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ByLeonardStohler A friend commented that my first travelogue did not contain any poli- tics. This one does. I have tried to be fair in my as- sessment of the situation in Budapest and concen- trated on the charming na- ture of this great city. The fact remains that it is on a major route from Syria and other places to Ger- many. Due to the stand and actions of its government, it has been embroiled in the politics caused by ref- ugees and migrants pass- ing through its borders. The flight from San Fran- cisco (SFO) on a Boeing 747 version 8 to Frankfurt Ger- many is 10:50 hours over Hudson Bay, Iceland and Greenland. I had been up 7 hours before the flight left at 2:05P. When I came back from China in 1906, a wise elderly Chinese sit- ting next to me recom- mended drinking wine on the trip. He said it is eas- ier to sleep when imbibing a little and so it is! What is interesting is ar- riving in Germany the next day after only 11 hours. I left on September 7 but arrive at 9:55A on the 8th. Arriving from Red Bluff in Frankfurt, I am amazed at the super-sized advertis- ing that is everywhere. But what is most appalling is the area for smokers, called the Camel Room. It has a large sized sign that enu- merates the dangers and results of smoking, yet the room is filled with about 15 people. My name for this hideous place would be the "Cancer Room." From Frankfurt to Buda- pest takes only 1:30 hours after a two hour wait. The flight is via Deutsche Luf- thansa, the airline that had its pilot kill a whole airplane full of passen- gers and crew earlier this year by crashing it into a mountain. I am not wor- ried as that doesn't hap- pen very often. I rational- ize that the Germans will not let that happen again. I am rewarded with much more space than on the cross-Atlantic flight and a newer aircraft. To travel in Europe at this time was a bargain for holders of dollars, but the airfare did not pres- ent a bargain. The prices for tickets remain high. One interesting fact is that the total bill for air travel is about one-half in taxes that includes security and landing fees, etc. I suspect that much of that money goes for the tremendous expense to build the huge airports found everywhere like the SFO cavernous for- eign terminal expansion a few years ago and air- ports like the Frankfurt am Main International Airport (FRA). You might want to know what made me interested in Budapest. In 1956, when I was a freshman at Bay- lor University, one day we had a visitor in our dorm room. He was one of the young persons who had es- caped Hungary when the Soviets brought their tanks into the city to crush the student rebellion. Many young protesters left to es- cape execution. Last year on the return from Wien, I sat next to a man whose father had escaped to Wien during the same rebellion. He was an electrical engi- neer traveling to Mexico to sell technology produced at his company in Austria. Since WW II, Hungary has suffered from a "brain drain." A job in Hungary pays much less than the same job in Germany and Austria. Some of the Hun- garians travel to Austria for their health care due to this drain. Arriving at the Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD), I have sev- eral choices of getting to my hotel downtown. The most expensive is a taxi — a large Mercedes-Benz. I could take the bus and tram which involves about three changes with Hun- garian signage. Opting out on that one as suggested by AAA and not knowing the system, I select the van. This way you are splitting the fare. It costs 15USD. A gentleman from the USA who comes to Budapest ev- ery year showed me where the tickets were sold. He related that he usually brings two cars to sell here but due to the Euro's lessening value compared to the dollar he could not make money on that trans- action. The only problem with taking the van is the wait: a long wait. It is one and a half hours before I am on a van. The time went by quickly as I was talking to interesting people, yet my body was beginning to ache. I had to use some ini- tiative to remind the young man whose job it is to pac- ify waiting customers that I had waited quite some time for a van when I no- ticed my number had not come up on a modern mon- itor before others who had already left on a van. He quickly got me on the next one. Amazing! The ten mile trip into downtown Budapest to my hotel that is within a few blocks of the Danube River, I pass the miles of abandoned and decaying factories of Soviet domi- nated Budapest. Once past those, one is welcomed to an amazing city. Finally I am delivered last to the Continental Ho- tel Zara on Dohany u. 42- 44. It is a beautifully re- furbished building that had been a spa. Budapest and surrounding areas are known for their spas. Be- ing delivered last allows me to see downtown Buda- pest in a way I would not see it in a taxi. So, I was finally in Bu- dapest, the capital city of Hungary! I will try to share with you some of the amazing sights to see in Pest, the lower city I call it, and Buda, the city across the river, which pro- vides the wondrous views during the day and espe- cially at night. Buda pro- vides amazing views from a high vantage point above the lower city. I am very interested in the history of Hungary as it relates to what one wit- nesses there today. In the next paragraph, I will try to offer a brief history of some of the events in Hun- garian history. Realize that Hungary was for so long just a medieval kingdom, a Christian one. Its his- tory as a nation has not been very successful by most standards, yet the city today is one of great beauty, one millions visit each year. Early Pest, before there was a Buda, was leveled literally by Batu Khan and Kadan, both grandsons of Genghis Khan in 1241. The Mongol hordes spread terror and panic, but they soon withdrew. Stone cas- tles started to be built. This attack eliminated the Kingdom of Hungary's mil- itary power and caused it to stop disputing Euro- pean borders, at least for a while. It then existed as a vassal state under the Hapsburg emperors who resided in Vienna (Wien). But by the sixteenth cen- tury, the power of the Otto- man Empire had increased gradually and Hungary found itself under the rule of that Muslim Turkish Empire. The Muslims tol- erated the area that was largely Roman Catholic. The Ottomans converted many not by the sword, but by indirect methods. It did enslave about three million Hungarians who were dispersed into the Ottoman Empire. When the Ottoman Empire could not conquer near-by Wien in the second siege of 1683, the military of the Turks withdrew from Hungary. By 1699, Hungary was ceded to the Hapsburgs. The Hapsburg rule became the Austrian Empire. Most of the buildings and cul- tural aspects of the Mus- lims were eliminated when the Ottomans left. Under Franz Joseph, in 1867 it be- came part of the Austrian Empire. A "popular story" told in Wien is at the per- suasion of Sisi, his queen, Hungary became part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. She told him she liked the Hungarians and they deserved better. I will share with you the parlia- ment building that was built as a result of this high time in its history. In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. So it was involved in the Balkans. Then World War I happened, starting with the assassination in Ser- bia. The Empire fought on the side of the Germans and as a result of the Ver- sailles Treaty in 1918, that ended that war, the Aus- trian-Hungarian Empire was no more. It was only a short time until that Hit- ler's Germany and the Na- zis conquered Hungary. At the conclusion of WWII in 1945, the Soviet Union ex- ploited it with its puppet Communist rule. Then in 1989 when the Soviet Union dissolved, it became independent. I think that even now, Hungary does not control its own destiny and is not truly independent. Today, it is part of the European Union, but has its own cur- rency, the forinth. Since I have returned, I am con- vinced that Germany and Austria, being wealthier and more powerful, use a heavy hand against Hun- gary, the Czech Republic, Rumania and other na- tions further east. To be continued. Aboutthecontributor: Leonard (Len) Stohler is a historian by degree. He taught in the local schools from 1969-1995. He served on the Red Bluff Union School Board for 16 years. On a Danube River cruise late October last year he had to return due to the illness of his traveling companion after seeing only Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna for one day each. He wanted to return "closer to the ground" and so returned on an independent trip to the cities of Budapest, Vienna, Prague and Berlin from September 7-22. He walked in these cities and rode public transportation, enjoying some of the many attractions and historic sites and talking to a few of the citizens. TRAVELOGUE Bu da pe st : Wh at a c on fl ic te d an d be au ti fu l ci ty MatthiasChurch. PHOTOS BY LEONARD STOHLER Statue of Liberty. Chain Bridge. Due to the stand and actions of its government, it has been embroiled in the politics caused by refugees and migrants passing through its borders. it'snot 'sfault byTheShelterPetProject.org | LIFESTYLE | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015 6 A