I compiled this list a couple years ago, so please check if the shop is still open before going.  Consumers are right to be suspicious, for we hear about food contaminations and scandals virtually every day – why should Hungary be any different? The 100% organic standards are very strictly upheld and controlled in Hungary, and in some ways are even stricter than in the UK.Read more »

"In the play park across from your store after some serious swinging my daughter said she wanted to swing high enough to kick the trees, I joked that Treehugger Dan would come to tell her off and this started some serious discussion on the subject of treehuggers/treehugging.Read more »

Captain Pedantic and the Scurvy Dogs, the English folk band I helped found in 1991 (?) played the first Sziget Fesztival on the  main stage in 1993, back when it was called Diaksziget (Student Island), and long before it became the insanely huge event it is now.  Even in 1993 people were calling it the “Woodstock of the East.” I feel very uncomfortable in crowds, and have therefore avoided the Sziget for many years, with the exception of helping out at the Vedegylet’s Fair Trade tent.Read more »

All Budapest bridges have a bridgemaster that actually lives in the bridge or close to. Today I had the opportunity to meet Fazekas Janos, the third generation bridgemaster of the Lanchid/Chain Bridge. There are 4 flats built into the sides of the tunnel at Clark Adam Square that look out onto the bridge, and if one were to climb up the cables to the top of the bridge, one would find a door in one of the carved roses leading into a large two-story chamber. I could just imagine dancing up there under the fireworks on August 20th! Lanchid's design was a copy of  two bridges over the Thames, the Hammersmith Bridge in London, and the Marlowe Bridge (still standing), also designed by William Tierney Clark was full of interesting information that suprised even seasoned tour guides.Read more »

Guca Festival, Serbia riends and I went down to Serbia this weekend to attend the Guca Festival. Music like Goran Bregovic and Boban Markovic was performed both on stage and in small pubs and courtyards throughout the village. It is essentailly Balkan gypsy music played by a brass band, which Serbians consider their national music.Read more »

I tend to navigate by restaurant. If someone asks me where something is, I will say, it is next door or across from such-and-such restaurant.  Some of my favourite eateries, ones that I will go to the first thing I step off a train and make regular pilgrimage to, include:
In Amsterdam:Read more »

When my Swiss friend Claudio suggested we go to hear some Grawa Trance Music from Morocco at the Godor Klub, I had extreme reservations. When I hear the phrase “trance music” I think of Ibiza and all that horrible techno music associated with it. The fact that the band started an hour late did nothing to alleviate my misgivings.  Generally, if someone is 15 minutes late and does not contact me to tell me, I leave. Read more »

At Treehugger Dan’s we have several customers that are systematically reading through the Booker Prize winners and the Nebula Award winners and other book prizes. Before I started a bookstore, I had never heard of half of these, but it seems every 10th book has won something, be it a Whitbread, Orange, Edgar or Pulitzer. Here is what some of the major prizes mean:Read more »

The last few days have seen the death of the last nationwide reusable mineral water bottle in Hungary - the Margit Szigeti 1.5 liter. The mineral water company has been owned by Pepsi for many years, and considering how early they stopped reusable bottles for their other lines, it is amazing the mineral water held out for so long. What to do now? The answer is something that in the States I only ever found in my father's Edmund Scientific  catalogs - the low tech, retro, but cheap and efficient soda water bottle with reusable CO2 cartridges.Read more »

In the horrible heat of June, my electric fan died, so this week I took it over to this old woman near Arany Janos Metro. Greff Elektronika has been repairing my electronic goods for years - VCR, walkman, discman, dvd, electric razor, and now my fan. Although quickly diminishing in number, there are still quite a few small shops in Budapest, generally run by the elderly, that do necessary and quality repairs.Read more »