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 »

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 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 »