Last Sunday, September 7th, a new record was beaten in Budapest. Never before has it been that warm on that date. The warmest temperature was measured in Szeged, and there the temperature reached 37.6C or 99.68oF.
Since then it has become a little bit colder, but during daytime you can still experience very nice weather if you come to Budapest.
Coldplay have no.1 selling album in 36 countries and soon they will be present in Budapest. If you have not bought your ticket yet, make sure to do it now. Read more about the Coldplay concert.
Concerts and programs in Budapest.
Press release from EMI:
Coldplay’s album Viva La Vida has to date been the No.1 selling album in 36 countries around the world, including in the US, where it held the top spot for two weeks, and in the UK where the album has been No.1 for the last four weeks. Coldplay’s previous album, the 10 million-selling X&Y, reached No.1 in 32 countries in 2005.
In a number of countries, including the UK, France, Germany and Japan, first week sales of Viva La Vida exceeded those of X&Y, and Viva La Vida has already been certified gold or platinum in 31 countries including platinum in the USA, Germany and Australia and double platinum in the UK and Canada.
In many countries Viva La Vida held the top spot on the album chart in its second week, including in the USA, U.K., Australia, Canada, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand.
Viva La Vida set the record for the highest first week album sales ever on the iTunes Store worldwide, in addition to being the biggest album pre-order in iTunes’ history. In the US, 288,000 week one sales were digital downloads, the biggest ever first week sales tally for a digital album, and with 394,000 digital albums sold in the first three weeks, Viva La Vida is the all time best selling digital album in the States. US over the counter sales for Viva La Vida across all formats have now exceeded 1.1 million according to Nielsen SoundScan.
In the U.K. Viva La Vida is the fastest-selling album of the year with over the counter sales of more than 600,000 since its release on 12 June, while in Germany the album is already the biggest selling release of the year as well as the fastest.
In these days a new season of Megasztár (Idol) has started in Hungary, and then lots of videos are always added to the internet for people around the world to enjoy them. Below you will find two funny videos (one of them is a couple of years old though), and we hope they will bring a smile on your face as you see them.
Siegmund Salzmann, or Felix Salten as his name became later, was born in Budapest on the 6th of September 1869. He had to move to Austria after only three weeks, as the Austrians were providing full citizenship to the Jews since 1867.
But who is Felix Salten, or Siegmund Salzmann, and what is he known for? His most famous work is Bambi, which he wrote in 1923. Bambi was later translated to English in 1928 and sold to Sidney Franklin for $1,000 in 1933. Sideny Franklin later transferred the rights to Walt Disney Studios, and they released the film Bambi in 1942.
So, next time you see Bambi you have a reason to think about the city of Budapest, and the nation of Hungary!
Another famous Jew from Budapest
Another famous Jew that was born in Budapest was Theodore Herzl (born 1860), the leader of the Zionist movement. He and his family also moved to Vienna, approximately the same time as Felix Salten did.
When they lived in Budapest, they lived just next to the big synagogue in Dohány Utca.
If you like Budapest and if you like beautiful buildings this is for sure going to please you. If you have not been to Budapest, this is going to give you a taste of what is waiting for you. In this slideshow you will find a mix of pictures taken during daytime and nighttime, and also pictures taken throughout the entire year.
For other pictures, check out the Budapest by day and the Budapest by night slideshow.
Here you can find a very detailed map showing you the metro, bus, tram and HEV-lines of Budapest. For more information about the public transportation in Budapest, go here.
More maps:
Interactive Budapest Map
A simple Budapest Map
Click the map for a high resolution version
Every year the cinemas in Budapest arrange the Cinema Celebration. For four days you can watch every film for around 500 forints (to be exact, 490 forints), around 2 Euro. In 2008 they will repeat this event, and from September 25-28 you can join several hundred thousand people in Budapest and visit one of the cinemas.
For more information about the cinemas in the city, check out our cinema page where you can read about Palace Cinema, Corvin, Sugar Cinema, Cinema City Arena Plaza and so on.
The official Cinema Celebration page (only in Hungarian).
At TripAdvisors forum one of the most popular threads has been the one discussing the so called „shouty man on Castle Hill.” Today we managed to make a photo of this „famous” person. The first post in the forum had the topic “Shouty man on Castle hill”, and it said:
“Has anyone else experienced this rather strange man offering tours outside the funicular? He goes on and on about offering you a guided tour and becomes very agitated if you try and interupt him, and when you do have enough and walk away he shouts after you “you know nothing, you know less than nothing!“”
Since then lots of people have commented on the story, and he has become quite a legend.
During a guided tour today we managed to make a picture of him, though he only let us if he could be taken picture of together with the 4 ladies we were guiding. So, that is why the four ladies can be seen in the picture. We hope in the future to be able to speak to this person, and maybe bring even more information to the public about this interesting, shouty, person at the Castle Hill.
The “Shouty man” with four norwegian girls on guided tour
The Wine Festival is one of Central Europe’s most prestigious and popular trade events, as well as an all-art festival where every year tens of thousands of visitors experience wine tasting in cultured surroundings and get to know the wine makers and the arts and traditions associated with viniculture.
Opening times: on 10 and 11 September: 14:00-23:00, on 12-13-14 September: 10:00-23:00
The main event of the Wine Festival, the Wine Exhibition and Fair will be held for the eighth year in what is maybe Budapest’s most atmospheric setting, the Buda Castle District, listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO. The cream of Hungary’s wine producers will offer their most sumptuous wines for tasting at the Wine Festival. Alongside the home-grown nectars numerous foreign wines will be presented by noted wine traders. Gastronomy is an integral part of the Wine Festival and visitors will be able to find, amongst others, barbecues, stews cooked over an open fire, freshly baked savoury snacks, „töki pompos lángos”, a range of cheeses, including ewe, goat’s and cow’s cheese, wine snacks and other delicacies. Entertainment, dance and music will be provided by the high-quality performances on the Festival Stage.
Programmes:
Wine University
Location: The Centre of the Hungarian Culture Foundation (Buda Castle, 6. Szentháromság square)
Date: 8-10 September 2008, 16:00-19:00
Harvest Procession
Location: Buda Castle
Date: 13 September 2008
Harvest Festival
Location: Open-Air Ethnographical Museum (Skanzen Open Air Museum, Szentendre)
Date: 13-14 September 2008, 9:00-18:00
Gala concert
Location: MÜPA – Béla Bartók National Concert Hall
Date: Friday, 19 September 2008, 19.30 Tickets are available from the network of Concert & Média as well as online on www.jegyelado.hu .
Charity Wine Auction
Location: Military History Museum (Buda Castle, 2-4. Kapisztrán square)
Date: 18 September 2008
Photo exhibition
Location: Hungarian National Gallery, Building “A”
Date: 10-28 September 2008
Special guest region: Sicily
Further Information:
www.aborfesztival.hu
Source: Budapestinfo.hu
Would you like to see Björn Borg, Goran Ivanisevic, John McEnroe, Pat Cash, Sergi Bruguera, Guillermo Vilas, Henri Leconte and Tomas Muster play tennis against each other? If your answer is yes, you better order your plain ticket and come to Budapest between October 9th and October 12th.
The happening will take place in the Budapest Sportarena, and you can see the program for the event below. For tickets, go to Eventim.
Program:
October 9th 2008. Thursday:
Sergi Bruguera – Guillermo Vilas
Henri Leconte – Tomas Muster
Björn Borg – Goran Ivanisevic
John McEnroe – Pat Cash
October 10th 2008. Friday:
Henri Leconte – Guillermo Vilas
Tomas Muster – Sergi Bruguera
Björn Borg – John McEnroe
Goran Ivanisevic – Pat Cash
October 11th 2008. Saturday:
Tomas Muster – Guillermo Vilas
Björn Borg – Pat Cash
John McEnroe – Goran Ivanisevic
Henri Leconte – Sergi Bruguera
October 12th 2008. Sunday:
Play off #3 and #4
Doubles exhibition with Mansour Bahrami
Finals
