For those of you who don't know, I may or may not have a slight obsession with statues.
In case you're looking for proof from my past, you can look at the video my brother, Ben, and his wife, Alyse, put together for our wedding that's on my mom's blog (2:49 in the video). You'll have to excuse the awful combination of songs - I couldn't figure out how to turn off the music that starts whenever you get on my mom's blog, plus there is music as part of the video. So, maybe the best way to view it is with your sound muted.
With the background covered, we're now ready for the story of an adventure from our honeymoon. You can imagine my excitement when I realized that we had time in Budapest to go to what is called "Statue Park," which is full of statues from the reign of Communism in Hungary. (I had seen a picture of a missionary who had climbed onto a statue of a Russian soldier and was holding on the butt of his gun because the statue was so big, and I naturally assumed that this statue would be found in Statue Park, adding to my excitement.)
Following the advice of our fearless tour guide, Rick Steves, we took the tour bus that goes directly from Deák Ferenc Square to Statue Park. (He said that the public transportation to get there is too complicated and that the only way to go is to take this tour bus. Just out of curiosity, I looked up online how to get there by public transportation, and all it took was transferring from one bus to another. Like they say, hindsight is 20/20.)
We should have known we were in for trouble when we walked up to the bus and asked if it was the one that goes to Statue Park. They responded that it was. I asked if there was a student discount. The driver told me that I would pay the tour guide later and to just get on. (This should have been red flag number one, since every other bus you pay as you get on.) I then overheard the tour guide talking to the driver in Hungarian, as the driver said he had never driven to Statue Park before (red flag number two) and the tour guide explained to him how to get there. Nonetheless, we sat there on the bus, waiting for departure.
Once we departed, the tour guide welcomed us and said that she would go around selling us our tickets as we drove there. I eavesdropped as she sold tickets to the people in front of us and was surprised to hear that it was 9,000 forint (~$45) for two people (red flag number three, although by now it's probably too late). When she gets to me, I hope to score a discount by speaking Hungarian with her, since everyone up until this point had spoken English with her. That didn't work, but I did score a student discount for the price of 7,000 forint (~$35).
Yep, that's right, we got scammed like the tourists we were, despite our best efforts to not look or act like tourists. We should have paid attention to the red flags, gotten off the tour bus and made an adventure out of it by trying to get there on public transportation, but instead we got the experience of paying way too much for entrance to a park that turned out to be quite the disappointment. There weren't near as many cool statues as I expected for a place called "Statue Park" plus I think my expectations were too high, having seen pictures of missionaries climbing on statues that, as it turns out, aren't in Statue Park.
Despite these disappointments, we were able to make a memorable adventure out of it. Most of my excitement comes from getting my wife to do statue imitations, but other highlights included getting to see a film composed of communist training videos for their secret agents (sorry, no pictures) and getting to take a picture with a Trabant (Hungary's version of the people's car, with bumpers that were originally made of wood).
Here are some of the statue imitation highlights:
Me, shaking hands with Lenin, welcoming us to Statue Park.
(Yes, they had to build him that brick pedestal in order to be tall enough to shake my hand.)
Sarah imitating the spectacles on this communist.
(You can't really tell, but his glasses wrap onto his face.)
Harry Potter just about to grab the Golden Snitch.
(I think it's supposed to represent the unity of communism or something.)
I'm not sure the communist soldiers were listening to something, but rather saluting.
(We'll give her a break since she's new at this.)
As long as we're giving honest critiques, my form could improve here.
(Not sure where this communist is running with a flag in his hand.)
A communist's poor impression of the Karate Kid pose.
(I guess they probably had a bootlegged copy over there with the whole communist thing going on, so we'll give him a break.)
Communist bowling.
(Actually, it's supposed to represent falling to death, but he should really look into a career in bowling.)
What every young, strong communist youth should look like.
(Too bad I got to Hungary in 2006 and not before.)
The ultimate statue imitation - my wife and I imitating a statue together.
(You wouldn't believe how long we had to wait to get someone to take our picture - I guess most other tourists avoid the tourist trap.)
Though it pains me to admit it, this had to be our last statue imitation.
In case you can't tell, my wife's pose more accurately depicts that of the statue (the ultimate goal of statue imitation).
The student has surpassed the master.
Which brings us to the Trabant, which I'm sure you were all waiting for:
Unlike Lenin, nobody built the brick pedestal to get the Trabant up to my height.
They did try their best to match the paint to my shirt, although it seems like the different panels are different colors.
