Visit to Parliament

Budapest is gorgeous at night. Here's a look at the parliament building.

In the daytime, close up, it looks like this.

This is the eternal flame to the victims of the 1956 revolution near the entrance. Notice the reflection of the nearby parliament in the polished stone.

Here we are standing next to the grand staircase at the start of our tour.

How much gold is there in this entry staircase?

Here's the inside of the dome...

and a sample of the heroes that support the dome.

They changed the guard while we were there. They are guarding the Hungarian crown with the bent cross in the glass case.

Along the hallway...

are statues depicting everyday citizens.

Outside the legislative chambers, they have numbered cigar holders for the legislators since there is no smoking inside.

Here is where the laws that govern Hungary are made.

As you can see in the ceiling, there is gold everywhere.

Afterwards, we walked across the street to the Danube to look across the river to castle hill on the Buda side ...

and stopped to see the memorial to the hundreds of Jews, who in the closing hours of the Second World War were lined up along the Danube by the Germans and were shot and dumped into the river.