Arab attraction, tonight at cinema Örökmozgó, Budapest, Austrian Filmweek

Barbara Wally has been known throughout Austria for her outspoken feminist views for decades. But a few years before retiring from the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts in Salzburg, her life took a drastic turn.
During a 10-day vacation to Yemen, she fell in love with a chauffeur named Khadher and became his second wife. "In every conversation, it was imperative that I become Muslim", she explains. "He doesn't want me to end up in hell."
So this atheist Austrian converts to Islam, prays five times a day, and says goodbye to her beloved bacon. Directing duo Andreas Horvath and Monika Muskala pay her a visit in both Salzburg and Yemen.
The heavyset woman with long, dyed red hair is a striking presence in the latter country. Together with her husband, she runs a local travel agency called Adensafari. But while her spouse spends his days slumped in his chair chewing qat or drinking tea with male relatives, Barbara can barely leave the house - a highlight of her daily routine is a game of dominos.
Arab Attraction is a remarkable portrait of a special woman who has drastically revised her point of view and now questions post-feminist Western society.
Her switch to a subservient existence seems almost masochistic, or is Barbara just looking for peace and security in her new faith?

Örökmozgó, half past 6, Erzsébet krt.39. Budapest.

Hungarian Filmclub with English subtitles in Odeon Lloyd Cinema, Budapest

• 12th October

THE TEST/A VIZSGA


1958. 2 years after the revolution people still suffer the consequences of whatever they did or didn't do in the fall of 1956. Then an ordinary Monday comes when nothing major happens but three people's live change forever.

• 25th October

SLAP-JACK/CSAPD LE CSACSI

One of the funniest Hungarin films ever made will give an insight into how these weird creatures tried to cope with the changes in the early '90s. Tights are burning in the garden, red stars and barbed wire served their purpose in the cellar, flying saucers land in the kitchen, then an eartchake changes it all..............

• 9th November

THE MAIDEN DANCED TO DEATH/A HALÁLBA TÁNCOLTATOTT LÁNY

Past and folk dance. These two random things come beautifully together when two brothers meet after 20 years of separation. And when old passions and problems resurface, you can't refuse to dance.

• 23th November

ISTANBUL/ISZTANBUL

Divorcing after a half a lifetime of marriage must be tough. It might break you, make you ill and hysterical. Your reactions might alienate people. You might make some drastic changes. You might think you could cut all loose ends. You might end up in Istanbul...


Movies start at 8 p.m., tickets are 900Ft(appr.3 Euro)/750Ft with a Funzine card.
Free welcome drinks from 7.30 p.m.

The Budapest Flea market, Ecseri, former Teleki

The main second-hand market of Budapest, the Ecseri Piac (Piac means Market) is an exciting, bustling place, a cavalcade of old and new, where every object on sale has it own story. The market's atmosphere and size can be compared to Portobello Road in London, or the Paris Flea Market. 
Besides the occasional sellers, most prestigious antique shop owners with shops in downtown Budapest also have little booths here. The market is located in the outskirts of Budapest and offers both high quality antiques and objects of smaller value for those seeking gifts.

 
In this hungarian cultmovie Eldorádó you can see a part of the famous former market, which originally was 
in the 8th district at the Teleki tér. This market worked already in the middle of the 19th century as poultrymarket, nowadays is more a ghostcourt, with very few customers, but on the hanging plats you can still 
have a feeling of the "those times". In the scene emerges also a quiet wide papermoney, which was called "pengő", the former currency before the "forint".

It is best to visit the Ecseri Market on a Saturday morning, because that's when the market is at its busiest. A very important aspect of shopping here is that you must bargain with the seller - it's all part of the show; accepting the price right away is not customary. You can go there even if it's raining, as nearly the whole area is covered. 

Address: Disctrict 19, Budapest, Nagykőrösi út 156.
From Határ út  take bus Nr. 54 to the market, close to my hostel.

Budapest in photographies

Kiscelli Múzeum Óbuda - Leopold Bloom exhibition

The award is one of the most important names in modern literary works of James Joyce Ulysses, its Hungarian-born hero. In accordance with the fee and its importance for the founding of the Irish values​​, Leopold Bloom,is the symbol of the exchange paradigm of art, travel, internationalism and above all a symbol of the Irish-Hungarian relations.

A key objective of Leopold Bloom Fine Art Award is to support the creators of domestic and foreign exhibitors at the prestigious local cooperation, the international debut artists, careers. The fee for the first time in autumn 2011 will be delivered at the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art ACAX Office and the Irish Maurice Ward Group as a result of the cooperation.

The three-member international jury reached on the basis of the following artists: Barakonyi Zsombor Batykó Robert, Little Fox, Csaba, Attila Szucs, Agnes von Uray, Vécsei Juliet.  
The works can be seen in the Kiscelli Museum.
Address: Budapest, Kiscelli utca 108. 1037 
Entrance fee: 900,- Forint

 

European Garden Railway Convention and Exhibition - Budapest

20-21 August
Entrance fee: 1400,- Forint
To drive a train: 1000,-Forint
Horsetraintravel: 400,-Forint

Address:   Vasúttörténeti Park
            Budapest, XIV. kerület, Tatai út 95.

Steam and diesel engines are rolling along the 7 inch track 

some can also travel on the small trains 

and admire special steam engines and devices.

Great Britain represents Lowmac, Toad and Crocodile trains.

Varidance – Bertalan Vári Company, National Dance Theatre Budapest..TONIGHT!!!!!!!!

VARIDANCE draws on the extremely diverse Hungarian cultural treasure; it amalgamates the elements of traditional folk dance with various other dance styles (including tap, hip-hop, contemporary among others) and other genres (like circus, theatre, film) and turns them into a unique, modern style.


Tonight at half past 8 p.m.

National Dance Theatre - Main Auditorium

Ticket prices: 3,500 HUF 3,000 HUF

Wildlife Photography in Budapest, Natural History Museum

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010
18 May - 22 August

For those who wants to escape of the hot weather but are not fun of open air pools there is still an laternative program open....in a nice cool museum, which is not really visited by masstourism. Even the little park closeby can give a bit of fresh air.


Now in its 46th year, the competition is owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine and is sponsored by Veolia Environnement. It is an international leader in the artistic representation of the natural world and a competition that photographers worldwide aspire to win.

The much coveted title of Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year was awarded to Hungarian photographer Bence Máté from Pusztaszer for his image A marvel of ants, a simple shot that captures the complexity of the behaviour of leaf-cutter ants in the Costa Rican rainforest.
Fergus Gill from Scotland was crowned Veolia Environnement Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year for the second year in a row. His image of a fieldfare, The frozen moment, was judged to be the most memorable of all the pictures by photographers aged 17 or under.

Entrance fees:
Adult: 1 200 FT; Student, Pensioner: 600FT

Empire of the Sun tonight on Sziget in Budapest

Empire of the Sun is an Australian electronic music duo that formed in 2006. Their name comes from a science fiction book (Ballard, same title), which also was filmed by Steven Spielberg.

 The duo is composed of Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore of Pnau, they achieved chart success with their first single "Walking on a Dream".

The album debuted at number eight on the ARIA charts and eventually peaked at number six. Their first single titled "Walking on a Dream" was released digitally on 30 August 2008. The single received airtime from many Australian radio stations and has since reached #10 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, breaking the record for the longest time taken for a single to reach the top 10. It has as well been released as a free single on 21 April 2009. The second single released off the album, entitled "We Are the People", peaked at number twenty-four on the ARIA Charts. In September 2009 this song was used in an American advertising campaign for Vizio televisions. The third single, "Standing on the Shore" was released on iTunes on 12 June and for general release on 23 June. The video was filmed in Lancelin in April 2009. In this year they were already more popular as lady Gaga or La Roux.

After an article released lately, it was announced that "Without You" will be the 4th single for Empire of the Sun.

Waterparties in Budapest

By the weekend the summer starts to return to our capitol, and the temperature is rising again up to 30 degrees celsius, which is the normal hungarian summertime.
The weekend offers two special parties connected to the hot weather, one is in Budapest historical bath, Széchenyi, where the Cinetrip Party Band is going to give the hottest and biggest waterparty of this summer.
This was the first thermal bath on the Pest side. At the time, back in 1881, it was called "Artesian Bath", and was only a temporary establishment.In 1913, it was converted into a permanent bath, and received its present name and most parts of its pretty yellow building complex.
(Only few people know but its real success:), its water was leaded into the Zoo, where it was used as a bath for the hyppopotamus population, which started amazingly grow. To understand the explanation of the lot of new babies scientist started to look for the causes, when they discovered the thermal water healing forces in case of infertility.)
Prices for the party are 7000,-Ft in Hütte Caffe at Szabadsag ter in advance
or 8000,-Ft in the bath.
For 2 persons 12000,-Ft.

The other amazing, individual program is already on the 5th of August in the Ramada Aquapark in Budapest, although not so characteristical for the hungarian culture, as it will be a real wet brasilian carnival.

This bath is the monumental replica of an Angkor temple surrounded by suspension bridges, towers and pools, is a breath-taking sight. The world of the “serene statues” is a perfect counterpoint to the use of the most modern architectural and technical solutions, in line with the Aquaworld conception, to create a modern shrine of aquatic culture offering complex adventures to visitors.

The adventure centre is covered by a giant dome, 5-storey high and of a diameter of 72 m. It is so big it could host comfortably a family of blue whales, the biggest animals on Earth.

From Nyugati Square, which is 18 min. far away from my hostel by train, 

there are free shuttlebusses to the bath.

The entrance fee is 2490,-Ft in the bath.

Both parties are during the nighttime, to enjoy the stars in our wonderful city, Budapest!

Special concert in Budapest Zoo tonight

HOT JAZZ BAND
2011.08.03.
A hot, atmospheric evening mixing film classics and jazz music going back
through the years.
Until the concert begins, guests are invited to stroll around the grounds and enjoy the Zoo and the Palmhouse. There will be excellent hot and cold food served in the garden of the Cave Restaurant, and in the Gundel Palmhouse Cafe there are ice-cream selections, cocktails and coffee specialities.
If all the seat tickets are sold out, extra standing room tickets will be available
at the entrance of the Zoo on the evening of  performance.
Entrance fee is 3300,-Ft/13 Euro.

Budapest caves

  Being in August, which has usually a splendid weather in Budapest, it is a bit rainy at the moment and we can enjoy also less sunshine, as summer should show us.
What to do in such a weather? Except of the numerous spas, which is often referred to Budapest, and of course except of the usual sightseeing spots, and not having the time to leave the city for a further excursion (like Aggtelek, where you can find Hungary's most famous cave system), there is an another option, known by few, that this city can be called also the city of caves......, because approximately 200 smaller and bigger caves can be found under the capital. The majority were discovered in the 20th century, 9 of them are strictly protected and 3 are open to the public: Pálvölgyi, Szemlőhegyi and Castle caves, all they are in Buda site.

The biggest is Pálvölgyi, my pics show some details of this cave.


It was discovered in 1904, during  a stone extraction, and opened to the public in 1924. The speleologists found 1200 metres long passages and beautiful stalagmit formations. Since 1944 it is a nature protected area and even the surrounding areas can be visited and are an interesting nature experince.
There has been continous search for new passeges and by 1980 the lenght exceeded 13 kilometres. In 2001 the connection with the neighboroughing Mátyáshegyi cave was discovered and as a result of this today this cave-system is the second longest in Hungary with its 18km length.

For visitors guided tours are organised in every hour.
The temperature is around 8 Celsius,
warm clothing is recommended.
The tour lasts about 50 minutes
during which 500 metres are covered.
There are ladders and steep stairs, it is not recommended for the physically challenged and for children under 5.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 4pm.
The full price ticket is 1000,-Ft( 4 € or around 5 $), discounted (as children, retired or disabiliated people) : 750,-Ft

Epona in Budapest Castle

Vienna, Austria has the Spanish Riding School at the Hofburg, a traditional riding school for Lipizzan horses. The riding school was first named during the Austrian Empire in 1572 and the horses original studs,which used to develop the breed was Lipizza, now called Lipica, near Trieste in modern Slovenia, which gave its name to the breed, nowadays they are breed in Austria.
The hungarian Spanish Riding School of Hungarian  Royal Guards was established already in 1939.They regularly held special shows in front of a huge audience, for example in the riding school built especially for this purpose at the Castle of Buda.However, the riding school could only operate for a short period of time, because history put an end to the activity of the riders and horses. Not only the riders and the horses but also the buildings of the riding school disappeared from the Castle.
Nowadays we have got Epona, which is called to recall this old tradition and Budapest has the Spanish School on its style too, just like Vienna.
The horses are imported andalusian horses, which are of high value and all of them are extremely well-trained.The Andalusian, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse or PRE (Pura Raza Española), is a horse breed developed in the Iberian Peninsula. Its ancestors have been present on the Iberian Peninsula for thousands of years.The breed was used as a tool of diplomacy by the Spanish government, and kings across Europe rode and owned Spanish horses.
The school started their programs in 2009 at the Buda Castle, it has got 60 beautiful horses and several talented riders from the secondary school at the disposal of Epona at the moment.In the show partecipating 16 horses.

From the 5th of May they are dancing at the Castle of Buda,
weekly on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 21am.
Tickets to buy in Ticket express and at the Castle of Buda.
Adult ticket is 6000 HUF.
Students and retired  enjoy 50% preference.

TINARIWEN – Sons of the desert in Budapest at Zöld Pardon tonight!

 

Read their story, written by Andy Morgan:

http://www.andymorganwrites.com/tinariwen-sons-of-the-desert/

Bikini concert 18.07.2011 at Zöld Pardon, Budapest

The band was formed in 1982 by singer Feró Nagy and guitarist József Vedres after the disband of Beatrice. Bassist Alajos Németh, his brother, drummer Gábor Németh and guitarist Gábor Szűcs Antal joined them and formed Bikini.
In 1985 Feró Nagy left the band and singer Lajos D. Nagy.This caused a great change in Bikini's style and image. During the late 1980s the band became a professional and talented team mostly playing enjoyable pop rock and hard rock music. Bikini released several albums and made several successful tours. They finally achieved stardom in 1988 with the album "Ha volna még időm...".
The band continued to release successful albums in the early 1990s. In 1992 at the peak of their career, they disbanded. They were reunited in 1997 after a five year absence from the music world. In 2009, they released a best-of double album, with all of their greatest hits re-recorded with the current line-up. Currently, they're preparing for the next album - besides touring extensively in Hungary and the Hungarian-populated regions in the neighboring countries. This concert is called to show their newest album.

Current lineup: Lajos D. Nagy (vocals); Péter Lukács (guitars); Alajos Németh (bass); Szabolcs Bördén (keyboards); Dénes Markovics (saxophone, keyboards); Viktor Mihalik (drums).

The concert starts at 8 p.m., entrance fee 400,- Forint (1,5 Euro)

Zöld Pardon (“Green Pardon”), or simply ZP, is an outside pleasure-ground near the Buda bridgehead of the Petőfi Bridge.

WAMP design fair today at Erzsébet tér

It’s a community event taking place once or more than once a month in the hub of Budapest where emerging Hungarian designers showcase their works. A place where design meets urban hungarians, tourists and ex pats. It is also a meeting place for creative and trend setter young people. WAMP opens up to the world once a year, and invites the greatest talents and design professionals from around the globe to showcase their work  

and talent in Budapest.

VAJDAHUNYADVÁR SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011

 

HUF 3500 (€15) July 18, Monday 8.30 pm

Rain check day: July 19, 8.30 pm

Budapest Klezmer Band
Artistic director: Ferenc Jávori
Guest: Lilla Polyák – voice


Traditional and contemporary klezmer music, extracts from musicals, arrangements

Klezmer (Yiddish כליזמר or קלעזמער, pl כליזמר ,כליזמרים, from Hebrew כלי זמר) is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Although the genre has its origins in Eastern Europe, the particular form nowadays known as klezmer developed in the United States in the milieu of Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants who arrived there between 1880 and 1924.

The term klezmer comes from a combination of Hebrew words: kley, meaning "a useful or prepared instrument, tool, or utensil" and zemer, meaning "to make music"; leading to k'li zemer כְּלִי זֶמֶר, literally "vessels of song" = "musical instrument"), later it was also called as Freilech music (Yiddish, literally "Happy music"). Klezmer is easily identifiable by its characteristic expressive melodies, reminiscent of the human voice, complete with laughing and weeping. This is not a coincidence; the style is meant to imitate khazone and paraliturgical singing. Lot of movies used the music as subject or background, one of the famoust ones:

Amazon-Roads to the Indians

14/07/2011 - 8/4/2012
  Museum of Etnography, Budapest

The exhibition opens on Thursday, today! at 17 o'clock. Curator Vilma Főzy.

The exhibition is the result of a cooperation between the Hungarian Natural History Museum and Greenpeace the theme of creation is made up of three units. The exhibition is based on the collection of Lajos Boglár, who used to be once a museum staff member and travelled in the 1960s and 70s around Amazonia searching the ancient forests and the traditional lifestyle. The exhibition called  to illustrate the fact that in the "Paradise" is only  to the environment well adapted, continuously on land working, small groups were able to survive.

The fact is that still nowadays there are calls that "untouched" population are discovered in the forest. The last famous picture is bellow.

Millenáris picnic

Every year the park offers different kind of open air programs, this year the picnic starts
on the 14th of July till 27th of August.
Everyday there is something happening in the park of the Millenaris: musicians, dancers, actors and handicraft workshops provide endless programmes for those who seek entertainment besides relaxing.

http://millenaris.hu/theatre-dance/