Rarely Seen Hungarian Photographs

When I was in Budapest last month, I went to the Hungarian House of Photography which hosted an exhibition of rarely seen photographs by famous Hungarian photographers.

I love Hungarian photography, so it was a real treat to see these photographs.

László Moholy-Nagy, 1927, Roofs in Helsinki / Finland

Kálmán Kata - Am Wasser (Víznél)

Ernõ Vadas - Tree line with church

Laszlo Maholy-Nagy - Parking Lot

Martin Munkácsi - Rain in Sicily, 1929

Angelo - Panel, Croatia

The photographs in the exhibitions were taken from the many collections in Hungary's regional museums. Most of those I liked came from the Hungarian Museum of Photography (which is in Kecskemét, not Budapest). Their website has lots more photography to explore: http://fotomuzeum.hu/en/photography

Nogometni! Football with London's Croatian fans

Last night, I had hoped to support Turkey, my team in the Lowculture messageboard Euro 2008 sweepstake.

I headed to Archway on the guidance of Time Out. But, yet again, their advice was wrong as the restaurant had no TV. The bloke in the Turkish shop down the road was not much help ("try the bar up the road"), and the place where the Euro2008InLondon blog guys were was fully booked. Drama!

So. I switched allegiance, decided to be Croatian, and hot-footed it to Chelsea's Cadogan Arms, where Croatians gathered during the last World Cup.

And there they were. Not lots, but a vocal and passionate few, singing Croatian football songs and chanting "Hrvatska!". I'd arrived in the last few minutes of the first half, but hadn't missed anything. The match was rather dull, save for a few exciting moments - to be honest, I was happily distracted by several hot Croatians.

The Croatians went ballistic with their almost-there last-minute goal - glasses flying, crazy jumping, blokes only hugging blokes. They were all visibly deflated by the penalty shoot-out end, however.

Male behaviour was noteworthy:

• One middle-aged Italian bloke asked an attractive young woman where she was from. She was Bosnian. He proceeded to individually tell all his friends that she was Bosnian.
• One non-Croatian bloke greeted his friend with "Fuck You!!!!!!" and a hug, and later shouted "Norman Foster!" into the crowd.
• Another guy was grabbing the back and side of every guy that passed him. Lots of homosocial from the Croatians.

The result was disappointing, Croatia being the better team overall. But it means I can now support Turkey after all. So, any suggestions as to where I'll find Turks in London are welcome.

Next up: Spain -v- Italy, and I'm supporting the Spanish.

3 Balkan maps: Slovenia by Fredi, Croatia by Klaus and Serbia by Marina

I mostly travelled by train when in Slovenia, Croatia & Serbia, providing me with ample opportunity to ask fellow travellers to draw their countries.

On my train from Ljubljana to Zagreb, I asked Fredi to draw Slovenia for my collection. He did (in miniature), and a few minutes later, presented me with lots of tourist destination business cards "for my collection". I had absolutely no use for these, but it was a lovely gesture nonetheless.

On the long and slow train from Zagreb to Belgrade, I met Klaus who, despite the German name, was Croatian. I started speaking to him when, at the Serbian border, I thought I had to get off the train. I didn't, and Klaus, a fellow Eurovision visitor, set me right. Klaus drew Croatia, and apparently stole some land from Slovenia, he said with a giggle.

Later in the trip, Marina from Serbia joined us in the compartment. Marina studies in Berlin, and was amused but pleased by us Eurovision travellers. When I asked her to draw Serbia, she joked about whether she should be politically correct or not. I sighed with relief that she thought it a joke - she has included Kosovo in the map.