Towering Russians and Glowering Germans

For our last day here in Hungary, we took a drive out to the Statue Museum, where after 'the political changes' many of the hated statues of Lenin and others were taken. Our guide, an attractive and fiesty young blond, corrected me when I referred to any 1989 revolution here. "There was no revolution," she said sharply, turning and looking at me from the front seat.

Standing corrected, we toured the outdoor exhibit in the rain... Russians stood eight feet tall, towering over the more docile-looking Hungarian, shaking hands in the name of progress. Other statues showed Germans triumphantly holding weapons high, yet another nation that successfully conquered and occupied this land.

The small exhibit was set up in circles, and in the middle was the Russian Star, showing simply that progress was not really possible in that terrible system. The front gate appeared to have no real entrance, another allusion to the dead-end the Hungarians felt they were living in under the thumb of Soviet oppression.