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BUDAPEST Travel book February / March / A p r i l /////////////////// / / / / / Sarah Duclent 2 0 1 1
In 2011 I sent my resume all over the world, then I obtained an answer from DDB Budapest. I knew the agency had a good reputation but I had no idea of what Budapest looks like. Hungary was kind of exotic for me and I expected full of Paprika and mustache ! It was the first time that I had to leave Paris for three months. I wanted to live in Eastern Europe, it was just one of the most exciting moment of my life. Let’s begin ...
Behind my windows
Each door is heavy and impressive. Entering a building request strength but does not disappoint.
The east side of Europe. When it’s raining the streets are grey and we suddenly feels farther east than usual.
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Home sweet home
I lived in a huge appartment with a big kitchen space and a wide
Even if a lot of things were dirty and broken at the
with my two flatmates Emma and Solenn we appropriated
I loved my little room
hallway. Ceilings were high and the floor was in marble.
beggining like lights and microwaves, it was good to live there !
the place with our own and girly decoration.
Budapest is calling Indeed a simple walk in the streets of Budapest is enough to find many differences with Paris. Here the streets are extremly large. It’s always very scary to cross the road because you don’t know if you have enough time.
Moreover you know that you just have eleven seconds, which is really not enough for an old lady ! Hopefully there are a lot of underpasses, just a few crosswalks.
Payphones of Budapest have nothing to envy to the British.
SZIA ALLO When I arrived in Budapest, the weather was not cold but freezing, also snow didn’t want to melt. The sky was gray, like all elements and objects along the road that took us from the airport to the house. In fact, a few days later I realize that this first impression was totally wrong.
When you are in the center of Budapest and you lift your head a little, you can see a multitude of colorful facades, but in muted tones. I remember thinking, «These are my favourite colors!».
Budapest is one of the most beautiful cities due to the architecture.It kept old ornate buildings from the Art Nouveau periode, and other impressive ones of the Communist period.
Special Opening !!! We can see some stores
as if we were traveling back in time. Remains where diversity should be
on display. Champagne is presented near to the dishes
In the shops here you don’t have all the choice we have in France. You are lost because you can’t find anything you want. It reminds us that communism is not so far.
The B
Bath Budapest is rich of thermal water sources which is the cornerstone for thermal baths. Brought by the turks a lot of baths were build up in and around Budapest bringing the Turkish tradition of bathing to Budapest. Nowadays Budapest has a big bathing culture with tourists from all over the world coming just for visiting one of the spots to relax. Out of the tons of natural water sources some baths established to be the best around. The most famous baths in Budapest are the Gellert bath in the Gellert hotel and the SzĂŠchenyi bath which are crowded almost every day even in the wintertime. The Szechenyi bath is simply amazing, beautiful and traditional. In addition there are also baths dating from the Ottoman invasion. I discover the pleasure to enjoy the thermal bath and the feeling to be outside in the warm water with the wind blowing over my head. In fact there are a lots of different bath in the city and people used to go there often. There are a lot of old people but everygeneration are represented. After work it is the perfect thing to do.
The Synagogue
MONUM
MENTAL The Parliament
Famous views
Blue Danube
Museum of Applied Art The architecture is amazing and it offers a very rich collection of Art Nouveau object from everywhere. It looks like a big cream cake !
The big Market Hall
Paprika Csalamade Gulyas leves
The plans of this big covered market are attributed to Gustave Eiffel. All iron and brick, it has three floors, fish, meats, vegetables, small shops but also restaurants. You can eat for cheap if you do not mind getting dirty fingers, tasting things dripping, wrapped in toilet paper.
Eros Pista
Tyukhusleves . . .
Sculptures Budapest is full of sculptures made by famous sculptors. They look very realistic. At the top of Gellert Hill rises the gigantic Statue of Liberty, a women 14m high, holding a palm. Symbol of the city, it is visible from everywher in Budapest and commemorates the liberation of the capital by the Red Army in 1958.
Szentendre Saint AndrĂŠ
This weekend we went with my boyfriend in Szentendre a small village at the end of a subway line -HEV-. Within minutes we were out of town in the countryside. Too much vibration, sun in the eyes, the passing landscape at full speed, I quickly fell asleep. We arrived in a small doll house village a little charming typical hungarian place.
Occupied for more than a millennium, it was called Ulcisia Castra (the castle of wolves) in Roman times. During the 1500s, it became the center of the Serbian community in Hungary. Szentendre is still a ÂŤsmall piece of SerbiaÂť where the atmosphere is Mediterranean with a mainly Baroque architecture, narrow cobbled streets, churches of all denominations.
MARZ PAN MUSE
In the charming village of Szentendre, known as the little ÂŤBarbizonÂť, we find many impressionist galleries which are probably very interesting. However, we prefered to visit the Museum of Marzipan, with forty windows full of celebrities and other monuments completely manufactured with different kinds of marzipan. Each work is accompanied by a legend, reflecting the time of manufacture.
Michael Jackson, scale in 125 working hours.
1
ZI-
EUM
VISE
GRAD On sunday we went to Visegrad known for its castle perched on the top of a mountain. To get there we travel an hour by train and then cross the Danube by boat. Then you must climb to the top to admire : the view of the most beautiful curve of the Danube, the catapults and the statues of wax, effigy of the king.
We attended a medieval show, turistic but impessive !
Oh my god, a squirrel !!!
Trip between collegues
That day, I followed the band. I was surrounded by a very good hungarian guide, Viktor, as well specialized in the history of kings as in restaurant menus.cLucas was with us too, a Brazilian friend who offers me these nice pictures.
Memento Park
Memento Park
is a unique kind of museum in Budapest suburb, with monumental statues from Hungary’s Communist period (1949-1989). In the open air museum you can see statues of Lenin, Marx, and Engels, as well as Hungarian Communist leaders such as Béla Kun, Endre Ságvári, or Árpád Szakasits. The park was designed by Hungarian architect, Ákos Eleőd, who won the competition announced by the Budapest General Assembly in 1991. After the fall of the Communist regime in Hungary in 1989, many of the Communist statues and monuments were immediately removed in this park.
I went to PĂŠcs with my parents because of the wonderfull porcelain Museum. PĂŠcs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the southwest of the country, close to its border with Croatia.
The empty Hotel = a nice quiet room and a panoramic view.
Pecs We visited : Vasarely Museum Porcelain Museum
Balaton 1 walking down the lake, strange building
balaton 2 eating and ice buy suntake the Tihany
Lucas salmon cream yellow glasses boat to island
CORVINTETO
MIX ART
INSZTANT
SZIMPLA KERT
Let’s have a drink ! The beginning of the 21st century was an exciting turning point in the nightlife of Budapest: in the central area of the city new places were opened one after another in old houses and factory buildings doomed to destruction. These were equipped with rejected
furniture of old community centres, cinemas, and grandmothers’ flats, bringing a retro feeling into these places. They were soon called ruinpubs and became popular very fast among the youth of Budapest - ruinpub is the exact translation of the Hungarian name.
KIS CSENDES
Budapest nightlife is just awesome, cheap and noisy ! The city is just the perfect place to go out and drink big beers !
Lucas’s Polas (we
after work)
The first time we went out was in Gödör Klub :
With a little help from my friends I met some very good friends in Budapest ! I was constantly surrounded by nice and happy people who gave me the opportunity to discover the city in a non-touristic way. I learned where to go out, how to drink a lot of beers and a little Palinka at the end of the night. So thanks a lot to all of them !
Between french people and visits from abroad
Three months are not enough. This experience was amazing ! I could live in Budapest, I could work in Budapest and I have to keep in touch with the great people I met. So I just have to say : Let’s learn Hungarian ! Szia, hallo, farewell and goodbye.