Archive for April, 2007
Since 1st of May is Theme day in the DP family (are you preparing yourselves guys?):) I decided to post on 1st of May one day before. The local government of Budapest helped me, they have raised the flags in advance.
1st of May is the date that Hungary joined to the European Union in 2004 so that’s why you can see so many blue European flags on the Freedom (liberty) bridge.
But as we know originally 1st of May is for celebrating labour (for my dear American visitors: labor). In this part of the globe, this is a controversial celebration today. Before 1989 1st of May was one of the largest communist event in the calendar celebrating the working class as the leading force of the socialism. Usually they organized large marching parades on the main streets of the city. In my childhood, I also participated on events like these with my school and maybe its not trendy to say I’ve enjoyed them as a child. Everyone was on the streets. In Tatabánya where I grew up, the miners marched in their “uniform” and other guys working in the industry were in their cool dresses, and it was totally amazing for a little boy. I always tried to choose the blue flag to carry from the three possible options: the Hungarian national flag, the red communist flag, and the blue flag of peace. And when we arrived to the tribune, where gray haired or almost bald uncles were standing in old fashioned ugly eyeglasses, we had to wave to them following the instruction of our teachers. After a few minutes we arrived to the end of the wide road and aside trucks were waiting for us to collect the flags. And we got sausage with mustard and bread as present for that hard work.:)
Nowadays lot of people think here, that 1st of May is a communist event. But its not true. It comes from Chicago (Illionis, USA) and we remember (or it seems we don’t remember) the so called Haymarkert Riot of 1886. So I think we could continue our funny marching on 1st of May instead of labeling this event as something we have to forget about. The gray haired uncles will be other guys but does is it really makes difference?:) And I guess nowadays I would be more excited to look at marching nurses in their short white coat than about black miners, but the sausage would still be a fix element of the program:)
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about Celebrating 1st of May ... posted by Zsolt
wikipedia says:
The Szabadság Szobor or Liberty Statue (sometimes Freedom Statue) in Budapest, Hungary, was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary from Nazi forces during World War II. Its location upon Gellért Hill makes it a prominent feature of Budapest’s cityscape.
The existing 14 meter tall bronze statue stands atop a 26 meter pedestal and holds a palm branch. Several smaller statues are also present around the base, but the original monument consisted of several more that have since been removed from the site and relocated to Statue Park. The monument was designed by Zsigmond Kisfaludi Stróbl.
At the time of the monument’s construction, the Soviet liberation from Nazi forces event was considered a liberation — leading to the original inscription upon the memorial, which can be translated to read “Erected by the grateful Hungarian Nation in memory of the liberating Russian heroes.”
Over the following years, public sentiment toward the Soviets decreased to the point of revolution, which was attempted in 1956 and subsequently damaged some portions of the monument. After the 1989 transition from Communist rule to a more Democratic government, the inscription was modified to read (translated from Hungarian), “To the memory of all of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and success of Hungary.”
The roofs in the foreground belong to building of the Technical University of Budapest.
Ismeritek a legendát miszerint a Szabadság szobor eredetileg repülőgép propellert tartott a kezében Horthy Miklós fiának emlékére, aki pilótaként a háborúban esett el. No azt hiszem az kamu:)
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about Liberty Statue ... posted by Zsolt
Maybe the good weather has pull me as a magnet to the waters. Those fast ferries can take you to Vienna and back…which can be a great excursion. Leaving Budapest in the morning…riding this ship…spending the day in Vienna and back to Budapest in the evening.
First, the MAHART (the company running this ships) doesn’t have an English website (’good sense’ for business!) but I have checked the schedule. The departure is at 9:00am, and we will arrive at 15:20 in Vienna, and then return by bus…(who knows why by bus) at 19:00 and we will arrive in Budapest at 21:55. And the price is 89 Euro. Zannnie what do you think? Anyone wanna join?:)
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about At the Danube ... posted by Zsolt
Lomtalanítás is a typical event of big city life. There is a certain period when you can put everything you dont need anymore to the street and the local government of your district will collect all the used funitures, fridges, TV sets..etc. This photo I took in the VIII. district (the poorest area of Budapest) where the lomtalanítás has just started.
A whole industry is around this event. As soon as it starts a lot of strange cars or carriages appear and people collect everything they find useful or worth to sell before the local government’s trucks arrive. A city-life strategy for surviving poverty….
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about Lomtalanítás ... posted by Zsolt
What do you think, who will be the winner? Goooo TRAMWAY!!!
By the way..this photo is an evidence…showing that the earth is not flat! When it was a debate about it centuries ago, one of the arguments were that sailors see first only the top of the ships in the distance and it appeared only step by step on the horizont. Just like on this photo. First you can see the áramszedő only(help!! how to call that stuff on the top of the tramway in English?) and then the yellow surprise is coming:)
Vajon lenyomja a Combino a rendőrautót? Amúgy lenyomta…ahogy a mesében is a teknős győzött.
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about Race ... posted by Zsolt
This man on the photo is Gábor Demszky, the mayor of Budapest. Coincidentally, he stopped beside me on Sunday when I was taking photos of the Critical Mass demonstration. The man on the other photo was taken on the same day (MTI photo). He is László Sólyom, the president of Hungary. I like that these two guys took part, especially in this way. As you can see there was no body-guards, no suits, no large black cars. Actually Demszky had a very …”khm”…:) sport dress, which its a better choice than wearing a brand new NIKE or ADIDAS. The President looks like a grandpa here who just stepped out for buying some milk at the store:) That’s what makes a city friendly…And before you start to envy us..I have to admit that our political elite doesn’t act like this usually. But never too late to start:)
Demszky épp mellettem állt meg fotózni. Tetszett, hogy a köztársasági elnökkel kivonultak, ráadásul nem láttam sehol testőrőket meg egyéb kellékeket. A ruháik is inkább lepukkantak és ez igazán tetszik. Valahogy úgy szól a Critical Mass szlogenje “Bicikles minden hétköznap” (nem emlékszem fejből), hát ez a két Úr meg lehetne ilyen minden hétköznap.:)
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about Critical Mass again ... posted by Zsolt
Actually they are rather green. Maybe it was the air, maybe it was the river that made them blue. Three bridges are visible (almost covering each other)…Szabadság híd, Erzsébet híd and Lánchíd. Short Hungarian lesson for today.
Tegnap lemaradt a magyar szöveg, de ma már kanyarítok egyet. Míg vártam a biciklisekre kattintgattam a Petőfi hídról és néha magam is meglepődöm milyen különleges szögeből lehet a minden nap látott tájakat fotózni. Angolul nem ezt írtam, de nem is ígértem, hogy ugyanaz lesz szöveg. Elunnám magam:)
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about Blue hills ... posted by Zsolt
“Bike Every Workday!”
CRITICAL MASS BICYCLE DEMONSTRATION ON EARTH DAY 2007
(Sunday, 22 April) Budapest, Hungary
On the occasion of Earth Day 2007, Critical Mass Budapest is once again organising a large scale bicycle demonstration to raise awareness and bring the public’s attention to the mass demand for better conditions represented by bicyclists, who choose this environmentally friendly form of transport as an alternative to motor vehicles.
from: www.criticalmass.hu
And yesterday the mass was really impressive. I wanted to take great photos so I didnt join them at the starting point but I was waiting on the Petőfi bridge to have a great view of it. Actually I like this movement…they are very active fighting for more bycicle roads….And they are successful as I experienced on the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky street when I was there last time with my bike:)
You can see more photos here.
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about Critical Mass ... posted by Zsolt
This sculpture is such a playful one to me. It’s a miracle that it can be stabilized because looking at it brings me the feeling of motion. Just like he will fall out in the next moment:)
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about Let’s Play ... posted by Zsolt
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