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Post by htmb on Nov 9, 2012 22:06:59 GMT
Bjd, your photos are wonderful. I'm glad you were able to find a solution to your problem. I plan to come back and spend some quality time looking through this thread. I'm absolutely fascinated by the ornate buildings.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2012 0:42:48 GMT
Enjoyed viewing your photos of Budapest, bjd. How long where you there for? Would you ever go back to visit again or was it just a one off thing?
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 10, 2012 2:41:12 GMT
Just love your pictures, Bjd. I started at the beginning & looked at everything again, partly because I'm studying how you composed pictures, with the goal of emulating you.
Those green roofs are wonderful, & I love the pic of the funiculars. The one of the musicians in that arched space is great & in many ways seems to typify how I envision Hungary.
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Post by nycgirl on Nov 10, 2012 4:58:32 GMT
That evening shot of Budapest is lovely. That market picture with the beautifully-lit vegetables is great, too.
The Museum of Decorative Arts has some exquisite details. I can see how the building alone makes it well worth a visit.
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Post by bjd on Nov 10, 2012 8:33:49 GMT
Thanks, everyone. The Museum of Decorative Arts is indeed a great building. It's one of the places on the list to visit in the guidebooks. I have the feeling that there was a huge building boom at the turn of the 20th century -- this was the time the Austro-Hungarian Empire felt very powerful. Fortunately it coincided with a period of interesting (to me at least) architecture and decoration.
Deyana -- we spent 4 full days there, arriving early Thursday afternoon and leaving on Monday afternoon. I would willingly go back, but there are so many other places to go that I don't know if and when I will.
It's funny that you envision Hungary as typified by the long-haired violinist, Bixa. My friend was surprised that there were so many blondes there -- she expected darker haired people, then realized she had been mixing it up with Romania.
I found many young women were really lovely and stylish. And the younger men generally had longish hair, rather than being really short-haired, which I have often seen in Central/Eastern Europe. Though because there were so many European tourists, it was sometimes difficult to tell who was Hungarian and who wasn't.
And don't be too impressed by the composition, Bixa. Many of those photos were just spur of the moment ones and have not been reframed or anything.
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Post by bjd on Nov 10, 2012 10:27:22 GMT
A few more random pictures: Inside the entrance of the Gellert Baths. These are the most famous although apparently not the most pleasant. We ended up not going to any. The famous "peacock doors" of the hotel Mich would like to stay in A river cruise. As you can see, the Danube is not blue A memorial to Jews who had been forced to jump into the water during WW2
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Post by bjd on Nov 10, 2012 10:35:20 GMT
On Andrassy Utca, one of the main streets of Budapest, the House of Terror museum. The portrait is that of Cardinal Mindszenty, an opponent of Communism and Stalinism. After being freed from prison in 1956, he lived in the US Embassy in Budapest for 15 years. He was allowed to leave Hungary in 1971 and died in exile. And a more contemporary vision on the same street Lots of statues and memorials to Franz Liszt everywhere. The Hungarian version of Franz/Francis/François is Ferenc, and they write the surname first And some clever decoration for more modern architecture
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Post by bjd on Nov 10, 2012 19:08:17 GMT
Along the Danube on a sunny day The corner of the main savings bank building On a pedestrian street with lots going on on a Saturday afternoon
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Post by bjd on Nov 10, 2012 19:19:32 GMT
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Post by bjd on Nov 10, 2012 20:05:20 GMT
Gulash soup On the Sunday afternoon, we went to see some sort of national folklore festival, but this guy was all I managed to see because of the crowds An example of the rather monumental style of architecture in Budapest. Luckily the building is decorated Another statue of Liszt And a rather odd statue. There was a plaque but in Hungarian. Street stall of flowers
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Post by Don Cuevas on Nov 10, 2012 20:32:51 GMT
" « Reply #18 Yesterday at 12:36pm » I just switched to ImageShack. Despite the instructions, I can only upload one image at a time, but at least it's smaller. We'll see how it goes." Check out Picasa Web Albums. I like it, overall. Nothing is flawless. By the way, those are really great pics!!
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Post by bjd on Nov 12, 2012 15:29:40 GMT
Finally got a message from Photobucket that they don't do Linux.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 12, 2012 20:46:06 GMT
Bjd, I sure wish my "spur of the moment" photos would come out as momentous as yours do!
Pooey on P'bckt! I once engaged in a lengthy correspondence with the boys there before they finally admitted that yes, there was a problem w/their service & I wasn't the only one who was suffering from it.
More fabulous views of Budapest ~~ thanks! I love the "piano bench". The memorial is perfect and tragic. I crave that bread next to the soup. Really, really appreciate your illuminating captions throughout & the chance to know this very vibrant-seeming city a little through your report.
But how cruel to taunt me with marzipan!
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Post by bjd on Nov 22, 2012 20:44:05 GMT
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Post by bjd on Nov 22, 2012 20:59:28 GMT
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Post by bjd on Nov 22, 2012 21:06:26 GMT
Soldiers outside the castle on Buda hill The Parliament seen from the castle hill (on a cloudy day) Roof detail of the Matthias Church
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Post by htmb on Nov 22, 2012 21:26:39 GMT
Bjd, your photos are wonderful. I love seeing all the detail, and the picture of the parliament building is exquisite. I swear, the face near the bottom left of #43 looks just like one carved in wood inside an old building on the University of Florida campus.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2012 21:35:24 GMT
The Parliament has always been (as far as I'm concerned) the most amazingly harmonious building in Budapest. More photos for me to dig up some day....
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2012 0:17:36 GMT
The shot of Budapest Castle and the Danube is quite outstanding.
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Post by bjd on Nov 23, 2012 8:47:03 GMT
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Post by bjd on Nov 23, 2012 8:54:10 GMT
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Post by bjd on Nov 24, 2012 19:08:48 GMT
Just bumping this thread up because I added a few more pictures.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2012 6:50:19 GMT
Yes, we're still looking at them with great interest!
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Post by tod2 on Nov 25, 2012 7:58:26 GMT
bjd - What an interesting city! I can see myself having a good visit there but have never even thought about Budapest until I saw your wonderful photos Please can you give me an outline of your journey there: Transport,( from where to where), hotel, your own arrangements or Travel Agent deal, etc. Thanks.
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Post by bjd on Nov 25, 2012 10:05:45 GMT
Tod, we flew Toulouse-Brussels-Budapest because I couldn't find direct flights for the right dates. (I actually found a great charter flight into Budapest and out of Prague for a week, but my friend couldn't take that much time off work.)
I always make my own arrangements and found a large room with kitchen facilities + bathroom + breakfast at a university residence for visiting professors! But it's open to the public if they have rooms and they did. I found it on booking.com. At first I was worried that it was a bit far from the centre, but in fact, it was about a 10-15 minute walk to the Central Market.
On the spot we walked, had a small guidebook to find out the main attractions, and got a good map from the tourist office. We also went on a half-day trip to Szentendre, not far from Budapest by commuter train+bus or you can also go by boat. I could post separate pictures of that place.
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Post by tod2 on Nov 25, 2012 13:28:05 GMT
Many thanks bjd! To be a pest, can you tell me what 'direct flight' could have been had you the right dates? If you were flying was it because train travel was not an option?
All your photos are of great interest but have to add my admiration for the Parliament building which definitely reflects a certain eastern slant on the London Houses of Parliament.
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Post by mossie on Nov 25, 2012 13:54:00 GMT
I believe that the Budapest Parliament Building was inspired by our Houses of Parliament. Both built in the Victorian Gothic style. They don't make them like that any more More's the pity.
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Post by bjd on Nov 25, 2012 14:32:11 GMT
Tod -- Toulouse is not a very good hub for flights, so what I meant by a direct flight would probably have been some sort of charter for a week. And since we went in September, the seasonal holiday flights were already finished.
No, train travel was not an option for a 5-day holiday! As it was, our flight out of Toulouse was at 6:30 am so we left home before 5. Got to Budapest airport around 1pm, had to get into town, find the hotel, so didn't hit the streets to walk around until about 3:30 or 4. God knows how long it would have taken by train.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2012 7:22:33 GMT
Just out of curiosity, I looked on the SNCF site to see what they proposed for that route, and it takes 25 hours! ---> Toulouse to Paris Montparnasse, change station to Paris Est for the slow night train to Munich, and then Munich-Budapest direct but in 7 hours. All this with fares starting at 213.00€....
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Post by bjd on Nov 26, 2012 8:16:00 GMT
Not to mention how long it would take to recover from a lousy night's sleep in the train and jusy sitting for so long.
I think we paid 160€ return for the flights and total flight time was less than 4 hours. The rest was poking around in Brussels airport, going through security, etc. On the way home, we had 5 hours layover so went into Brussels for a walk and something to eat.
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