"The Paris of the East" a Budapest Travel Page by lifeisatrip

Driving from the airport to the city center, we were quite disappointed with all the buildings that are in disrepair. They would have been beautiful otherwise. But once we got into the city, we were in awe. Budapest has so many beautiful buildings, although many are in bad shape. There were, however, a number of renovations going on.

Budavar is an imposing collection of beautiful architecture. The buildings have been turned into different museums. We visited the Historical Museum, which is comprehensive, covering different ages.

"I simply carried out the instructions of my Government, as I understood them, as an officer and a gentleman of the United States Army." This is the inscription on the statue.

General Bandholtz arrived in Budapest on August 11, 1919. He was one of four generals - French, English, Italian, American- to become the Inter-Allied Control Commission for Hungary, to supervise the removal of Romanian troops from Hungary.

He became famous when as then President of the Day of the Commission, he prevented a group of Romanian soldiers from removing Transylvanian treasures from the National Museum, on the night of October 5, 1919 through bluff and armed only with his riding crop.