A visit to the Parliament

Today we went to the Parliament because wanted to take some photo for our team. The weather was a bit depressing but I was happy because I always wanted to visit the Parliament. When we arrived we had to check in at the seventh gate where we got entry cards. We got a very kind tour guide who showed us the most exciting places in the Parliament, for example the main staircase, the dome hall where are the Holy Crown, the scepter, the sword and the orb can be seen. Then we visited the lounge in the southern wing and the Deputy Council Chamber where the MPs hold their meetings.

The tour took about 60 minutes and it was very exciting for me because I learned many things. :)

When rubbish really covers U...

Not far away from my home I noticed this house. For years it's been gradually filled with rubbish. Probably it's the neighbours' fault, they may throw their litter over the fence. But it comes back to them, beacause on sunny days they have to smell the stink of their own rubbish.

A homeless person turns up at the house from time to time and looks for things that can be useful for him.
This is really sad :(

Traffic jam problem

Yesterday we went to the cinema and fortunately I had my camera on me. Well, yeah... traffic jam. I think it's a serious problem for everybody.

Firstly, the 10-minute ride took 25 minutes and we missed the beginning of the film... Secondly, we could hardly breathe because of the exhaustion.  We should have used public transport, I guess. Yet, cars are more comfortable.

WAMP - Design Fair

On Sunday visited the WAMP .WAMP was founded in 2006 to bring the creator and the audience closer in the spirit of the daily practicable art, simultaneously to establish a forum for the best-priced, unique and timely pieces of fine workmanship.
The monthly organized WAMP design market outgrew itself to the most important cultural and design forum.
Goldsmithes, illustrators, textile-manufacturers, ceramists, glassware makers, recycling artists, toymakers and several notable salons are represented on the sale.
This atmosphere is something that was new in Budapest in the beginning, later on, as it got widely known, it became an event anticipated every month.
The goal of this initiative sponsoring today's Hungarian design ambitions is also to become the shaper of general taste using its limited means,
and to promote the image and marketing of Hungarian design artifacts.
It was very interesting, but we were dissapointed because we didn't have enough time to look around properly. It took place at the Gödör Club.

The story of the wrecked house

Last Wednesday I was travelling by bus when suddenly I saw this wrecked house.It's not too amazing but when I went closer to the house I was surprised to see that it is inhabited :

A family lives here in terrifying conditions.They have jobs but they are unable to pay the bills. Electricity problem is solved by an accumulator."We can make it in the summer, but winter is like hell...", said the head of the family.

We really hope that their fate will turn better.Goog luck!xP

Wonderful "panels"

These are some typical buildings in Budapest. Hungarian people just call them "panelház" (or short form "panel") which is the name of a type of block of flats. It was the main housing type built in the Socialist era. Between 1959-1990, 788,000 such flats were built in Hungary. About 2 million people, one fifth of the country’s total population, live in these flats. The largest building estates are in Budapest, in Újpest-Városközpont.

I live in a smaller building estate in Kispest (this district is also in Budapest). Living in a ‘panel’ is cheap but not so comfortable and usually not so peaceful because many people live close to you and they can be noisy and disturbing. The sight of 'panels' is an inseparable part of Budapest and urban life.

Headline - Coupons

The headline of the February 19, 2010 edition of Metropol was 'The parties are knocking on our doors', referring to the collection of coupons (literal translation: knocking coupons).

Hungarian citizens over 18 get an official announcement on having been registered to the voters’ list and a coupon by which they can recommend a candidate. The parties then collect these coupons. However, smaller parties sometimes do not manage to collect as many as they need, thus corruption begins. The topic of the article mentioned above was that these small parties pay money for the coupons, which ‘cost’ about 1000 HUF (around 3.19 GBP). As I have written it before, the parties would do anything to get our votes.

Underground system in Budapest

The Underground in Budapest is called Metro, so if you are here, don’t be surprised if you hear the word ‘metro’ in English announcements.

In Budapest there are three underground lines with a junction point at Deák Ferenc Square.

M1: It’s 5 km long. It opened in 1896 between Vörösmarty Square and Széchenyi Spa. This was the second electric underground in the world. In 1973, the line was extended to Mexikói út.

M2: It’s 10 km long. It connects the Southern Railway Station and the Örs Vezér Square. The construction started in the 50s, but the line only opened between 1970 and 1972. It’s been the busiest line in the city since 2003.

M3: It’s 18 km long. It connects the northern and southern parts of Pest. It opened in 1976. In 1990 it reached Újpest Központ.

I don’t usually travel by underground, but because of the project I took a few pictures of M3.

Immigrants

Many people choose to study, work or live in Budapest. We investigated why are they here. We divided the task into 3 parts.

Firstly, immigrants from the Far East usually run restaurants and clothes shops. I talked to a man who owns a Chinese restaurant. He told me that he had inherited the shop from his father. His family came to Hungary in 1992 and his father died a few years ago. He lives in the 14th district with his wife and children. His sons study in a Hungarian school.

Secondly, immigrants from the Middle East usually run restaurants, too: gyros bars and kebab restaurants. I talked to a bar owner and he said that he had came to Hungary because of his wife and he started a family here. They live in the suburbs and they are happy here.

Thirdly, immigrants from Africa came to Hungary to study at universities like Corvinus, BME, ELTE, etc. After finishing their studies, they usually go back to Africa, or to the USA or Western Europe to work there. However, if they fall in love, they stay here and start a family. We spoke to a man called George, and he said that he came to our country to study at Corvinus University. He has been living here for 2 years. He loves our city, but he doesn't like our climate. It's too cold for him.

Saturday at the Religious Assembly

Hi,
Saturday I went to a Religious assembly with Szika. It's called the Omega Assembly. The minister let us take some photos. They sang at first, then the minister preached. At the end they prayed and sang again. Here are the picture. We hope you like them!

The rich and the poor

In Budapest most people are common people. However, there are some really rich and extremely poor. On the Rose Hill /Rózsadomb/, Budapest's posh area, people live on the Hills of Buda, in the western part of the city. They have huge houses and luxurious apartments, expensive cars. The neighborhood is also first-class and the view of the city is amazing...

In contrast, you can see some photos of homeless people. They live in busy squares, where the commuters are passing by, not taking any notice of them. It’s so sad...

The Crowd

Budapest is a city having about 2 million inhabitants, and it is usually crowded. I'm going to show some pictures of people doing their dailye routine, travelling by subways or trams, etc. Unfortunately, I can't show the real crowd as my pictures weren't taken during the rush hour (In the rush hour, I'm at school).

The City Park (Városliget)

After a few attempts to take pictures in the City Park with families spending their free time there, I realized that until this awfully disgusting weather (smooth rain, snow melting, fog weather) doesn’t change, I won’t be able to take photos of families. However, I saw some people taking their dogs for a walk. So I decided that I will show you the places where usually families spend their free time together (without families :) ) playgrounds, pitches, large open fields, where concerts and festivals are held, etc. These places are usually crowded, but that day it seemed like a ghost town: swings and sandboxes abandoned and not a single soul anywhere.

In City Park there's also a bike park where children can learn how to use a bike in the traffic: traffic signs and lamps, road and train path intersection, etc.

As I said, everything was abandoned and full off melting wet snow, so there were no people around, only a few, who were taking their dogs for a walk and some fantastic graffiti.. :D

Falk Miksa Street - Street of Galleries

On 17 Wednesday we went to Falk Miksa Street because it is the 'Street of Galleries'. We visited some art galleries and antiquity shops.

First, I thought it would be boring but I was wrong. :) Zsani, Viki and me got a large dose of culture :D We enjoyed it very much because we saw a lot of really beautiful paintings and antiquities :)

The gallery owners were very kind and they allowed us to take some photos for the blog :) They also promised to write a few sentences about their galleries and we'll post them. If you want you can search for them on the Internet.

The weather was really cold, so it was really pleasant to spend some time in the galleries. We took a lot of photos, about 30 in each gallery and this time nothing went wrong with our cameras. :) We also talked to the owners who explained us a lot about their galleries.

In these four weeks I feel I got to know more about Hungarian culture. I hope that you'll like our photos. We tried to show a small part of the Hungarian culture and we hope you enjoyed our work :)