My life in Budapest: part 0

Today I just realized that I'm running this blog since the beginning of my life in Budapest and I haven't ever written about...MY LIFE IN BUDAPEST! Never too late! I'll work on a series of post: in each one a picture and a short description of an important place or event.

The Budapest Airport Ferihegy 1 in September  9th 2008: my very first day in Budapest

Here you can see my first picture in Budapest: it was September 9th 2008, the beginning of my Erasmus year in Budapest. Many things have changed since that day, even the name of the Budapest Airport! It was called Ferihegy, as you can see in my old picture. In 2011, the Hungarian government elected in 2010, renamed it after the musician Lisz Ferenc.

Hard Rock Café is set to open in Florence and in Budapest

Hard Rock Café, the popular chain of music-pub s, is going to open next July in Florence (see here) and it will hold its Hungarian debut inside the Váci1 Shopping Emporium, in the downtown of Budapest very soon, but the period is still uncertain. Hard Rock Cafe, is nor a coffeehouse and nor a pub. It`s an exclusive kind of pub-restaurant dedicated to rock music. A status symbol for tourists and music lovers from all over the world. Two openings in two cities full of tourist and culture, such as Florence and Budapest are, are a huge success for the company. In Florence, the Hard Rock Café is in the place of the former cinema Gambrinus. This increase the responsibility of the management of the Hard Rock. The Gambrinus, in fact, was a very important part of Florentine cultural life. Here important film festivals gathered movie stars from all over the world. The place was very elegant, but with prices affordable for everybody. A kind of must for hold-fashioned (and smart) fiancees, very appreciated by women, who were allowed to wear theirs elegant dresses even not to go to a (very expensive in Florence) theater.

If you have been walking in Florence'a downtown in the last 3 years, you may have seen the label “Cinema Gambrinus” in Piazza della Repubblica, on the corner, close to the Edison bookshop. The cinema was closed and empty, but full of history. When I was living in Florence, walking every morning by the former cinema I could noticed the nostalgia it in the eyes of old madams who must have been there in their In the past. I watched some essay movies there and I have a pleasant feeling when I think about that place. Once I also met Alessandra Martinez, an Italian actress who is well known for a popular film saga of the Nineties called Fantaghirò. I`m quite nostalgic, I prefer when old things stay in their (former) place. One of the beauties of Florence is that you can easily find ancient details in the city center, as name of places that are closed since ages. I wished that the Gambrinus was going to be one of them. On the other side, I love rock music and I`m definitely happy to see an Hard Rock Cafe in Florence. Anyway, I can`t help but wander why could n`t they choose a place that won`t desecrate any memory.

In Budapest, the construction of the building were followed by Orco Property Group and completed last month, in the heart of Hungarian capital, close to Vörösmarty tér, along the pedestrian street Vaci utca. Inside the mall Vaci1 Shopping Center, opened in October 2010, Hard Rock Cafe will occupy 1,100 square meters located on the first floor of the building.



The Hard Rock Café was born 40 years ago (in 1971) in London and are now present in the capital cities and major centers in over 50 countries worldwide. Their business does not bind only to the beauty of local meeting places to eat and drink surrounded by memorabilia of great musicians and singers from the international rock scene and the various countries. The franchise has developed a line of clothing and accessories out of the ordinary happened, so strong as to require the construction of a shop inside the Café. In Italy, the chain has already opened two stores: one in Rome and one in Venice.

The consumism of those who doesn`t buy

The wealthy countries were crowded with shops, there is insufficient space to open new ones. The Goddess of Waste and Consumption began to consider ways of solution to the state of stalemate that threatened to end the consumer population, its devout believers. Create a large underground market? Too laborious, not to mention that because if humans did not live above the earth's crust, would have problems with claustrophobia. Or afraid of the dark. For similar reasons he dismissed the idea of ​​a system of submerged malls. For a good week working hard on a proposed office blocks on platforms to sprout from the seas, not too far from shore. From his research, however, it emerged that the land liked places convenient and fast, easy to reach. Her basket was already full of papers when he was enlightened. Could intervene in the course of history, so that the inventor of the Internet to develop his intuition with the sole intent to sell. Thus arose a second market, called "virtual". Convenient, fast, cost-effective. In addition it was also potentially infinite, so the goddess of the waste could also get to sit quiet, he would no longer have to invent anything. He was wrong. After a few years, a new obstacle emerged that shook the foundations of consumerism. The goods on sale there, but there were too few people able to buy it. After looking puzzled, our Goddess understand that if the problem are the prices and consumer assets, enough to eliminate costs. Internet, the largest market in the world, begins to give away the goods. Besides, now you do not buy more elaborate objects. Who has time to dust the knickknacks? In his free time is better to listen to music downloaded from the net or watch a movie streaming. Or why not use a program at no cost to change your own photos? And here is that consumerism rises, change hair, flowers. Is becoming more beautiful and attractive, slim as it is fashionable in our years. Infects everyone. Prey to the unbridled need for information, the Internet looking for new challenges every day without even getting out of bed. Sometimes a chat on the Internet that is more than an afternoon of shopping, so the jeans will also find them on E-bay! Consumerism endemic does not spare even his own opponents, since its meaning has expanded. That old fox of the Goddess of waste - please do not tell her that I called her in this way (old), but the years pass for everyone! - Thought, in fact, make it elastic. Now I do not need to go in a fast-food American or loot shops for clothes are becoming consumers, because it consumes everything. Without love, almost anything. Have you tons of unread books and are you going one on buying new ones? Do you often read an article and move on to another before than finishing the previous one? Do you do the same with Youtube videos? You are a consumer.

Interview: Tópark, the best project of the world. A small Munich in Budapest

Original article:
Intervista: il Tópark, il miglior progetto del mondo | ECONOMIA.HU - The online magazine of ITL Group - Notizie economiche da Budapest e Ungheria

Click here to see my: short pieces of Hungary from Budapest

I'm not writing in my blog for ages right now, and it's a shame or a pity or maybe just a signal that summer finally arrived in Hungary! Yes! It's not hot, just pleasantly warm and cool during the night. I would like to stay always up, to enjoy and discover everything. Anyway...I also like dreaming all those beautiful thing, so now I'm going to meet Morpheus (yes, he's everywhere!). I'll leave you with a special gift. A top 5 of Hungarian peculiarities observed by me. I wrote them in a sunny Sunday some weeks ago, in order to participate to a contest. They judged them well and now they are published (in three languages: Italian, English and German)! Now I don't regret that Sunday at home! ;) Click on the title to reach the original page and to discover Néo, an interesting brand new on-line magazine to get in touch with cities and stories uncovered by mass media. Maybe you like writing too...Good night!
1. "Wine plus"
Hungarians love mixtures. One flavour is not enough; it has to be enriched, combined and mixed up so that it gets lost among other flavours. Take, for example, alcohol. Young Hungarians love sweet things and often drink Coca Cola mixed with wine or beer and fruit syrups. This creation is particularly beloved of the girls, but men are often quite partial to it as well. Young Hungarians have also acquired a taste for fizzy wine - called Champagne here - once it has been stirred for a while with a straw. The first time I saw this habit was in a club, where two girlfriends recommended that I do the same in order to get rid of the bubbles and make it lighter on the stomach. I thought about the fact that, even though Hungary contains vast areas of vineyards, the young people prefer alcoholic drinks other than wine, such as the locally distilled concoctions Palinka and Unicum. These are excellent products, among the best in the world. It must be because of this strong local link that these and other distillations or liquors have the honour of being drunk straight rather than diluted by the girls and boys.

2. House parties
In the film "La boum" ("The Party", 1980), the characters meet at a house party. While in Italy, America and elsewhere, parties at home were fashionable until a couple of generations ago, here in Hungary we are still riding the crest of that wave: twenty-fifth birthday parties that start at four in the afternoon and finish around eleven; Saturday nights spend drinking with twenty other people, crammed into a tiny room; evenings with the girls trying to imitate the American television series of the moment. The rules are simple. Bring a bottle of wine, claim it is the best wine in Hungary - at every party at least five different vineyards are honoured in this way - and then kick off your shoes, sit down and start drinking. Once at a birthday I asked for water and caused general hilarity, only saving myself by explaining that at that moment I was thirsty but afterwards that I would be happy to sample something stronger. In the course of the evening, you end up eating generally uncomplicated dishes in no particular order: savoury aperitif biscuits, toast, snacks, chips and desserts, all eaten while chatting and drinking. Around midnight it's time to call a taxi and go dancing until morning.
(Picture of one very nice house party. The girl in the middle, Henrietta, cooked for us bruschetta with tomatoes, pasta (fusilli) and offered us a delicious Hungarian cake with raspberries. I've learnt a lot that evening, since all the girls where so nice to speak with me despite of my poor Hungarian. I hope to never forget evening like that!)
3. A woman's touch
Hungarian women are very beautiful and are very careful of of their appearance. One aspect that always attracts the attention of visitors to Budapest is their nails. The Hungarian manicure is like an operation of self-renewal. They wear their nails at least two or three centimetres long, generally fake, varnished with brightly-coloured nail polish and embellished with all sorts of decorations, from simple spots to rhinestone polka dots. The most recent fashion, launched in 2009, is that of pointed nails. It's an extreme choice, as I am aware following continual observation, which renders human contact dangerous and the simplest of practical operations, such as holding onto a handle in the tram, impossible. But one must suffer for beauty...

4. Turo-Rudi: A symbol of Hungarian childhood
It's called Turo-Rudi and it's a delicious snack that can only be found in Hungary, a status symbol for the modern generations. It's something you keep in the fridge and it is made of Hungarian soft cheese covered in chocolate. Hungarian soft cheese or turo is a soft, coarse-grained cheese and is used in quite a different way from Italian ricotta. The Turo-Rudi is a cylinder about the size of a lipstick; there are natural or filled versions, and variations include cherry, apricot and hazelnut. It is a status symbol for the new generations, as well as something the whole country can boast about. There have been picturesque advertising campaigns and a song, but the Turo-Rudi is a product made by a number of different companies. The most important one produces only this. Characterized by unmistakeable red-dotted white packaging, it was voted the brand best loved by the Hungarians in 2010, surpassing even Coca Cola.

5. An oddity - Spring cleaning
One morning at the beginning of spring, I stepped out of my building and stumbled over a bedstead. I mentally blessed the nice man who had left it just in front of the entrance to the building, before realizing that the entire footpath had been invaded by furniture, books, clothes and all manner of knick-knacks. My curiosity was aroused and I explored the nearby streets, only to find the same phenomenon everywhere.

Around eight, the Hungarians started to arrive, in vans or on foot, pushing wheelbarrows. They rummaged, tried out, chose and brought things home. They picked out all sorts of things, even objects that I thought too worn-out to be useful for anything.

In the afternoon, excited by my discovery, I asked a Hungarian colleague about it and disovered that I had found myself in the middle of a legal, organized custom called Lomtalanitás ("clean-out"). Lomtalanitás happens between March and October, one district at a time, according to an established calendar.

Budapest is divided into 23 districts, large areas run by the local administration, which sends letters to inform residents and announce the annual Lomtalanitás dates. One weekend per year, each area is filled with anything people want to get rid of, which remains available to passers-by for over 24 hours. During the day, it's necessary to walk carefully to avoid the people busy searching in the piles of objects. Cars have to stop so that they do not interrupt discussions and swaps that have begun in the course of this community operation. For a few hours, the distance between the rich and the homeless disappears, in that moment in which even actors and wealthy tourists deign to handle the "goods". By now it's common knowledge that, a few years ago, the French actress Catherine Deneuve was sighted bargaining for a couple of valuable chairs in front of the Pest Opera theatre. In some parts of the city, however, the custom has become connected with brawls and illegal buying and selling, however strange it may seem to make a business out of rubbish. In reality, people throw out anything they don't need, including books, ornaments and frames, to the delight of treasure hunters, but also of criminals ready to pass off old junk for art. The remains, usually damaged bits of furniture, are taken away before dawn of the next day by the urban cleaning lorries. The street cleaners accompany them so that, by eight on Sunday morning, the streets are clean and clear again. It's a fantastic recycling system, simple and economical. This year I found a stuffed dog. I named him Rubbish.

In the picture: Rubbish, comfortably established in my bedroom, with Fulvio (on the extreme left) the Traveller Panda, surrounded by my Erasmusfriends' candles (an unforgettable present).

Interview with Ekaterina Naumenko, photographer in Budapest

The National Holiday of Italian Republic

The special Homepage made by Google.it in 2010 celebrating the anniversary of our Republic. These airplanes are called "Frecce Tricolori" (Tricolour Arrows). They`re the official Italian acrobatic team. Today, in Rome, they will animate the parade for the 2nd of June. Meanwhile they are flying, their planes leave furrows in three colors: green, white and red.

This year, they`re going to celebrate their 50th birthday.
The Italian Republic, instead, is 54 years old.

Ps: The one that is in force nowadays is not actually still the First Republic, but the Second Republic. In 1992 our first Republic, established in 1946, collapsed for the effects of a big political scandal called "Tangentopoli" (I can try to translate it in "City of bribes"), discovered by the operation "Mani Pulite" (litterally "Clean Hands").

In Italy today is holiday. In Hungary we are working, of course, but the Italian Embassy organized a special event for this evening, close to the Buda Castle!