beautiful buildings prt 3

This is the roof of the National Archive building in Buda - next to the Fisherman's Bastion and part of the UNESCO World Heritage area in the old city

Buda Barriers - some of the doorways and door handles in Buda old town - they are pretty impressive (even if it is a weird thing to post about!)

The commute to and from work isn't too bad either

sometimes, going to work can be a chore but the route that I am able to take never fails to cheer me up either on the way in or after a bad day - who can ask for more of a view when living in a city - here's a selection of some of the best shots I have been able to capture

It is also a fully working river with traffic from Bavaria all the way through the Balkan region and down to the Black Sea - with some very large barges ploughing back and forth

Toki Pompos (I think that's how its spelt)

This is some form of Hungarian pizza specially eaten around Christmas - lovely and recommended by the guys at the radio station!!

Beautiful buildings prt 2

This is the design and textile musuem on Ulloi utace (the airport road) and just 5 mins walk from the flat - apparently when someone asked the designer why he had made the roof so beautiful or ornate, he replied that even birds appreciate beauty. Bet he had never had a pigeon and a new car come face to face!!

Prague Visit

Just been in Prague for 36 hours - it was only supposed to be for 36 hours but the first plane we were on this morning got turned round after about 15 mins in the air as the de-icing system wasn't working and then we had to sit aorund for 4 hrs pretending to be happy to pay 135Kr for a beer which when we had been out in the city centre the night before had been 26Kr - airport inflation is pretty high in Prague obviously

Stayed in the most bizarre hotel last night - one that certainly helped to expand on the image of Prague as a gothic city - the photo attached is of what I found in my room when I checked in! Not what I would normally expect to find in a hotel room on a business trip but might insist that my room has one from now on!!

Rupert and I were invited to join the office Christmas party which we duly did - except for the first 45 mins, we were at the wrong party - right building, wrong floor which was a lightly odd - we had a suspicion we were in the wrong place as the others there didn't look much like the media types we had spent the day with but we figured we might just have been unfashionably early!! Anyway having made our excuses we got to the right one in the end - just in time for the team karaoke sessions which was the final activity in the office power league (football, darts, skating, curling, go karting etc) and when you see the head of finance and 3 other very senior buyers recreating some Czech equivalent of Boyzone then life in the office is never going to be the same again - very very amusing

Woke up this morning to find about 6 inches of snow on the balcony of the hotel and it didn't stop the whole time we were stuck in the airport - but get back to Budapest and there is not a cloud in the sky and certainly no sign of snow - can't explain that really although someone did try and tell me it was because of the mountains!!

Budapest Buildings are beautiful

The architecture in the city is really amazing and here are 2 buildings that I saw the other day and thought they were worth sharing

One is the main synagogue which is still in use today and is one of the largest in Europe - just off Museum Kurat

The other is the entrance to an office on Andrassy which is just mindblowingly detailed - pity that I couldn't get into the building itself as the hallway which I could just glimpse through the small window was wonderfully ornate and well worth checking out

I have got itno a terrible habit of walking around looking up to take in the buildings - only problem is that I am starting to lose counts of the numbers of grannies I have knockered over, dogs I have trodden on and pieces of street furniture I have walked into so might have to stop before I do myself a mischief!!

Merry Magyar Christmas

The Christmas markets have arrived and started to appear across the city - the main one being on Vorosmarty Ter, in the city centre and next to the top cafe in the city called Gerbeaud which is akin to having tea at the Ritz. There is a massive Christmas tree in the middle of the square and then everything happens around it

It is a great concept, with local food and drink to sample as you look at the various trade and craft stores that are there offering traditional
Hungarian clothes (some great hats), toys, Palinka (yuck), jewellery (complete with working blacksmiths) - the secret is to to buy a mug of Forallt Bor (mulled wine) which you pay a deposit on, or keep, and then to wander about having a look at what is available/on offer, stopping to get the mug refilled at relevant moments and then stuffing your face with barbecued meat, stuffed cabbage, Langlos, Turkey 'pizzas' and various other local delicacies.

Not great to get there in the middle of the afternoon as it is rammed with people - both Hungarians and tourists but definitely a must if you find yourself in the city at this time of year.

Possibly the most amusing thing on display was the 5 Street dance Santas - very, very good and clearly doing well out of the crowds with their display

Away from the market, the streets have started to get the Christmas lights turned on with the main boulevards wrapping the trees with sparkling lights which is pretty spectacular whilst Vaci Utca (Oxford Street equivalent) has some very tasteful lights - no Disney characters in sight!!

Shameless Self publicity

After going to yet another party - it is a hard life but someone has to do it - this time for the great local fortnightly 'whats on' title called Funzine - I was asked to go for an interview on one of the local radio stations that has an English language show called Legal Alien every Tuesday evening where they interview expats and find out what they do and what they think about Budapest and they wanted someone fresh off the boat to come and talk about first impressions of the city and never being one to hide my light under a bushel, I accepted the offer and gave my thoughts to a rapt, enchanced audience of Hungarians and certain interested parties listening over the internet in France and Bristol (thanks to my loyal fans - you know who you are!!)

Great expereince - I was expecting about 5 mins and was given about 45 mins interspersed with songs to have a chat with Mark and Jennifer about life in Hungary, Budapest and the rest of the world is like, what working here is like and why I came to Budapest.

After only 6 weeks, it was lucky that the interview/show was in English, otherwise it may have been a very short conversation - but there was mention that I may be asked to come back after a little longer time in the country to see whether my opinions have changed etc - especially after the winter!!

Thansk to Mark and Jennifer for the opportunity

Footie food

Having been invited to join Jim and Gordon for drinks on Friday evening last week, I suddenly found myself being asked to come a long to the football club dinner at a Serbian restaurant just near the Great Market - true to the typical serbian hospitality that I enjoyed several years ago in Belgrade, beers come until you leave or pass out - whichever comes first - no is not an option when the barman looks at you but managed to avoid too many of the slivovicas that were doing the rounds although did get roped into Palinka - I still do not get the fascination with this drink! The food was amazing - platters of pork, chicken, pickled vegs and potatoes all consumed with vast hunks of bread and spicy red pepper sauce - lovely.

On Sunday, I was required to repay the invitation and joined the team for a training session in Vasas Gym which has a great outdoor astro pitch - true to form, I looked like a fish, not only out of water but rather which had never seen water!! Someone through a ball at me to control on my chest and volley back so I caught it instead - at which point, Jim suggested that maybe people should only roll it along the ground to me instead - the shame and humiliation of the rugby boy.

The team are a really multi-national group - Brits, Irish, French, Iranian, Egyptian and Hungarian to name but a few - all living and working out here from artists and journalists to professional rabble rousers!

Will have to see if I am invited to attend again!

Magyar Mullets

The Mullet is a live and well in Hungary - and did I see a beauty the other night. In a bar called Casablanca, don't ask, the new boss thought it would be a laugh (and he needed a pee) but he has just spent 9 months in Moscow so anything resembling kitsch has an unhealthy draw for him. This place claims to be inspired by, and according to one newspaper review stuck on the wall, be a modern incarnation of, the bar in Casablanca, Rick's Cafe Americain - yeah right about as close to being like Rick's as McDonalds is to 5 star Michelin cusine!

The mullet and tasche combo playing the piano was truly amazing, as was the piano because it was in fact a little plinky electro keyboard not even an a western saloon sit up piano. It must have taken years to cultivate and did look like it had grown a human rather than the other way round - think Keegan playing for Hamburg, with a Jackie Charlton comb over and a tasche like some Latin American despot and you have something close to the resident pianist in Casablanca (Budapest) - Sam the Piano man he was not!

Around the walls there were photos of the owners and also the 3 volumes of his autobiography - it looked a ripping yarn. We figured he might have been a big star under communism but his star was know on the wane and the custom appeared to have been based on drunk, nostalgic Russians and 2 Brits, one of whom was bursting for a pee - the only reason we went in in the first place.

Having also been to have dinner at what we were told was the best curry house in Budapest, OK so the list can't be too long, and when I ordered something completely different to my companion and they looked so similar that the waiter couldn't tell them apart, we knew it was going to be a slightly odd evening anyway.

By all account, Hungary is also the capital of the European Porn industry so maybe the dodgy tasche and the incredible mullet can be found in all good adult stockists in Soho!

check out www.casablanca-club.hu/mainpage for a true taste!

when it was honking down with rain the other day and life in the office was a little tense...

I remembered this video on Youtube and it made me laugh and reminded me how amusing my job can be when other people who take it too seriously!





An awesome parody of A Few Good Men - remember We write ads or people die!

Saturday night with Monkey and the Vets

Having watched England get humped by the All Blacks, the logical thing to do was to carry share a drink or 2 with the Budapest Exiles - namely a certain gentleman called Monkey - he is a Hungarian prop about 1.5m in all 3 dimensions and as he decided I look like a prop, we have become drinking buddies even though he speaks about 3 words of English and my Hungarian is still not what it should be! Post match sessions could require a taxi on stand by for a quick get away every once in a while

Later on the evening, we found ourselves in Bar Instant with some of the other Exiles players who also happen to be Vets and their Vet friends - now here, language was a problem mainly as they were all Irish and had had rather a good afternoon of it - especially as England had lost. By all accounts, there is only one college in Ireland that offers veterinary science and it is very difficult to get into and also a little pricey so the sensible thing to do is come and study here as the course is in english at a fraction of a price - I thought I might meet some interesting expats here but didn't imagine that I would find a colony of Irish Doc Dolittles and James Herriots. As the evening got later, the accents got harder to understand and the potential usage of the horse tranquilisers got more bizarre

Unfortunately the rest of the weekend was a right off - due in part to a fragile constitution and also to the weather - it hadn't rained here for the first 4 weeks I had been here but it sure made up for it this weekend!!

whilst this on the other hand might be an option - a good old Trabbie

although given that they are made of compacted hardboard and paper then I am amazed that anyone thought leaving it in a snow drift was a good idea!

Fat boy with a scooter

Nope not my latest mode of transport although it is tempting but rather a amusing sculpture on the top of Vaci Utca which is on my walk to work in the mornings. He is staring into the sky with a rather quizzical look on his face and obviously looking for the pigeons who might just possibly use him for target practice.