Budapest, Hungary Part 2: Art and Culture
Sorry for the delay on this closing entry on Budapest. I’m currently enjoying a month-long sabbatical back in the states so both my access to the internet and my desire to do anything are intermittent.
Anyway, here are a few more photos and a bit more commentary from last month’s trip to Hungary.
Food
This probably doesn’t warrant its own subsection (or really say much about Hungarian culture), but I wanted to share a couple curiousities discovered.
Yes, we ate at Burger King. It was cheap and we were tired of walking around. But the main point here is that in Budapest, the chain seems to be marketed as a sort of "All-American” restaurant. The packaging and imagery inside all revolved around quintessential American iconography (i.e. Football, Route 66, Coke, Baseball, etc.).
Inexplicably, we came across this: a café themed around a beer from Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Very odd.
We didn’t eat here, but there was something about the naiveté of the cut-out I found compelling.
That, and the pig head that appears to be really happy about the fact that it’s dead.
Nathan and I ponder the meaning of life over a local brew.
Hungary’s answer to Jagermeister is something called Unicum, which I drank at Darryl’s insistance.
Statues, Statues
I know I take (and post) a lot of photos of statues, but Budapest has some great ones.
Hero’s Square, which features statues of many of the famous rulers of the country and plenty of allegorical figures.
A statue representing Peace.
One of 7 statues representing the tribes that settled Hungary (if I remember correctly).
Statue of Anonymus, the first writer to record Hungary’s history.
Random statue of a Sphinx.
Little Princess statue along the Danube.
Sculptural fountain outside the castle
And More Statues…
On Sunday we headed outside the city to Statue Park, a place where they took all the Communist statues after the fall rather than destroy them. I really like Constructivist art and design—it’s just one of those unfortunate coincidences that it came into vogue with the Soviet Empire and will always be associated with Socialist Propaganda. So being able to see some of this art (while mocking it at the same time) made for quite an entertaining afternoon.
Some nice Constructivist typography
We look toward our glorious future. Or something.
(thanks to Nathan for volunteering to capture one of my “brilliant” ideas...)
Head for the hills! The commies are coming!
(thanks to Darryl for capturing another one)
And that’s the end of that chapter {throws scarf over shoulder}.
Anyway, here are a few more photos and a bit more commentary from last month’s trip to Hungary.
Food
This probably doesn’t warrant its own subsection (or really say much about Hungarian culture), but I wanted to share a couple curiousities discovered.
Yes, we ate at Burger King. It was cheap and we were tired of walking around. But the main point here is that in Budapest, the chain seems to be marketed as a sort of "All-American” restaurant. The packaging and imagery inside all revolved around quintessential American iconography (i.e. Football, Route 66, Coke, Baseball, etc.).
Inexplicably, we came across this: a café themed around a beer from Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Very odd.
We didn’t eat here, but there was something about the naiveté of the cut-out I found compelling.
That, and the pig head that appears to be really happy about the fact that it’s dead.
Nathan and I ponder the meaning of life over a local brew.
Hungary’s answer to Jagermeister is something called Unicum, which I drank at Darryl’s insistance.
Statues, Statues
I know I take (and post) a lot of photos of statues, but Budapest has some great ones.
Hero’s Square, which features statues of many of the famous rulers of the country and plenty of allegorical figures.
A statue representing Peace.
One of 7 statues representing the tribes that settled Hungary (if I remember correctly).
Statue of Anonymus, the first writer to record Hungary’s history.
Random statue of a Sphinx.
Little Princess statue along the Danube.
Sculptural fountain outside the castle
And More Statues…
On Sunday we headed outside the city to Statue Park, a place where they took all the Communist statues after the fall rather than destroy them. I really like Constructivist art and design—it’s just one of those unfortunate coincidences that it came into vogue with the Soviet Empire and will always be associated with Socialist Propaganda. So being able to see some of this art (while mocking it at the same time) made for quite an entertaining afternoon.
Some nice Constructivist typography
We look toward our glorious future. Or something.
(thanks to Nathan for volunteering to capture one of my “brilliant” ideas...)
Head for the hills! The commies are coming!
(thanks to Darryl for capturing another one)
And that’s the end of that chapter {throws scarf over shoulder}.
posted by Aaron at 10:53 PM
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