Whew!

So busy in Budapest that it's hard to find time to post pictures.  Learning so much that it's hard to put it all into words.  Budapest is awesome and made even more awesome by the fact that the World Cup is going on (giant TVs and fans everywhere), there is a meeting of four heads of state at our hotel and the hotel next door (police everywhere) and today is the Day of Independent Hungary (people and rock bands everywhere).

Today, we saw a ton of stuff.  The second largest synagogue in the world - Dohany Synagogue - which looks more like a cathedral than a synagogue, monuments, memorials and more.  We had time for a lovely leisurely lunch of chicken paprika on the banks of the Danube.  Bought some paprika (hot and sweet) for everyone.  

Later this afternoon, we visited the Frenkel Synagogue and met a young Rabbi and his charismatic wife who are doing an AMAZING job rebuilding the Jewish community here.  What an inspiration!!  We fell in love with them.  The story of the young Jews in this town is so fantastic -- I can't wait to tell you all about it. I couldn't begin to write about it in a blog.  

A few pics from today:

The Dohany Synagogue

 

Us

Memorial sculpture followed by description

Notice above that this takes the form of an upside down menorah to signify that the world was upside down.

The Shoes on the Danube Bank memorializes the Jews who were taken to edge of the Danube, told to take off their shows, then were shot and fell into the River to float away.  Sixty pair of shoes (appropriate to the period of 1944-45) were created in cast iron and affixed to the edge of the riverbank.