Budapest to Košice train

When I took a train from Budapest to Košice, I saw the scene below. It's now featured on FoundPlays as one of their little moments of drama. For Foundplays, I re-wrote the scene in a more play-like form, but here it is as I saw it.

---

An early morning train from Budapest to Košice in Slovakia: Budapest station still murky and dark, with announcements mumbled in Hungarian.

Many passengers boarded; this was the only daily train on the route.

A man got on, with a huge suitcase. He looked smartly unkempt, wearing a white shirt (slightly askew and with vest peeping out at the belly) and grey suit trousers (a bit stained). He was a big bear of a man with a large bushy beard. He carefully took his seat.

Some minutes later a group of eight English tourists bustled on (travelling to a wedding in Kosice).

"You're in our seat", one of the group, a middle aged man, brusquely protested.

The burly man stood his ground, looking confused more than anything.

"We have all eight of these seats," said a woman from the group.

"This is my seat," said the Hungarian man.

"No it's ours," said the English man. "There's your ticket... Show me your ticket!," he said, quite forcefully.

They stood looking at each other for a good half minute before the burly man moved away to a nearby seat.

The English group spent rest of the journey laughing loudly. The burly man sat a few seats away, but periodically stood up and walked along the aisle. As he passed them, the group spoke in stage whispers.

Filtered train photography.

Taking photos on a train can be tricky. First, you need to be fast, then you must avoid the trees and powerlines by the track which could obscure your view. And then the lights in the carriage might reflect on the window.

So instead of trying to avoid these things, I played up to them and used phone filter apps to make the most of them.

Take a look at these photos taken on trains in Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

My fave photo apps, by the way, are Cymera and Pixlr-o-matic.

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

Beautiful Budapest

When in Budapest, look up.

Budapest's buildings are beautiful and ugly, a fascinating mixture of all kinds.of architectural styles: gothic, classic, art nouveau, brutalist.

 

The beautiful buildings radiate, adorned with symbols and alive with detail.

 

 The uglier buildings are monumentally so, and tell of a dark history.

I went on a communist tour to discover some of the sights. The guide Andrew mentioned that during the communist times, the city was grey. Buidlings were neglected, allowed to accumulate layers of pollution and urban grime.

 

When the 1990s came and the ending of the communist era, the sense of optimism for the future must have been matched by a sense of joy at seeing buildings like these shine again.

Eyewitness at the Royal Academy

I went recently to see an exhibition of Hungarian photography at the Royal Academy. The exhibition is called Eyewitness (open until 2nd October), a very appropriate name - it shows how the history of Hungarian photography acts as a witness to many of the most significant best/worst historical moments throughout the 20th century.

Artistic trends such as Bauhaus and abstraction are reflected in the photography, as well as giving a chronicle of how photography developed from amateur photo-players to professional fashion and journalism.

Much of the photography was incredibly angular, shooting at acute and implausible angles. Whereas now we can zoom in and out of the world at the click of a button, then this must have felt revolutionary.

There were lots of photographs to enjoy, here are just some of my favourites.



This photo by Robert Capa shows a French woman who had a baby with a German soldier during World War 2 being led through the streets of Chartres. The photo below - also by Robert Capa - shows  the destruction of Budapest's Elisabeth Bridge.



The photo below - Harvest by Erno Vadas - shows the beginning of abstract patterns and shapes.



Cornell Capa's image of Winchester College shows implausible angles.



To which Lazlo Maholy-Nagy's image from Berlin's TV Tower adds abstract shapes.



Martin Munkácsi's fashion image from Harper's Bazaar




Probably my favourite image: Procession by Erno Vadas




And finally, this book cover by Gyorgy Lorinczy shows how many Hungarian photographs found an excellent subject in the skyscraper and concrete world of New York.

Fodbold! Football with London's Danish fans.

I went last night to Zoo Bar, venue of the Scandinavian Party, to watch two matches: Denmark -v- Hungary & Sweden -v- Albania.

Sweden & Denmark - how would I tell them apart?! It turned out to be easy. The Danes stood, while the Swedes sat. I'm not sure this is any great socio-geographical finding, but that's what happened. So I decided to stand amongst the Danish fans.

Nobody had any flags, which is always a shame. Some Danish men wore the football strip, whilst others had red t-shirts. One man had a red suit jacket. Hurrah for him.

Denmark have already qualified for the World Cup, so when Denmark had lost the lead, the fans looked more bored than bothered.

I got the impression the bar was made for more exciting encounters. A Danish man sullenly leaned on a pole atop a podium.

As the game went on, things were getting more important. The Danes didn't want to be beaten, after all. There was cheering, there was some shouting. A big cheer went up when the Danish number 10 came off. I couldn't tell if they liked him or not.

In the end, Denmark lost and the Danish fans shuffled away. But I'll be back to watch more with them next year.

Map drawings of Ukraine by Yuliya, Switzerland by Lorena & Hungary by Felician and Lisa

One of my favourite things about Eurovision parties is the potential to meet others from different countries, especially if that country has an ace song. When Greece won in 2005, I celebrated with a Greek guy at my party and ended up talking to his elderly father (on the phone from Greece) about how brilliant Elena Paparizou had been.

This year, at Eurovision parties, I met people from Ukraine, Hungary and Switzerland, and asked them to draw maps of their countries for my EuroRevision project.

Yuliya, from Ukraine, drew her country. She was bemused by my request.

Lorenza, from Switzerland, was in high Eurovision spirits wearing fabulous gloves. She drew this map.

Finally, Felecian & Lisa drew this map of Hungary. Both had been in the UK for three years, initially moving here to find work.