[lighthouse]

I read somewhere that Hungarians are very helpful people and when real life presents a situation where the famous Magyar hospitality plays a part what I read is all true. Once you begin avoiding the usual touristy stuff (theme bars, etc and the places that are pure commerce by nature) the genuine day to day can be very friendly and make you feel very welcome indeed.

Recommend a trip to Budapest? Yep definately, but leave all those semi-detached suburban mr James pretentions at home before you do.

[SIR****TMG]

Thanks..............

[celticsong22]

I'm Hungarian on my Mom's side. Good people! Thanks! I've never been to Budapest, but I understand it's a beautiful city. My mother told me that the city is separated into two parts, Buda, and Pest. Buda is the old, and Pest is the new. The Danube runs between them. (That's Pesht, for those who don't know, BTW! )

[Cheeseball81]

Very nice info, lighthouse

I'm Hungarian on my father's side.
Really don't know much about his family or anything about the country really.

I've read that Budapest is very peaceful and friendly.
I hope to visit someday!

[lighthouse]

Originally posted by Cheeseball81.............

"I've read that Budapest is very peaceful and friendly.
I hope to visit someday!"

Yeah, I was talking to some British yesterday and we all observed how much more peaceful and less threatening the streets are here than back in London - or even some of the small towns in the UK. They've obviously got some things a bit more worked out than we have - and good for them too!

Here's an awesomely simple money saving tip by the way. If you like natural yogurt (available here for as little as 29 HUF), take an early summer morning stroll along the bank of one of the most romantic rivers in the world - the Danube - call into a shop, buy one, find a quiet spot and enjoy a veiw drenched culture fest breakfast - and all for about 8 UK pence

[hotskates]

I don't know much about this country, but I just downloaded this cool picture today from an airshow near Budapest. If I ever make it there I'll be sure to try and catch an airshow while I'm there

[lighthouse]

Although this thought doesn't exactly give me overwhelming enthusiasm I'm back to the death camp (sorry) ******** (town) tomorrow. Ah well - my time here and what I managed to see and do with the very limited resources at my disposal was very enjoyable indeed. Not sure what there is to go back to in the UK - probably some very dull badly paid warehouse job (as lined up by the job centre no doubt) - but if this is the last interesting thing I ever do with my life than it was all entirely worth it!!!!

Budapest v Dull boring pseudo cultural inertiaville - ha no contest what so ever!!!!!

[Diamond Geez]

Hi, I had a few days in Budapest back in 97, absolutely recommend the city, we tried to avoid the touristy bits and did our own thing. Took a stroll around the market in Pest, rode the trams and underground, strolled around Buda etc. Fishermans Wharf is very beautiful as is St Matius church. Take a stroll along the Danube past the Parliament buildings and over the chain bridge linking the two halves of the city.

One word of warning, when I went there were PLENTY of pickpockets about, they operate in lots of places, beware of the crush when leaving St Matius church, there were several operting there, just like most large cities they thrive on unwary tourists.

Warnings over, go and enjoy yourselves, it is a most beautiful city, Take a stroll to Heroes square (the statues have gone) and down Erzibat Strasse (spelling) to find the beautiful marble cafe that looks like it would cost a fortune to take coffee and cake in but is actually reasonably priced.

Go and enjoy yourselves.
Happy holiday
Keith

[tohm]

I'm Hungarian on my Mom's side. Been to Budapest and all over Hungary. Love that place... I just wish I was 100% Hungarian!

[lighthouse]

There's a certain sponteneity about the place that I really liked..........and because the language is so different to any other European language (apart from Estonian and Finnish - interestingly) the sudden - "erm, does anyone here speak english?" appeal of a UK visitor can be really funny. Although a lot of the younger people (around 25 years old) do speak english so you will find someone to help do a bit of impromptu translation as and when.

Didn't get much chance to see a lot of the stuff that involved using transport to get to, or some sort of entry fee, for financial reasons but what you do manage to see - even on limited funds - is awesome. Just a wander around Buda (the old city) can be really fascinating. Loads of little basement shops, bars smaller than your living room, and the northern europe meets the balkans atmosphere of the street culture can be quite intense. The fact that it hasn't quite been totally sanitised by western influences (yet) makes for an interesting experience - and yes the occasional Dacia and Trabant still wheezes its way along the potholed ut/utcas/Ters, reminding you of the countries recent past. (saw one roadside Trabi being used as a greenhouse). Although there might be a speed limit in the inner city districts we would sit outside this tiny street side bar and watch some of the traffic zoom by rather like spectators at an eastern european equivalent of a daily monte carlo grand prix. There is a character of its own about Budapest and I'd recommend anyone do it - there was more to see and do within a 100 meter radius of where we were than anything I ever experienced before.

One thing that does take some getting used to is the currency.

If your native coinage is in the usual 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 denominations, suddenly paying 1200 Forints for a round of drinks or at the till of a supermarket can take you somewhat by surprise. Just think in terms of 350 Forints (£) or 240 (Euro or $) and you'll cope. ............Oh and now I'm back and broke in the UK does anyone wanna exchange about 350 HUF for a quid by the way? LOL

A temporary farewell to a city that I grew to love while I was there, and thanks to all the people who made me feel very welcome indeed (they'll know who they are).

[lighthouse]

Next stop Bucharest, maybe even Tirana (not joking either)! Why? Because - unless you established your fortune in the UK in the wretched 90s (and being 41) there really is no future in a country where everything is horribly expensive, the culture has become sclerotic and cynical, and life generally is completely unattainable.

In some of these countries you might not make your fortune but at least you'll have an interesting time of it! An eternal slow death existance as the permanent underclass here, or one where there is at least some scope for vitality. Budapest was like a culturally enriched London but without the unnecesarily hostile attitude that goes with it. No I don't like what the UK is turning into, and this country doesn't even have an excuse.

[lighthouse]

The other thing that was cool about this jaunt was that it's something I've been interested in for a long time. I didn't get my trip to what was then called Czechoslovakia just after the revolution - which would have been a life changing opportunity, professionally, culturally, intelectually, economically, socially and maybe even politically (still living with the ramifications of that one - I mean, doing music and creative stuff with Havel government assistance renders many things possible), but at least I got to see one of the places I interviewed a well known BBC journalist and read about while doing European studies in the mid-90s. Hungary is now more than just another 2 dimensional - on paper - abstraction and that's very important to someone interested in other cultures and societies. Poland presented a similar experience a few years earlier. You could call a culturally motivated trip to 1990 Czechoslovakia a fair exchange for some input at around that time, and would have made for a much more interesting 90s experience than the rather pointless one I eventually knew.

All of this makes me even more determined to be a bit more than just another tourist - although the opportunities in these countries now are nothing like they were in the very early 90s. London for someone in my position would be a complete waste of time, because there's nothing left at all there, but there might be some scope for making some sort of difference in places that don't take everything for granted in the rather smug and blase way that our capital has done in recent years. I might have English as my main language and a UK passport but my involvement in "the land where I was born" (whatever that means) doesn't really have much more significance than that really. Culturally it reeks of cliqueism and exclusivity these days and I'd be interested to know what the teams attending the 2012 Olympics are going to make of it when they get here.

[lighthouse]

Just think, being able to put on kosher and legitimate musical and cultural events without having to give good money to bad people (Mafia tax ), needing vast amounts of it to politick your way around corporateland , or having to grease the palms of the usual live music moguls like Bill Graham or Vince Power . Avoiding cynicism and having assistance from a new government that everyone wanted and welcomed so warmly the atmosphere of the time was overwhelming (Dubcek being rehabilitated after 21 years in the political wilderness). Pre-dating so much that happened in music since (not sure that a lot of that was particularly healthy for our cultural scene anyway)

Certainly makes you a bit more eligible too...................."So what do you do?" She asked. "Well - I occasionally go to Prague and Bratislava to help organise concerts, and we're working on getting a radio station together - along with a couple of clubs....and the human rights Czechoslovak rock and roll government help us out with what we need, which makes it really cool honest and democratic." He replied. A good basis for an interesting relationship and healthy time of it don't you reckon!

And I was 27 at the time!

[lighthouse]

Certainly makes for a much more exciting proposition than the anything the condescending likes of Alan McGee, Andy McDonald, Paul Conroy or the Evening session had to offer a few years later, and with some sort of a point to it a bit more significant than standing in some grotty venue foyer giving out leaflets promoting some 'indie' band. 15 years later I might well be doing something else but at least I'd have had something a bit more substantial to show for it than a roomfull of useless cardboard with some crappy bands fanclub details on and a portfolio of badly reimbursed local and regional radio tapes.

Not in it for the fame either, just a worthwhile experience that allows you to be a part of an epoch defining event of the 20th century. Now, I look at these muso types and just see the same old psuedo alternative NME posers. (and there's a publication with a much reduced readership these days too - not surprisingly). Camden Tahn is just a seedy dive with dodgy shops, and gutters full of fast food rubbish and hyperdermic needles regardless of what any music journo might want to make of it, and I'm afraid some of us just see it all for what it is.

Negative sentiments I know but my 90s UK experience was anything but good, and some of us were made to believe that it was gonna be soooo different I just spent 10 days in a city that has more culture in 10 minutes than the UK has had in 10 years.

[lighthouse]

Some of you probably now see why I don't like our music industry particularly, or the people who run it, perform in it or A&R for it..................bunch of A***holes.