Something interesting to note about Budapest. It seems that Hungary is like the little sister or brother of Russia. Once Russia gets bored with something or out grows it (i.e. it's too old or unsafe), it just gets handed onto Hungary & other Eastern European countries. The subway trains, buses and other infrastructure are all Russian hand-me-downs.
The majority of the subways trains all have cyrillic on them, but are all rusting away and falling apart, same with the buses. It's only the trams here in Budapest - well on certain lines - which are modern & new - but the older trams are also Russian hand-me-downs. Thus it appears the legacy of the USSR is still prevalent here in the ex-Soviet Union.
Another interesting point to note. Russia & Hungary signed legislation back in the day which declared that there had to be at least one memorial to the Soviet Union in Hungary. There are actually 2. One is a memorial to the "glorious Soviet Union" and is currently guarded by police & surrounded by metal barriers - the Hungarians are pretty opposed to it and have tried to destroy it a number of times. The memorial is written in Hungarian & Russian, I did enjoy chuckling reading it. The other memorial is up on the hill on the Buda side of the river, it's a very high statue which I think is a memorial to WWII also.
The majority of the subways trains all have cyrillic on them, but are all rusting away and falling apart, same with the buses. It's only the trams here in Budapest - well on certain lines - which are modern & new - but the older trams are also Russian hand-me-downs. Thus it appears the legacy of the USSR is still prevalent here in the ex-Soviet Union.
Another interesting point to note. Russia & Hungary signed legislation back in the day which declared that there had to be at least one memorial to the Soviet Union in Hungary. There are actually 2. One is a memorial to the "glorious Soviet Union" and is currently guarded by police & surrounded by metal barriers - the Hungarians are pretty opposed to it and have tried to destroy it a number of times. The memorial is written in Hungarian & Russian, I did enjoy chuckling reading it. The other memorial is up on the hill on the Buda side of the river, it's a very high statue which I think is a memorial to WWII also.
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| That's the Soviet Memorial, without its metal barriers. |
Strange that the Hungarians are so accepting of the dominance of the Soviet Union, aka Russia.
