Daub Step

Did you know Count Dracula was actually a guy? The king of Hungary chained him in a labyrinth beneath the streets of Budapest and tortured him. Then Dracula spent another dozen years in various prisons, because the king was mad at him for some long-forgotten reason, while his wife threw herself off a parapet rather than be captured by the Turks. So he decided to torture and maim some people to cheer himself up. Now his legacy is fangs and capes and undead evil. Not very fair, I say. 

Dracula's labyrinth is still there, with long tunnels of rough wet stone. We inched our way through a pitch-black maze, while Avi in the back cawed, "I'm Dracula! Ah ah ah!" which didn't help the girls' state of mind any. There were random exhibits like waxworks from Verdi's 'The Masked Ball' and some 17th-century plinth fragments. The implements of torture were not a hit. 

The Children's Island was as different as it gets. An old shipyard complex in the Danube gets transformed into a kids' paradise once a year, and wow did the girls ever hit jackpot this time. Bumper cars, bouncy castles, chocolate crepes, roller coasters, bicycle slalom, giant slides, rock climbing, more bouncy castles, adventure playground - Aurora, Sophia and Tova managed to cram it all into three high-octane hours. 

The Great Synagogue was sad. It looks like a huge ornate church with some token Stars of David. Ironically, being designed by an Austrian Christian architect is what saved it from destruction by the Nazis. During the Holocaust over two thousand Jews were trapped in the Synagogue, where they froze and starved to death. Another five hundred and ninety eight thousand Jews were deported by the Hungarian Government to death camps. The self-reported rate of anti-semitism in Hungary today is twenty-three percent, and the Jewish population of the country was ten times higher a century ago. Maybe we'll live somewhere else. 

The Old Town is gorgeous, though, and we spent hours walking its endless cobblestone alleys. We happened upon St. Istvan's Church just as services were starting and listened to the organ music fill the air around us. We hiked up to the palace and found a hidden castle playground complete with shackles and ramparts. Jakob even got to luxuriate in the Szechenyi Pools, one of Europe's largest medicinal baths with warrens of baths ranging from 14 to 50 degrees. 

Tamar's parents were our companions for the week, and we had a lovely time with them. Rona and Aurora had hysterical fits of laughter that nobody else could understand, Avi entertained Tova and Sophia with his antics and jokes, and we all enjoyed lots of walking, home cooking, and lounging in cafes together. 

Now Avi and Rona have whisked Aurora, Sophia and Tova off while we hike the Alps with Zadie for a few days. It feels weird to have just one source of chaos with us!

Avi and Rona hold forth

This Synagogue has minarets!

Sort of looks like Dracula should live here