Spring has sprung and storks have come

It's official - the spring has finally arrived in CEE as I saw the first pair of storks flying over the city this evening - no babes in slings suspended from their beaks though but they did provoke a certain degree of excitement from other poeple on the street as someone pointed them out

I think they were white storks although according to what I can find on the internet, it is not a bird native to Hungary so maybe they were just passing through on the way to Romania or somewhere else where they are native

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Stork

Someone else's work but worth showing

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Bathtime in Budapest

Thermal Baths are something that this city takes seriously - I think there are about 7 or 8 in the city and then god knows how many in rest of the country.

The baths that I went to were amazing - the baths in the city park, named after Count Istvan Szechenyi who was a key Hungarian statesman, are absolutely beautiful on both the inside and the outside and the setting next to the Budapest Zoo and in the City Park is pretty spectacular

The baths are world famous for their medicinal properties and consist of a number of different rooms with baths and saunas at different temperatures - for the more adventurous, there is the giant outside pool at 34 degrees in the winter and 30 degrees in the summer. Outside of the baths are massages, chiropractors and various other full medical treatments for those who want them - and an all day pass costs £10 - and some people take the full opportunity to stay in the baths for the duration of their ticket as I have seen people with picnics and books whiling away the time. Unfortunately, the bar next to the outside pool was closed as a cold beer would have just topped off the experience


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sz%C3%A9chenyi_Medicinal_Bath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istv%C3%A1n_Sz%C3%A9chenyi

Almost a private plane to Zagreb

Have just flown to Zagreb in what must be one of the smallest commercial airliners in the world - it was more like an executive taxi with only 6 passengers and believe me being buffeted by the wind bouncing off the hills around Zagreb as we came into land was not my idea of fun!!

This airline is so exclusive that I can't even find anything on the internet about it so how I will know if my return flight is cancelled or not, I have no idea!!

To the fallen of Ferencvaros

The 9th District played a pivotal role in the 1956 Uprising and there is still evidence of some of the street fighting that took place between the Revolutionaires and the Soviet/Hungarian Communist forces

In the square near the flat is a simple but rather poignant memorial to those people from Ferencvaros who lost their lives in the Uprising under a very pretty, although slightly battered mosaic of a saint on the outside wall of the church

Not sure what the full text reads but will ask someone for help to translate it when I get the chance

Robert Capa at the National Musuem

Robert Capa has come home - well, not quite but the Hungarian National Museum has launched a new exhibition showing the photographic genius of Capa and going there on the first morning it was open was probably not the best idea as it was absolutely heaving with people! There ae only about 30 actual photos on display but then supported by 5 large LCD screens with constantly scrolling images from the various conflicts he covered including the Spanish Civil War, WWII (The Blitz, Operations in Tunisia, Sicily, D-Day landings and the subsequent fighting), the initial conflicts in Vietnam, the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict and various other conflicts - all of which has assured his elevation to being one of the best, if not the best, war photographer the world has ever seen.

He didn't just take photos of death and destruction and also took some wonderful portraits of some of the golden artists of the 40s and 50s like Picasso, Matisse and Ingrid Bergman, who was also his lover for a couple of years - but then he left her - Lunatic!

He was killed aged 40 in 1954 whilst on assignment for TIME when he stepped on a landmine - it is left to the imagination what he might have achieved if he had lived longer.

His legacy lives on in numerous awards as well as Magnum Photos which he founded with Henri Cartier-Bresson, amongst others - the first photo agency for freelance photographers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Capa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson

A touch of the Spanish Alhambra in Budapest

For some reason, a couple of people who have designed buildings on onr of the main roads in Budapest seem to have been influenced by the Alhambra in Spain and this has influenced a couple of the buildings on some of the main roads in Budapest - including these 2 examples - one is a cinema and the yellow one is a bank (which might explain why some of the banks in Budapest might be in bankruptcy proceedings!)