Breakfast in the hostel

Holocaust Memorial - in the form of a weeping willow tree. Thin metal leaves are for purchase by survivors and descendants to honor martyred relatives.

Memorial to Charles Lutz, a Swiss who saved many Budapest Jews from the Nazi

The Jews' ghetto tells a long tragic story of its people.

The clash between history and present

Someone turns this part of the run-down ghetto into a hip cafe.

Another synagogue

A favorite local eatery in the business district

2000 Ft (US$9) for two

House of Parliament

The guided tour inside was well worth the admission.

Yeah, Mike shot this. It's no postcard...

Entrance fee: 2000 Ft (US$9)

St. Stephen's Basilica - Budapest's largest church

Soviet Army Memorial, topped by the last Soviet Star remaining in post-Communist Budapest

Post Office Museum

House of Terror, the former HQ of the communist secret police, is now a museum showcasing one of the most powerful and terrifying exhibition on the country's tragic past - the Nazi and Communist repression.

The disturbing exhibits are among the most sophisticated ones we have seen (can't take pic inside), but going through them was quite a gruesome experience! I guess that's the whole point - we'll never forget... Entrance fee: 3000 Ft (US$13.5)

The bank of Danube from the Gellért Hill