Last day in Budapest

This once beautiful but now crumbling old building on the riverfront was used as a Gestapo (Nazi secret police force) HQ during World War 2. At least that's what I understood from a sign outside it.

Well my long adventure through Europe and the Middle East was coming to an end. I just had a bit of time left to see Budapest. I really like the city, it is so much nicer, cleaner and more welcoming than a lot of the other former Soviet republics. I don't know why that is, maybe it's because of the architecture which seems to be mostly very modern (19th cent) and is a remnant of the great days of Austro-Hungarian empire when they built wide boulevards and squares and big houses and apartment building to represent the empire. Here are a few photos of what I saw on my last day.

This is a Soviet monument that I saw near to the very heavily guarded American embassy.
This is Heros' Square and two of the museums that are around it.

This is one of the massive St. Stephen's Basilica in the centre of the city. It was completed in 1904 and the latin inscription means 'I am the way, the truth and the life'.