House of Terror

Man, the Hungarians have had it bad. After siding with the losing side, and being beaten by the Ottomans and the allied powers after WWI, they lost 2/3 of thier land. Then they were invaded by the Nazis for a short bloody reign, followed by the Soviets, for an even bloodier long haul. Today we went to a museum/memorial in the old Soviet NVA headquarters where the communist party ran the city and tortured and interrogated dissidents. It's an extremely well done, never too heavy handed, but always extremely moving documenting occupation by the nazis and the communists.
After we left there, we went to the castle hill district, and wandered around a free national museum of hungarian impressionists. The Hungarians are working really hard to foster tourism, with tourist kiosks near large attractions, free maps, and the angels who roam the trains looking for helpless backpackers. Tried to see the largest Synagogue in europe, but it had already closed. Rain today, light Seattle rain, according to Chase. Makes wandering around less comfortable. We strike out for Prauge tomorrow. One more amazing dinner for an amazing price.