treehugger's blog
Misztral Fesztival
Over the weekend I went up to participate in the Misztral Festival in Nagymaros, a lovely little town along the Danube Bend, with a great view of Visegrad Castle on the other side. There is some great hiking up around Nagymaros, Kismaros, and Zebegeny, as well as a long cycle path along the Danube donated by the Dutch queen. Nagymaros became well-known in 1986 when it became the focal point for the first public demonstrations in still Communist Hungary. The demonstrations, though for the environment, were also used to promote democratic changes in the country – the Velvet Revolution in Hungary was born.Read more »
A Man Without A Country
A quote in Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s "A Man Without A Country" reminded me of an experience many years ago on a cycling trip from Budapest to Parkany (Sturovo) in Slovakia. It a great ride, about 25 km up the steepest hill in the Pilis Mountains, and 25km down into Esztergom. The beer gets cheaper and cheaper as you get closer to Slovakia. We usually managed 10 pints on the day, but always had to take the train back. The Maria Valeria bridge, destroyed in WWII, was a great place to dangle your legs and have a cold one hanging over the Danube with the Esztergom Basilica in the foreground. There used to be a lovely ferry to take you across, but the Slovaks and Hungarians finally got their act together, with EU money, and rebuilt the bridge in 2001. Until then, there had been a good cheap restaurant right in the middle of the bridge (no traffic to worry about for the previous 50 years). Read more »
Thanks for the reminder Tomi
As I have admitted already, I am a vegetarian, kind-of-sort-of off the wagon these days. Tomi the butcher at the Hunyadi ter Market does some great smoked turkey sausages (pulyka kolbasz), and I bought some yesterday. When I walked into the Richie ABC next to the bookstore, the old geezer at the register, another Tomi, started giving me shit that I had bought meat. Up until then, he had been giving me shit because I was a vegetarian.Read more »
Received a check
Maybe some of you have just received a check in the mail from the US Government. It is part of George W. Bush's 'Everything is Fine, Go Shopping!' stimulus package. Sounds eerily to me like Betty Friedan's 'sexual sell' her book, The Feminine Mystique. Everyone that filed taxes in the US last year is entitled to a 300-600 dollar check. After my initial shock and disbelief, I asked around where I could cash it because I have lived in Budapest for 18 years and have never tried to cash a US check, let alone one from the US Government.Read more »
Pilvax Party
Pilvax Magazine, an occassional review dedicated to writersworking in English in Central and Eastern Europe, just launched its 5th issue last night with a garden party at Kértem (Olof Palme Sétány 3) in Varosliget (City Park). All five issues are available at Treehugger Dan's (just the Csengery u. shop). To celebrate the issue, readings were done by writer Chad Faries, and poets Gábor G. Gyukics and Péter Péli. Chad and Gabor have both given a couple readings at Treehugger Dan's. Read more »
Summer on the Chain Bridge
On Saturday, a friend and I went to go check out the now annual Summer on the Chain Bridge (nyar a lanchidon) Fesztival held every weekend from June 23-August 12, when Budapest closes down one of its major bridges over the Danube and stuffs it full of food shacks and arts and crafts stands, and music stages at both ends. This year they have added some nice shaded cast-iron booths.Read more »
Bad Chemistry
My introduction to Our Stolen Future came about ten years ago at a sustainable packing conference when a young German woman sat down at our table for lunch and asked: “Did you know that male sperm counts have gone down 50 percent in the last 50 years?” I lost my appetite, but at least my interest in this topic was successfully piqued.Read more »
Gay Pride Parade
Always looking for something positive to say...I want to thank the right-wingers for attacking the Gay Pride Parade on Saturday. Until the police helpfully blocked off Csengery u. from traffic around 1pm, I had had virtually no business. But due to this action, approximately 30-40 people were trapped on my side of the fence. Between those that came and took shelter from the egg-tossers, and tourists that did not know what was going on and needed translation with the non-English-speaking police force, I finally started doing some brisk business on Saturday afternoon. Read more »
Captain Pedantic and the Scurvey Dogs
Kiss-Csapo Gergo, one of my former-band's earliest and most loyal supporters, just posted a bunch of our old tunes in mp3 format. Captain Pedantic and the Scurvey Dogs was fromed around 1992 and lasted for about 5 years, during which time we put out two albums. The original lineup included Nick Palmer (solo guitar), Logan (vocals, base), and myself (rhythm guitar). Logan was later replaced by Matt Craig (accordian, vocals), and we added Fifi (fiddle) and Sandor (drums).
Company registration paper
In Hungary's climate of insane bureaucracy, if anyone needs to get anything done officially like opening a bank account, one needs to have a copy of your company registration paper (cegkivonat) not older than 30 days.
