:The only way inside the building is via organized tour. The tour lasts ~30 minutes and is free if you are an EU citizen, so bring your passport to prove it. Tours only run on specific times during the day, and you have to get your ticket in advance for a timed slot, you have to use the ticket the day you get it. Tickets are sold out by about 11am, so arrive early at 8am when the ticket office opens. Getting to the ticket office is bizarrely confusing and time consuming. Queue up by the security fence where you see the "buy ticket" sign, this is by the front of the Parliament at gate X (the opposite side to the river). There will be no sign of a ticket office or anyone selling tickets. It will seem like you are queueing up in front of a fence. Do not panic - this is OK. There may be people in a separate queue, these may be Hungarians who can visit more frequently, or indeed tourists in the wrong queue - you won't be told where to go or what to do, so it is common for people to wander about. The security guard will open the security fence (there is no gate) and you should walk towards the doorway with an X above it, inside is the cash office and you can get your ticket here. Be warned, there are no signs or explanations anywhere of what to do. They only let 2 people at a time in the cash office, and it can take 2-3 minutes per person to get a ticket. Come back at the specified time on your ticket and join the "with tickets" queue to the right, where, again, you will be left with no one to greet you or explain what's going on, until 1 minute before your tour time, when a guide will appear (not in a uniform)and you can go through the fence and get security screened before starting. The tourist information gives tour times for the various languages (e.g. English is 10am, 12pm and 2pm), your ticket may have a different time on it, like 10.15am, this is because there is more than 1 tour around the times listed, so you will not join the 10am tour, but the 10.15 tour. The end result of this system is that at first glance, there are people standing in a very slow moving queue, with occasional tourists wandering into an unmarked door in the corner of the building. Suddenly, a large group of people will appear and jump the queue and wander through the security fence (this is a timed tour starting), the guards are not tour advisors and will not tell you if they are sold out of tickets, or if a tour is starting, or that you are in the wrong queue. Parliament is in session Monday and Tuesday, but tours still operate. For the time of your language tour get the slip of paper from a tourist information office. Non EU Admission: 800 ft adults, 300 ft children.
Before entering, take note of the museum's '''exterior''', a fine example of neoclassical architecture, with an exceptional portico. Eight Corinthian columns support a frieze with an ornamental cornice and a large pediment. The pediment features the allegorical figure of Pannonia (''Pannonia'' was the Roman name for the Hungarian lands) sitting with the Hungarian coat of arms on her shield, surrounded on either side by Science and Art. The exterior of the museum is also significant for what has taken place there. During the 1848 revolutions that swept through Central Europe, on 15 March, Sandor Pet?fi (perhaps Hungary's most famous patriotic poet) recited his emotionally gripping poem called "National Song" to a large crowd from the left pillar of the National Museum's exterior staircase. This poem pleaded with the nation to liberate Hungary from the Habsburg oppression. Not everyone was impressed. The director of the museum recorded in his diary that a noisy mob had gathered outside the building that day, disturbing his work so much that he left for home.
Major acquisitions and collections donated by the Kubinyi, Pyrker, Marczibanyi and Jankovich families rapidly expanded the museum's holdings. Late in the 19th century some collections were separated from the general holdings to form new specialized museums such as the Museum(s) of Fine Arts, Applied Arts, Natural Science and Ethnography. Today the museum's five major divisions (archaeology, Middle Ages, modern era, numismatics, historical paintings), two permanent exhibitions, and archaeological library (with over 100,000 volumes!) make it one of the richest museums in Central Europe.</see>
Unfortunately, there are few bicycle lanes and many dangerous drivers. However with organized groups such as [http://criticalmass.hu/ Critical Mass] operating in the city, things are slowly becoming more bicycle friendly. Pest is very flat and excellent for bicycle riding - just make sure to keep your wits about you, as drivers can be somewhat careless.
There are several places in Pest to rent bicycles:
Places to avoid:
There were several huge free wine tasting facilities on Buda Hill, these are now closed though still listed on many sites. One new one is in a catacomb at the cliff at the end of the main street on the hill. You pay a fee for the tour based on how many and which wines you will taste at the end of it.</drink>