who were disposed of by the Nazis quite suddenly towards the end of the War. Three-quarters of the Jewish population. I am Talking to two Americans about to board their Danube cruise boat, like the one below.

Our little river cruise.












And the serenade at the restaurant.

In the centre of the river is Margaret Island, and in the centre of the Island Park are these Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Alternative transport, an amphibious bus, bigger than the one in London.

Alternative music. The violin and spoon are wooden, the music made with the mouth, very amusing.

Talking to Ferenc (Frank) at the medieval Jewish Prayer House. And the Memorial Tree at the Synagogue. This building, like most of Pest, was built in 1859. It is the biggest in Europe. Only New York has a bigger one, but our guide said it had less seating capacity. (So there). But the stories of all these things are amazing.

Playground, in a courtyard in the Jewish quarter, with the familiar pattern of a road layout.

The girls' mother taking them home.

Sighisoara. 


The distressed look, quite normal when the town gate is so old. This is only the centre of it and the road is steep.














Another of the 12 towers around the walls.

A friendly redstart along the cobbled street.














On to Cluj Napoca for the night, via Blaj. Just passing through at the Hotel Pax opposite the station.
But the town has a very long park, pleasant for an evening stroll. Otmar, of the Danube boating incident, was at university here.

On the train a fellow passenger, who spoke only Romanian and Russian, pointed out some interesting new houses to us in one village. Gypsy Palaces. The young people who work overseas send home money. The families invest in new family mansions all in this distinctive style, but different bright colours.

Waiting at the level-crossing to go and get on with the hay-making. New looking traditional wooden pitchforks.

The surprise in Cluj Napoca!
This young man partners a Sydney company in arranging for students to go to Australia.