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POTD: Pest Mosaic

Pest Mosaic
Budapest, Hungary
2011

Pest, on the east side of the Danube, is very flat. Buda on the other hand sits on the west side in the last (or first I guess, depending on which direction you’re going) foothills of the Alps, so there are good views out over Pest from the hills bordering the river.

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POTD: Vladimir’s Worst Nightmare

Vladimir’s Worst Nightmare
Budapest, Hungary
2011

O.K. maybe Comrade Lenin’s worst nightmare was that dream about Russia succumbing to capitalist imperial depredation; but showing up for work in his underwear was probably his worst nightmare that didn’t come true.

This photo was taken at a pizza joint in Budapest called Marxim Pizza. It opened in 1991, two years after the Russian revolution finally left town. The owners took it upon themselves to commemorate the country’s relationship with their former benefactors by decorating the place with Russian political memorabilia displayed, to say the least, quite irreverently. In addition to paintings like this there are defaced posters celebrating the Russian revolution on the walls and the booths are separated by chicken-wire and barbed-wire in sort of a neo-gulag style.

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POTD: Budapesti Éjszaka

Budapesti Éjszaka
Budapest Hungary
2011

Probably the most famous fine art photographer from Budapest was Gyula Halász, better known as Brassaï. While he was born in Hungary and studied art in Budapest, at age 25 he moved to Paris where he learned photography and gained his reputation. Perhaps his most notable work, certainly my favorite, was the book Paris et Nuit (Paris by Night). It is some of the most compelling street photography I’ve ever seen. Since he skipped covering his home country in the same photographic manner, I guess I’m free to latch onto the similar Hungarian translation, Budapesti Éjszaka, for my Budapest by Night photos.  It is easy to get night photos here, even for someone who is used to going to bed fairly early. Due to a strange assignment of time zones it gets dark in Budapest by 4:30 p.m. or 1630 as they say here. Also, my body still seems to think midnight is really sometime in the early afternoon in the U.S. anyway.

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POTD: Budapest at Night

Budapest at Night
Budapest, Hungary
2011

If you’ve followed my travel photography for long, you know not to expect much in the way of traditional travelogue shots out of my trips. This may be as close as I get to a typical scenic view of Budapest. The lions are at the entrance to the Chain Bridge and the church in the background across the Danube is officially called the Church of Our Lady but better know simply as Mathias Church in reference to the popular Renaissance king Matthias Corvinus. That’s Corvinus as in corvids–he was nicknamed the Raven King. I hear there is a raven statue on the river side of the church spire. I guess I need to check that out.

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POTD: Taking a Pounding

Taking a Pounding
Budapest, Hungary
2011

Another one of the statues at the Liberty Monument, this one of a guy pummeling a dragon. When I saw his fist in the air like that I for some reason flashed back to when I was a kid and the biggest physical threat I could think of was to tell someone “I’m going to pound you!” The violent action in the statue contrasts sharply with the wistful, almost bored look of the young lady at it’s feet. Perhaps she’s bored with having boys fight over her.

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POTD: Liberty, Sort of

Liberty, Sort of
Budapest, Hungary
2011

This bronze fellow carrying a torch was part of an original grouping of statues at the Liberation Monument on Gellert Hill in Budapest. The monument was constructed in 1947 to celebrate Hungary’s liberation from the Nazis by the Soviets. The Hungarians quickly soured on the Soviets and hence the monument. It was reconfigured in 1989 when the Soviets finally left. The most militant of the statues in the group (e.g. the Soviet soldier with the machine gun) where removed to another park in town where they serve a historical rather than memorial function. The original inscription on the Liberation Monument was changed from “Erected by the grateful Hungarian Nation in memory of the liberating Russian heroes” to “To the memory of all of those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and success of Hungary.”

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POTD: Corn Rows

Corn Rows
near Paris, France
2011

I took this photo of some very oddly spaced clouds not long after we took off from Paris on our way to Budapest. It looks like someone had been plowing the clouds into rows in the sky to prepare for planting. The first thought that came to mind was corn rows, but on reflection maybe it’s what they have to do before they do cloud seeding to attempt to stimulate rain. 🙂 (The smiley face is least someone think I was serious about that.)

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