Budapest

In spite of its residential nature, the Royal Castle in Budapest does nevertheless have a parapet, although it's more for sightseeing than anything else.

#1361 is a V43 Class electric, which are quite common on services in and out of Keleti, even if they are indeed quite old at this point. Note that this photo has been retouched, if it looks weird.

This shot gives you a better idea of the palatial nature of the Royal Castle in Budapest. It was clearly built more as a residence than as a fortress.

The Royal Castle in Budapest is really more of a palace nowadays, having been rebuilt in the late 19th Century.

The Budapest Funicular Railway is very short, as its only purpose is to help lazy people get to the Royal Castle. It nevertheless provides an interesting contrast to the Prague Funicular, as it has two tracks, with no need for a passing siding.

I noticed that this sleeper train was Russian, although I forget the destination. I think it was Petrograd (St. Petersburg), but I'm not certain. In any case, it's being pulled by a MAV (Hungarian State Railways) Class V63 electric here, which gives it a greater degree of exoticism, although really it's totally normal for sleeper trains to be pulled by the motive power of the railway on which they're running at a given moment. If you can read it in this picture, notice Russian Kryllic lettering and RZD reporting marks on the sleeper.

I took this just because I liked the steam-era look, with what looked like steam heating pipes (for pre-heating trains) leaking steam into the freezing cold air. If I'm wrong on this point, though, please somebody tell me. I don't really know what else it could be.

Here's an external view of Budapest Keleti, which makes it look a lot cleaner and better maintained than it is!!! It's apparently a beautiful building regardless.

I like this picture even better. You can really tell that it's cold!