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Seating Plan
Budapest, Hungary
2011

The view of the main floor of the Hungarian National Opera from up in the peanut gallery prior to a performance of Rossini’s La Cenerentola two nights ago. (The place ended up packed, we got there early for the photo ops.) Last weekend when we went to see Verdi’s Rigoletto, we actually sat on the main floor where the seats go for ten times as much as we paid for these high up seats. Surprisingly the view and the sound form the cheap seats was essentially the same as from the main floor seats.

La Cenerentola is the story of Cinderella, with some major differences compared to Disney’s movie version (unfortunately the only reference point I have). The wicked stepmother is replaced by a stepfather, the Fairy Godmother is replaced by  a philosopher, Cinderella’s name is Angelina and she is identified not by her glass slipper but by her bracelet. And at least in the Hungarian version, those birds, mice, etc. that were always helping out Cinderella are replaced by a bunch of clowns that sit around the stage most of the performance and the fancy carriage she went in to the ball was replaced by a junky old car.

Both operas we saw where of course performed in Italian. There were  supertitle translations displayed on a screen above the stage but they translated the Italian into Hungarian. So we didn’t always know exactly what was going on, although we had some idea since we’d read synopses of the stories on the internet before going. Still we found the operas entertaining.

The Hungarian opera has a world-class reputation but I must say in my extremely meager opera experience (the only other ones I’ve seen have been live broadcasts on movie screens) the Metropolitan Opera in New York City is considerably better. As they say, I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like.

Culture Club
Budapest, Hungary
2011

There’s Zippy trying to look cultured way up in the nose-bleed seats at the Hungarian State Opera. That’s nose-bleed as in 126 steps up from the ground level. Stay tuned tomorrow when he tries to look like he understood what he was watching.

Zippy and the Fashion Queen
Budapest, Hungary
2011

Connie casting an elegant shadow on Andrássy út, the most fashionable boulevard of Budapest.  That’s her photographer Zippy the Pinhead’s shadow next to her.

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.

Comrade Who?
Budapest, Hungary
2011

Connie snapped this photo of another odd-looking character among the memorabilia at Marxim Pizza.

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.

Parliament View
Budapest, Hungary
2011

The Hungarian Parliament building on a foggy morning.

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.

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.

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.