When people think of Hungary they probably don’t think about wine. Any familiarity with Hungarian wine generally comes from the bottoms of supermarket shelves, where acrid and awful ‘Bull’s Blood’ gathers dust as fodder for the disappointed bargain-hunter or the penniless wino. But Hungary makes fantastic – even world-class and award-winning – wine. Tokaji (or…
A little while back I posted an article about guerilla gardening. Well this weekend we were out and about in the city, and I noticed that somebody had been doing a bit of guerilla gardening in our neighborhood, and it wasn’t me. They haven’t planted any food crops – only ornamentals – but the photos…
There is a citadel atop Gellert Hill in Budapest called aptly – if unimaginatively – enough, The Citadel. It’s a squat, unlovely building, hunkered upon the highest point along the river Danube like a squashed toad. Even so, the parkland that surrounds it is pleasant and the views of the city are stunning. A part…
I pined, I yearned, I whined. A small garden plot, that’s all I wanted. Not much to ask, just a sunny spot, maybe 3×5 meters. I ached, chafed, coveted, craved. Late at night I’d ogle online seed catalogs like they were Internet porn and filled my cart with hybrid beauties I would never touch. April…
Twenty-three piles of dog shit. Twenty-three separate, individual piles of poo, in various states of rain-softened slurry, in a one-and-a-half block section of one Budapest street (Wesselenyi utca). A 190-meter stretch of road. That’s a turd every eight meters or so. I try to steer my two year-old on his plastic motorcycle through the mine-field…
Was pretty lame when we first visited it. The museum had moved into its current location, the repurposed and renovated Ludovika Military Academy, in 1996, and it seemed ill-at-ease in its new space. There were small displays of moth-eaten specimens from around the world – a handful of antelope heads hung on the wall above…
If you’re staying in Hungary long enough to venture outside of Budapest, Lake Balaton may well be your next stop. You should be aware that Balaton is a schizophrenic body of water, split north and south into two very different personalities. If you’re traveling with kids, or simply looking for a more ‘authentic’ Hungarian experience,…
The Buda Castle Wine Festival is right around the corner, this year taking place September 12th – 16th, so it’s time to start making your plans. Pair the words “Hungary” and “wine,” and most Americans picture bottles of plonk ‘Bull’s Blood’ languishing on the bottom of their supermarket shelves. Flabby, acrid, and produced exclusively for…
A couple of weeks ago we ran an article about taking kids to cemeteries. Well, my mother is here visiting from the US, and we spent the day at Kerepesi Cemetery, here in Budapest. We brought a picnic lunch, wandered through the woods, did some grave rubbings, took some photos, and had a great time,…
Cemeteries are great places to hang out. And, I would argue, great places to take kids. I’ll spare you the jokes about people dying to get in, or being able to spend an eternity there, or the atmosphere being very grave. Set aside important life lessons about mortality, immortality, the transience of life and carpe…
Field Notes From Fatherhood 