Flowers from Hunyadi Market

May Ramblings

The Praguest City that is not Prague

I remember the first days when Czech import beers started trickling into Hungary- a friend of a friend told us they would be having an event  at the Czech Centre where they might be having beers other than Pilsner Urquell. This propelled us into a frenzy, as little did we know that in a few years’ time Budapest would become pretty much the praguest city that is not Prague.

These days there is a Czech beer joint at every second corner in the central quarters, with a mindbending range of awesome (and cheap- that’s a hint to you, Belgians) beers, usually accompanied by some hearthy Central European food.  

Jaromir is the one closest to where I live, resulting in the natural fact that I’ve never been there. I have however successfully navigated my way to their summer  garden, which is tucked away in the back yard of one of my university’s dorms on Ajtósi Dürer sor, right across the Városliget.  The place has that old school charm that many establishments in the area, such as Pántlika and Kertem, tend to have: good food and drinks, friendly and laid back atmosphere and not so many loud tourists gurgling local beer.

Hangmás@ Nagy-Szín-Pad

Oh Lord! Not another talent show- well, it isn’t, it’s something a bit more exciting than that: 15 already (mostly) popular bands fight it out to make it to the main stage of this summer’s major Hungarian festivals, with the winner getting to open for none else but the magnificent Arctic Monkeys at this year’s VOLT. The TOP 5 will also headline the MR2-Petőfi stage on Sziget and the top 3 are planned to be exported to festivals abroad. To make everything even cooler, the events (semifinals and final) take place in that beloved staple of Budapest nightlife-Akvárium and the whole thing is beamed into outer space by Petőfi Radio and m2. And it’s also sponsored by „my” bank’s Junior account, which I was passionately sapping for money to spend on Sziget when I was younger and, I would say more restless, but penniles is the better word. So a bit of nostalgia there too.

And since the semifinals are taking place this week (May 20-22), here is the photo coverage of the band I’ll give my vote for, because they’re amazing as a live act- and I kind of think their style would be best matched to the Monkeys. Which should be a criteria, though I assume it won’t.

Soup! Pancakes! Finland!

After a rainy and mostly gloomy week, the sun was again shining on Saturday morning, which meant perfect weather for salmon soup and pancakes at the Finnish Embassy as part of the now traditional Restaurant Day event.

May It Rain

The Fifth Before the Storm

The fifth is probably Budapest's "shiniest" district- for that's where the tourists roam about most of the time. But when a storm is moving in they duck for cover and one can be pretty much alone in the very heart of the city.

Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra@Budapest Park

So here goes Emir being silly with a band.He's not much of a guitar player, that's for sure. He does however make up for what could be a rather fatal flaw, given that this is a concert after all, by being generally entertaining in his usual slightly over the top way. Occasionally one can get an eerie feeling that this is the musical version of Top Gear- middle aged men behaving like they never left high school, or never started it for that matter. But just as in Top Gear the cars are always brilliant, so are the other musicians in his band. And in case someone is still left unsatisfied, you can always wax philosophical on why on earth is the keyboard player wearing a judo outfit and what makes him about a million times happier than Pharrell.