Budapest, Hungary part 1

I now have another European city I'd like to re-visit. That makes two, with St. Petersburg. This is a large, cosmopolitan city with a diverse population. I'm glad we have 2 days here at the end of the river boat segment of our trip.  Today we leave the boat and go to Prague, Czech Republic for 4 days before flying home. The weather the past few days has been warmer with temperatures in the high 80's with some humidity.

Budapest is a city of about 2 million. It was formerly 2 cities, Buda and Pest, until unification in 1873.  The Danube divides the two parts.  Cited as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe,  it has several World Heritage sites.
it suffered grave destruction during World War II when Russian and Romanian troops killed 38,000 civilians here in 1944.  Thousands of Jews were killed here during the war.  There is a moving monument along the bank of the Danube where they were forced to remove their clothes and shoes before being shot and falling into the river.

Part of a "shoe" monument to the Jews who were murdered along the banks of the Danube