# @kirstenalana on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/BcUdchply2i
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/2430114-kirstenalana-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/ef47ee7c05.jpg
- **Posted:** 2017-12-05T11:57:24.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Kirsten Alana (@KirstenAlana) — https://gondola.cc/KirstenAlana

## Caption

Even though we weren’t in Budapest for very long with @vikingcruises, as I said in my last photo, my mother and I fell in love with the city. So deeply in love in fact that as our ship Skadi left for Slovakia, passing under Margaret Bridge, we both felt slightly tearful. I think mum actually did cry! We were on the roof of the Skadi, with a Hungarian song playing over the loudspeakers, shots of a local liquor being passed around that tasted of cinnamon and warmed my throat. It might have been the reason for the water in my eyes. That or the emotion of the moment. I don’t know. If you visit the city, guides will talk a lot about the Hungarian Parliament Building on the Pest side of the river, that I’ve shown in the first photo, one of the largest and most ornate in the world. There’s so much pride in it, built as a result of a design competition, completed in 1904 and currently reigning as the largest building in the country if my research is correct. The Buda side of the river also features many buildings lit up at night so that the city seems to be gilded and floating on a sea of black onyx, rising magically from nowhere. I’ve included a few other photos in this set to show you more from Budapest, including one from the shoe memorial on the banks of the Danube that permanently remembers those who were shot during WWII only to be dumped into the river and forgotten. However they have not been forgotten, as the candles and other tokens of remembrance that can be seen amongst the shoes attests to. It proves that hate and violence may win small some battles but love will always win the real war in the end. 🇭🇺 #MyVikingStory #HelloHungary #VisitBudapest #VikingCruises

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 4,161
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- **Comments:** 79

## Tags

vikingcruises, visitbudapest, myvikingstory, hellohungary

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