Budapest: Market Hall, Parliament, Opera House

 Budapest's Market Hall was high on our list of sights to see.  It was hot, and crowded with tourists and local shoppers.  The building itself reminded me of the Eiffel Tower with the ironwork structure and art deco light fixtures. 

 After we left the Market Hall, we walked toward the Parliament Building. 

 We stopped to cool off in a lovely church along the way. 

 We walked through a park with a fair about breast cancer and women's health. 

 Finally, we could see the dome of the Parliament Building in the distance.

We had signed up for an English tour, which emphasized the 300 steps we would have to climb.  Happily, it was not nearly as bad as we had feared. 

 Partly the climbing was not tedious because of our surroundings -- the famous Golden Staircase was quite a distraction. 

We were not allowed to take photos of the crown jewels, but we did have some time in one of the Parliament rooms. 

There is a strict no smoking policy now, but back in the day, smokers congregated in the halls; these are the cigar and cigarette holders for parking their smokes when they were called back into their meetings. 

 Our next stop was the Opera House, one of the most famous in the world. 

After the Opera House we went back to our hotel.  In the square in front of Mattias Church a folk group was singing and playing some music.  After a few minutes we declared victory and went back to our hotel.