Day 5 - July 30th

We were out and about earlier than usual today. First we went to visit the biggest synagogue in Europe and the 2nd biggest in the world... the Great Synagogue. There are three parts to the visit... the incredibly beautiful, ornate synagogue...

the attached museum which offers an exhibit very concisely detailing the Jewish faith...

...and the very touching memorial garden which has the weeping willow Tree of Life sculpture... a monument to Hungarian victims of the Holocaust as well as a symbolic grave of Raoul Wallenberg. The metal willow tree contains the names of those who perished at the hands of the fascists during WW II. There were also many people who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews, among them, Raoul Wallenburg, a Swedish diplomat and Carl Lutz, a Swiss vice-consul. The names of these non-Jews are also memorialized in this garden as well. We also learned that Catholic priests actually hid 25 torahs to keep them out of the hands of those who would destroy them. These torahs are now in the ark of the synagogue. After visiting this very powerful place we went to see St. Stephen's Basilica... the biggest church in Budapest.

We could not go into the church because they were preparing for an organ concert... but we did manage to take an elevator and then climb another 145 stairs to get to the observation deck. we had magnificent views of Budapest as far as the eye could see in each direction. Afterwards we walked around this section of the city and had a lovely dinner on a nice cool evening... a much appreciated change in the weather. A couple of sites during our walk merited a photo each...

All is well... we're having a great time.