Budapest, Day 2

On our way to a children's morning at the new Bartók Béla Nemzeti Hangversenyterem, the National Concert Hall, we snapped this photo of the University of Science across the river where a friend is doing research.

Arriving with plenty of time to goof around,

we climbed first to the top of the spiral lookout

where we goofed around with the camera...

...can you find the four bridges?  Petőfi, Szabadság, Erzsébet, and Szécsényi Lánchíd...

A view of the new concert hall - too big to photograph really.  We almost ate lunch on the patio there but it was a bit chilly for the kids.

Running through the mazes...

and around the surprise fountains...

finally time for the activities, where our girl enjoyed playing along with the story being acted out by a professional actor and actress.

...after this and some other activities the kids created their own performance art

Back outside I admired another brand new building, not sure what it is, but is was interesting enough

and covered with this sort of statue, I am sure for which there is some explanation

the kids ran around in the maze and tried to get lost and found

and so we bid goodbye to our friends and motored west to the outskirts of Buda, to the Statue Park that houses the Communist-era statues.

Here are the kids enjoy a cheery moment with comrade Lenin.

This is the classic Soviet image, soldier with Kalashnikov rifle

...and the image of 'friendship' between the Soviets and the Hungarians -

and this colossus - which while I love this as classic Soviet style, I can't help but think it looks like a teenager stealing laundry from a clothesline - WOOOOH!

And the girl enjoys a break on the foot of a retired Comrade.