Good bye, Dar es Salaam

Tanzania 

The sun is setting on Oyster Bay on the last evening of my visit to Dar es Salaam.  I'm sitting at the hotel pool trying to decide whether my sun downer should be a Tusker or a Kilimanjaro.  Having lived three years in Nairobi, I'm partial to Kenya's finest, but think I'll opt for my first Tanzanian Kilimanjaro.

My first visit to this Tanzania capital was in 1979 and my second in 1985 while the family and I were living in Nairobi.  In the 1980s, Julius Nyerere, the Father of Tanzania and its long time president, was still pushing his African socialist agenda even though the country was in economic tatters. Sisal was the primary export and the country had barely tapped into its incredible tourism potential. Many Americans and Europeans thought that such famous venues as Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Ngoro Ngoro Crater, the Olduvai Gorge, Lake Manyara and the Serengeti were in Kenya because they were primarily visited as side trips from Nairobi. My  family and I crossed over the border to visit all except the Serengeti which is an extension of Kenya's Masai Mara which we visited.  The Ngoro Ngoro Crater and the "Cradle of Mankind" known as Olduvai Gorge, are among the most important tourist venues in the world, regardless of continent.  

Many of us posted in Nairobi in the 80s had regional responsibilities including some in Dar es Salaam. Because the hotels in Dar were so spartan, we inevitably packed basic hotel provisions in our suitcases when going there.  A colleague often told about her first trip: after checking into the hotel and taking her belonging to the room, she returned to the reception desk to ask a question.  When she returned to the room, someone had stolen the bed sheets, the toilet paper and the light bulbs she had just brought from Nairobi.  Today Dar is much improved: through government and private sector cooperation, supported by foreign investment, Tanzania has new roads, hotels and safari camps, as well as upscale beach resorts on Zanzibar and Pemba Islands. Tanzanian destinations are now among the most desired in Africa, competing very successfully with Kenya and South Africa.

In 1997 I fulfilled a long time dream of visiting Zanzibar.  Its reputation as one of the original spice islands and as an stopping place for Dutch, Arab and Portuguese traders rounding the African Cape fascinated me when I was still in my teens.  It was every bit as interesting as I had expected with the spices still being grown and traded, and the walls of ancient Stone Town echoing its incredible history, including its infamous role in the slave trade. With world class beach resorts one can now spend a vacation on Zanzibar that is both comfortable and educational.

People in my age group, may remember that at independence in 1961, Tanzania was first named  "The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar."  In 1964, the country's leaders created the new name "The United Republic of Tanzania" which rolled off the tongue easier and which better represented the unification of the two former colonies into one new country.  Prior to World War I, Tanganyika was part of German East Africa (Deutschostafrika).  After Germany lost the war, it became part of British East Africa which it remained until independence.

Below are links to some of the places and personalities mentioned above:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kilimanjaro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olduvai_Gorge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serengeti

http://www.tanzaniaparks.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Nyerere

http://zanzibar.net/zanzibar/what_is_zanzibar_

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanzibar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_East_Africa 

Lilongwe in the former Nyasaland

I'm in Lilongwe, Malawi.  This is my fifth trip to Malawi with most of them having been in the 1980s.  It is one of Africa's poorest countries with most of the population living from subsistence agriculture. A major hindrance to the country's development is its isolation. It is landlocked and imports and exports must be trucked from ports in Tanzania, Kenya or South Africa on difficult roads at great expense. Despite the poverty, the people are unfailing friendly and polite and the level of crime is much lower than in many surrounding countries. Seventy percent of the population live on less than one US dollar per day and the country is a major recipient of international humanitarian assistance and development aid.   A large percentage of the people I see at breakfast in the hotel are  European and American aid workers and Evangelical Christian missionaries whose revivals and church services are widely advertised around town.  Local TV is also dominated by Christian programming produced abroad with "God TV" (http://www.god.tv/node/1) one of the most watched channels.

As described in the following link, Malawi evolved out of England's Nyasaland Protectorate 

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyasaland)  and was part of Rhodesia before becoming independent in

1964.  The father of the country and "Life President" until he passed away in 1997, was Hastings Kamuzu Banda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Banda).  Despite the country's colonial past, Dr. Banda was a strong Anglophile and tried to get his country to emulate the English. To promote British culture and history,  he created  Kamuzu Academy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamuzu_Academy) as a Britsh-style boarding school which the best students in the country are still admitted to and educated at government expense.  Many speak of it as "the Eaton of Africa" and in order to matriculate, students are required to read and analyze classic European literature and philosophy.  Banda also insisted that his countrymen dress conservatively according to British customs of the time.  During his tenure, women in Malawi were not allowed to wear pants and men were not allowed to have long hair. The Life-president was the only Black African leader who openly maintained full diplomatic and economic relations with Apartheid South Africa.  This made him extremely controversial on the Continent but provided the country with a major nearby trading partner and a significant source of imported goods.

Dr. Banda also established Lilongwe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilongwe)as the capital of the new Malawi, transferring the government  from Zomba which had been the capital of Nyasaland Protectorate. Blantyre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blantyre remains the long-time economic center of the country.

The best known and dominant natural feature of the country is Lake Malawi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Malawi), the third largest lake in Africa and the 8th largest in the world. It's Chambo are a very popular eating fish and the lake provides a variety of recreational activities for locals and tourists.  Fly fishing is a popular tourist pastime and Malawi is known internationally among fly fishermen as an excellent source of hand-tied fishing flies. 

Back in Southern Africa

 I was in Southern Africa last winter and I'm back again.  In 2011 I worked in Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana and Rwanda.  I'm currently in Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, and will travel to Malawi, Tanzania, Madagascar, Kenya, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea before returning home in early March.

Perhaps you know that the RSA has three national capitals -- Pretoria where the President and cabinet have offices; Cape Town the seat of Parliament; and Bloemfontein the home of the Supreme Court (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa). In the US we believe in a constitutional separation of governmental powers; in South Africa the separation is even geographical.  

Last February I spend a very pleasant weekend safari in Midikwe Game Park on the RSA/Botswana border which I described in this blog.  Unfortunately I won't have any time for pleasure on this South African stop. My most extensive South African travel was in 2007 when I was able to tour both the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces. Western Cape Province includes the Cape of Good Hope, extensive vineyards producing some of South Africa's best wines, and several interesting cities.  Highlights included a few nights at Cape Town's elegant Victoria and Alfred Hotel where I especially enjoyed watching the fog rise off of famous Table Mountain during breakfast,  a tour around the Cape of Good Hope which included a hike up to the Cape's lighthouse,  a visit to a large penguin colony;

and a tour of the wine village of Stellenbosch with its charming Dutch architecture.  In Gauteng I spent a day at Soweto Township recalling the events that brought an end to South African apartheid.  Those of us who have reached a certain age will vividly remember the historic Soweto uprising in 1976. Here are a few links on the Western Cape and Soweto:


 

http://www.cape-town.info/pages/attractions/cape-of-good-hope.php

http://www.aboutcapetown.com/table-mountain.htm

http://www.aboutcapetown.com/penguins.htm 

http://www.stellenboschtourism.co.za

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto_uprising  

In 2007 I also flew from Johannesburg to the Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls after having seen it from the Zambian side in 1986.   The magnificent Falls are on the Zambezi River which forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  It is truly one of the seven wonders of the natural world, falling 108 meters from a wide bend in the river into an extremely narrow gorge, causing tall plumes of mist to rise high into the sky and to be visible from a great distance by approaching aircraft. When viewing the Falls up close, one must wear a poncho or trench coat to avoid get sopping wet. I wore only shorts and a shirt and was drenched to the bone.  My accommodations were in the world famous Victoria Falls Hotel (http://www.africansunhotels.co/Index.cfm?fuseaction=hotels.info&na me=the_victoria_falls_hotel) built in 1904 and frequented by colonialists and aristocrats.  It has the Livingston Dining Room and the Stanley Bar and is thoroughly British, serving high tea every afternoon. In 1855, David Livingstone was the first European to view the Falls and named it after Queen Victoria (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/livingstone.htm). 

Beirut with Bodyguards

I've spent the last four days on a Beirut hilltop surrounded by high walls, guards and razor wire.  When looking out over the burned-out shell of the former embassy annex, I can see Beirut's harbor and its beautiful city center in the distance.  I was in the city for dinner on Friday evening, driven in an armored car with body guard. Although there were police and check points everywhere,  I was surprised at how beautiful downtown Beirut is, with elegant shops, an impressive clock tower, several beautiful mosques and churches, and even a synagogue. The French influence on Lebanese fashion and culture is obvious and I can see why it was one called the Paris of the Middle East. Many of the buildings have been restored or constructed since the bombings and the civil wars.  I also walked on the former green line which dividing the city during that time.

View of Beirut Hills

Beirut's Old City After Dark

Unfortunately, the name Beirut immediately brings to mind the 1983 bombings at the American and French embassies and the US Marine Corps Barracks. The US Embassy Annex was bombed 17 months later in 1984. A colleague from my first foreign service posting in Yaounde was killed in the annex bombing.  Ken Welch was with the Defense Attache' Office in Cameroon and was transferred to Beirut shortly before his death. His name is among many on a memorial at the Beirut embassy as well as on an online memorial (http://www.beirut-memorial.org/history).  When I asked a senior Lebanese associate whether he had known Ken, he told me that they had been on the phone together at the time of the attack. He had immediately gone to Ken's office and saw that he was dying. In addition to the Marines and many other Americans, several loyal Lebanese embassy employees also lost their lives in the three bombings. The father of this Lebanese colleague worked at the French Embassy and was killed in the bombing there. He saw the remains of his recently deceased father that evening on the TV news.  Despite his tragic personal experiences, he is optimistic that Lebanon will remain peaceful during the foreseeable future. All elements of Lebanese society, including Hezbollah, are represented in the government and in his opinion, no one wants further civil war.  While the parties often disagree on issues, he believes they are all determined to preserve peace. Following are a few links related to the bombings and the Civil War:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_United_States_embassy_bombing

 http://middleeast.about.com/od/thisdayinmideasthistory/ig/September-18-to-September-24-i/Hezbollah-Attacks-US-Embassy-.htm

http://www.tanbourit.com/lebanon_war.htm


and here are a few links on Lebanese politics and government:

http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/320/324/324.2/hizballah/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/le.html

Despite Beirut's tragic history over the past 30 years, European and Arab tourists still visit Lebanon.  Beirut and the ancient ruins of Balbec are the primary draws.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/294

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baalbek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beirut

I will be leaving Beirut tomorrow to return home for Thanksgiving. I would love to come back to visit Baalbek.

Dushanbe in my last Stan

It's 11/11/11 and I'm in Tajikistan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajikistan). I have now visited all of the world's seven countries with "stan" in the name -- five which were in the former Soviet Union (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan) and which are largely unknown to Westerners. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the other two. In my opinion the two most interesting are Uzbekistan with its ancient and beautiful Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, and Afghanistan which I visited in the mid-1970s and which included a trip through the infamous Salang Tunnel that passes under the Hindu Kush Range between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Those were the days when Afghanistan was a hippie paradise and before the Afghans drove out the Russians, It was long before the US got involved in the Afghanistan War.  There are many other stans in Central Asia that aren't countries, but regions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-st%C4%81n#Countries).  For more on Uzbekistan see my posting on the Silk Road dated May 13, 2010. 

With regards to Tajikistan, you don't need to put it on your list of "places to see before you die" and I probably wouldn't have paid my own way here.  However the high mountains surrounding Dushanbe are beautiful and remind me a lot of the Salt Lake Valley at home. And like Salt Lake, Dushanbe also gets winter air inversions that cause pollution buildup until storms come along and blow it out. 

The majority of Tajiks are Muslims who don't seem to take their religion as seriously as in some parts of the Islamic world, perhaps because they were under the Russian atheist thumb for so many years.  The country also has a very visable minority Ismaili population who follow the Agha Kahn and who recently completed a new Ismaili Cultural Center in  Dushanbe (http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2005/11/05/tajikistan-ismaili-resurgence).   Tajiks are very traditional with peasant women and girls wearing colorful homemade dresses. Ethnically, they belong to the Iranian group of peoples and the Tajik language is a derivative of Persian (http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Tajling/Tajling.html).   The architecture and the automobiles in Dushanbe are vintage Soviet and are nothing you will soon see neoclassical versions of.

Tajikistan recently celebrated 20 years of independence from the Soviets and the US recognized the new government from the beginning.  It was a difficult time for our first diplomats due to a civil war which was started shortly after independence by minorities who felt underrepresented in the new government  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_war_in_Tajikistan).  The few American diplomats lived quite uncomfortably in a large walled residence that the USG had initially purchased to be the embassy.  In 2006, a new embassy compound was completed to provide offices for a much larger staff, representing several US agencies.  Relations are cordial and the Tajiks I met were generally very friendly towards Americans and other Westerners.

Cairo: Mother of the World

 I'm back in Cairo again and it almost feels like home. Gertrud and I lived here for three years in the mid- 1990s and I have been here many times over the years.  It was the favorite of our seven Foreign Service postings, not because it was the most comfortable, but because we were so stimulated and broadened by the experience of living here. No place on earth has as many interesting layers of culture and history to be pealed back and examined, whether it be Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Christian, Mamluk, Islamic, Napoleonic or other.  It is the largest and most important city in the Middle East and Africa and one of the world's oldest. Historians and writers have often called Cairo "Mother of the World" which I think is apt. http://www.yale.edu/iforum/Spring1996/cairoSpr96.htm

My first trip To Egypt was in the mid-1970s, following the Yom Kipper War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War).  Egypt had been badly beaten by the Israelis and the US Government was in the process of re-establishing diplomatic relations. Hermann "the German" Eilts, a Kissinger protégé, was the colorful and gregarious charge d'affaires and soon to become ambassador. I was working for the Congress on a GAO team that was trying to help determine how the US could best contribute to Egypt's recovery.  The US Navy already had mine sweepers in the Suez Canal to clear mines and other ordnance so that Egypt could again start collecting the badly needed tolls which has long been it's biggest source of foreign exchange. PL-480 food aid was also arriving at the port of Alexandria and USAID was in the early stages of starting a development program. We also saw significant war damage, with the hulls of burned-out tanks and military vehicles still standing in the streets of Port Said and Ismailia.  Even today one can see the rusted hulks of tanks and vehicles in the Mitla Pass where one of the most decisive battles of the war was fought.

This visit is my first since the Arab Spring.  It is also the 3-day Eid al-Adha or feast of the sacrifice when many sheep, goats and cattle will be slaughtered and eaten around family tables in celebration. (http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/photo-essay-eid-al-adha-the-muslim-festival-of-sacrifice-graphic) 

A Sheep waiting for throat to be cut during Eid Al-Adha

Outwardly things seem normal, although Tahrir Square still reflects the results of the long demonstrations and the nearby headquarters building of Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party is a burned out shell.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Egyptian_revolution)

Tahrir Square after demonstrations, with burned-out shell of former NDP HQ in rear.  Egyptian Museum is center right.

Although most Egyptians are happy that Mubarak is gone, they are apprehensive about elections later this month. The Muslim Brotherhood will no doubt be heavily represented in the new government but isn't expected to be in the majority. The fear of secular-leaning Muslims and minority Christians is that Sharia law might be imposed.    

During our three years in Cairo, Gertrud and I had an apartment in the World Trade Center, which overlooked the Nile and the densely populated Island of Zamalek.  From our balcony we were able to observe much of the tapestry of Egyptian life including ancient felucca sailboats catching the Nile breezes and young Coptic garbage collectors, navigating the heavy and noisy traffic in donkey carts along the Cornish. Five times a day we also listened to muezzins call the faithful to prayer from surrounding minarets. In the beginning the prayer call in Arabic was clatter, but after a few months it became an endearing part of our daily life and we actually missed it when we left. In those days the call from each minaret was quite distinctive with some off on their timing by a few minutes. Here is a typical prayer call, comingled with the noise of the traffic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMxUGB-lSqo). 

Nile view from apartment of friends in Doki

A few years ago the Egyptian Government announced that to limit din and disruption, it would soon initiate a computerized, uniform pray call throughout the city, which would be at exactly the same time from all the minarets.  Today's prayer call does seem less noisy and hectic, so the plan must have been implemented. And many muezzins must have joined the ranks of the unemployed.

In this blog, I don't intend to give space to the pyramids, the Sphinx or the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, which are fully described on the Internet. However I will mention a few lesser-known places to illustrate how deep the culture is.

Many don't realize that some of the earliest Christians lived in Egypt and that the country is home to some of world's oldest monasteries.   Among them is Greek Orthodox St. Catherine’s, the best known due to its Mt. Sinai location and its reputation as the site of Mose's "burning bush."'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Catherine's_Monastery,_Mount_Sinai).  St. Paul's and St. Anthony's Coptic monasteries in the Eastern Desert are from the same era, as are several in Wadi Natrun between Cairo and Alexandria ( http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1827).  Wadi Natrun's Monastery of St. Marcarius the Great purports to have the head of John the Baptist among its relics. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery_of_Saint_Macarius_the_Great).

 

The Pharonic Temples at Abu Simbel are probably less known that the temples around Luxor although they caught the world's attention in the 1960's during the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The German construction company Hochtief, moved these 13th Century B.C. edifices block by block out of the bottom of a valley that would soon become Lake Nasser and reassembled them at a higher site that would be on the edge of the new Lake. The evening sound and light shows at Abu Simbel to the music of Aida are very impressive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel_temples

The vast Siwa Oasis, near the Libyan border in the Western Desert is off the beaten path of most tourist itineraries but has an extremely unique and interesting culture, preserved over the centuries by its isolation. We observed strapped-on donkeys walking in circles to turn ancient presses that were squeezing oil out of local olives. Much of the Siwa olive oil as well as dates and bottled drinking water are sold in the markets of Cairo.http://www.siwaoasis.com/

Leaving ancient Egypt behind and turning to more contemporary memories of our Cairo years: they included a day and a night as guests of the US Navy on board the Aircraft Carrier Theodore Roosevelt while it transited the Suez Canal.  It was amazing to spend time on such a large ship and we were treated royally. Gertrud and I were among the lucky winners of an embassy lottery that was set up when the Navy invited 50 embassy staff to join them on this passage.  The men spent the night sleeping in bunks 4 levels high and the women slept in the dispensary. (http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/71.htm)

A visit to the battlefield of El al Amein where the Allies defeated General Rommel during WWII was certainly sobering. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Alamein). The British, Australian, Greeks, Germans and others maintain large cemeteries and memorials there and there is also an outstanding museum about the battle. The remains of Americans killed were transported to the US for burial.

In the 1990s, we could still drive from Cairo to Israel which we did a couple of times. On our first trip with Gertrud's brother and sister-in-law, we missed the turn towards Gaza and Tel Aviv after crossing into Israel and ended up on a military road running along the Egyptian border.  We were taken in tow by an armored Israeli military vehicle, which held us for about an hour while awaiting instructions.  It was late on a Friday afternoon and our escorts seemed a little anxious because Shabbat was quickly approaching. When guidance came, they quickly escorted us to the edge of the Negev Desert and turned us loose. It was a good time to have had a US diplomatic passport.

From Cairo we also traveled to Jordan to see Petra and Jerash and to Syria to visit Damascus, Aleppo, Palmyra, Krak de Chevalier, Malula and Homs. The latter has been much in the news lately due to the Syrian Government's harsh crackdown on uprisings.  

And to end this, we got to know the Egyptian actor Omar Sharif although I am not claiming we became good friends. While he spent most of his time outside Egypt, he lived in a nearly World Trade Center apartment when in Cairo and shared the same fitness center and pool.  There were a few times when he and Gertrud were the only ones in the gym, which opened up an opportunity for recognition and conversation.  A few days before we left Cairo, I was chatting with him at the pool.  When I told him that we would soon be moving to Barbados, he reminded me that he and Julie Andrews had made a movie together there called "the Tamarind Seed."  We had not seen it but we of course checked out the DVD later.   

Adventures in "Budapescht"

Greetings from Budapest, my favorite East European Capital, where I'm enjoying 5 pleasant days -- mostly work, but with some time for pleasure. The following link provides an entertaining musical introduction to the city, especially if you speak German or Yiddish:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtrQFVw_8Ag).

Although not as beautiful as Prague, I find Budapest more enjoyable because it doesn't have the constant tourist herds Prague has become famous for.  Also, a favorite aunt was born and raised near Hungary's Lake Balaton before immigrating to the US in her teens.  When I was a kid, she told us stories about her early years in Hungary which no doubt peaked my interest. Gertrud and I were also here about 5 years ago and enjoyed the major tourist sites and the city's ambiance together. 

But, since arriving in Budapest last Wednesday, I have been thinking back to my first trip here in 1964 from Salzburg where I was on a semester abroad.  A favorite professor arranged for several International Relations majors to take a three-day trip to Budapest over the April 4th Hungarian Holiday when we would be hosted for an evening by a group of students from the Communist Students League.

Our meeting on the first evening was with about 20 student leaders in the Communist Student Club.  A few spoke English and were surprisingly open with their opinions when their adult supervision was distracted.  They were especially interested in hearing about our lives in the West and solicited our frank opinions on Eastern Europe.  During our free time on the following two days, we Americans were supposed to stay with our official "instate tourist guide" who would take us to the authorized tourist sites around the city.  However, the Hungarian students encouraged us to try to slip away and they would meet us for more open discussions in the city park. A few of us succeeded on one evening and it really opened the eyes of a young student from Utah.

April 4th is still when Hungary celebrates its liberation from the Nazis but in the Cold War days of the 1960s, the Russians were central to the holiday and were of course touted as the liberators. The primary focus was one of those large military parades the East Bloc was so famous for.  Marching soldiers, tanks and other military equipment passed by for hours with planes flying overhead. A few of us again slipped away from our official guide. We initially had a hard time viewing the parade because so many heads were in the way.  But we soon noticed that there were empty seats on a controlled-access viewing stand that had some Hungarian and foreign student leaders on it. To get to the seats, we observed that they simply showed the guards a variety of picture IDs issued by their home countries.  We decided to try to bluff our way to the seats by showing our American student IDs, which we assumed they couldn't read and that they would simply consider us to be from another bloc country. It worked and we had a fascinating time sitting among communist students watching a parade of propaganda directed against "the Western Imperialists."

This visit was also the first time that I had ever been in an American Embassy.  Our professor arranged for us to receive an embassy briefing on US policy towards Hungary and Eastern Europe and on the roles of the State Department and the Foreign Service abroad.  I had no idea then that I would one day become a Foreign Service Officer myself.

An important historical cold war incident also highlighted that visit.  Those of a certain age will recall that Hungarian Catholic Cardinal Josef Mindszenty, a well-known spokesman for religious freedom and against communism, was convicted of crimes against the state and took refuge in the American Embassy before he could be tried. He lived in the Embassy for 15 years before being released and transferred to Vienna. Although we didn't meet him, we knew he was living in a room in the Embassy while we were there.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zsef_Mindszenty).


Here is a panoramic viewer for Budapest that you can maneuver in all directions with the buttons on your computer (http://www.360cities.net/area/budapest-hungary). Don't miss virtual tours of the Buda Castle District, the Great Synagogue, the Szent Istvan Bazilka, the Vaci Shopping Street and the Hungarian Parliament.  And also take a ride on the castle funicular!

Paul