I have been hearing about the architectural beauty of the Wekerle Housing Estate for years but somehow never got out there. Last week I noticed an ad on a friend's Facebook page for a festival at Wekerle, and since we wanted to visit new parents Akos and Nori in the area anyway, we decided to make a cycle trip out of it. "The Wekerle estate (Hungarian: Wekerletelep) is a part of Budapest's XIX. district (known as Kispest). Kispest, formerly a suburb was administratively attached to Budapest in 1950 along with several other settlements of Greater Budapest. Wekerle estate was named after Sándor Wekerle, then Hungarian prime minister, who supported the idea of building comfortable, human-scale housing estates for government employees, and was instrumental in launching the project of creating a garden city habitat." There was a cycle path most of the way, but once we hit the 19^th district we got all turned around because I wrote down a right-hand turn when it should have been a left-hand turn. The ride itself was beautiful, with a cycle path most of the way passing through or by parks we had never heard of before, such as the Tchaikovsky Park.

Anyway, we visited Akos and Nori and the new baby, tried some strawberry palinka (very nice), and then headed to Wekerle which is very near to the Europark shopping centre. The architecture is indeed beautiful, but a better look around the 1000+ houses in the estate will have to wait. We found easy parking for the bikes and headed into the festival along the green route past info stands on community gardening, environmentally-friendly insulation, and the Hungarian Cycling Association straight for the food. A local brewery from Fót had a number of interesting beers on offer, such as orange-honey-ginger, but we did not try them for the simple reason that we would have had to buy a glass for 450 huf. This was not the brewery's fault. A wine glass was 600 huf. From an environmental standpoint I understand completely that this is an excellent way to prevent the tons of waste from disposable cups. However, the cost of the glasses was exorbitant. I would have been happy to pack my own glass if I had known ahead, and I am sure many of the visitors would have felt the same way. The two-day programme saw music, dance and theatre performances on the big stage. We stopped to watch the Crazy Cat and the Blue Moons, a rockabilly band based in Wekerle. These guys seem to have quite a following. There were at least 5 greasers and their girlfriends more than competently cutting a rug. The only thing missing was poodle skirts and switchblades. While a Hungarian accent was prominent, the singing, music and playing talent made for a great vibe and had everyone moving on their feet. On the way back, Kata soon developed a flat tire. We hopscotched our way from gas station to gas station on Ulloi Ut, pumping up the tire temporarily as best we could. Along the way we passed a closed bike store, Speed Bike or something, with an inner tube vending machine outside on the wall with inner tubes of all sizes. Unfortunately, we did not have the 1200 HUF in change, but it was a great and useful idea we wish we could have taken advantage of.