Month: November 2008

This morning we had some downtime on the server hosting our website… Quite boring, but fortunately it only lasted for some hours. Now we are back in business again, and feeling better than ever 🙂 Yesterday we reported that the christmas markets are on the move, and they really are. Today walking on the Vörörsmarty Square the small “houses” are almost finished, the lights are arranged, and now they just need to finish their last preparations before the grand opening this Friday.

While waiting, enjoy the Christmas version of the Hungarian Parliament below.

Many people from Budapest and from abroad are waiting for the Christmas market in Budapest to open. This Friday is the opening day, and it is already possible to see the people preparing for the Christmas markets around in the city (see picture on the right). Normally the Vörösmarty Square looks as on the picture below, but in a few days it will look as a big square, with an awesome Christmas market. Read more about the Christmas market in Budapest.

What is the best thing to start with on a shiny Saturday morning in Budapest? Obviously you would take a walk with your family on the Margaret-island, walk your dog in the neighbourhood or you would have a morning coffee with your friends in a pleasant café, watching as the world goes by. However, until December 7th there is yet another great opportunity to find a good programme in the downtown.

If you are interested in history and culture, you might already have guessed. Or not yet? Well, Heroes’ square is the place to be! The Museum of Fine Arts has organized a fabulous exhibition once again: Pharaonic Renaissance. For a price of 9€ (2200 HUF) you will get a small piece of the ancient Egypt. I am saying small because we do not have to be experts to tell that Egypt is full of treasures, as the world of pharaohs has got so much to offer that our mind cannot even comprehend it.

Coffins, obelisks, jugs, statues and idols, even a mummy and lots of other well-preserved and valuable artifacts have been gathered in one collection from famous museums such as the British Museum and the Louvre, just to mention a few, nevertheless some of these artifacts are the very own of the Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition is organized in a chronological order, starting with the oldest dynasties of Egypt and concludes with the period after the Persian occupation, when once again and for the last time in their history, the renaissance of the pharaohs had come. In a scientific context the peak of the exhibition is the Stone of Palermo on which we can see an ancient list of the dynasties that had ruled over Egypt during thousands of years.

Throughout our visit we will receive a perspective of the olden days, the Egyptian way of daily life, political and religious thinking and culture but if this is still not enough, the museum building itself is already worth a visit, whereas the museum offers a range of group activities during opening hours, e.g. dancing, painting, etc.. But if you are still mesmerized by the smell of morning coffee in your mind, the museum’s got it as well.

This picture was made a couple of weeks ago, and here you can see three bridges. The first one is the Margaret Bridge, followed by the Margaret Island. Then comes the Arpad Bridge, and then comes the newcomer, the Megyeri Bridge. To see it you need to open the picture in big resolution (press the picture to do so), and then you can see in the background of the picture the Megyeri bridge, trying to lead people around Budapest without having to enter the inner city.

It has always been so that if you want to go from east to west or south to north in Hungary, you have to drive through the center of Budapest. To change this (which we would all be happy about) they are trying to build a new highway called the M0 that will lead the traffic around Budapest instead of into Budapest. We are still not completely there, but we are getting closer!

Bridges of Budapest

Last week we finally expanded our register of activities in Budapest with the circus and the amusement park in Budapest. Yesterday then I read the news that the amusement park in Budapest is going to move in 2009, but it in still not clear to where. Budapest Zoo will take over the area now used by the amusement park, and though the very “old” and “unomveable” attractions will remain, everything else will be removed to the new location of the funpark.

But with some attractions remaining the zoo will became an even greater hit for the families, and if it is now possible to use 2-3 hours there without a problem… what will the future bring?

By the way… do you know what can be seen on the picture on the right? That is the “Great Rock” from the Budapest Zoo, an artifical rock, around 100 years old!