MIDSUMMER MAGIC

ITS June 24, a balmy night in a magic setting and a time for lovers, a time for music and song under a starry sky - Midsummer Night 2008.

What better setting than beautiful Vajdahuyad Castle in the middle of Budapest's City Park? What sweeter sounds are possible, than those of the stars of the Operetta Theatre and the most gorgeous songs from all the great musicals?

How many better ways to spend a beautiful summer evening? None.

PHOTO OF THE DAY - SUMMERTIME!

SUMMERTIME in Budapest and there are unusual sights to see.

Just a couple of blocks from our place, around the corner from our parking station, next door from our local synagogue and around 100 meters from the main boulevard - there is a sure sign that summer has arrived. No, its not the fact that the temperature hit 34 Celsius today. It is when our local Queen of Sunworshippers is out there again, on the ledge above the local hairdresser's shop entrance.

Its a ritual, like Groundhog Day in rural America. Here we await the little old lady of Hegedüs Gyula Street, looking forward to the moment when she discards all superfluous clothing and when the sun is on her apartment, in the afternoon, she climbs out the big window and starts her sunbaking.

Yippee, its summer again!

PHOTO OF THE DAY - ARNIE SCHWARZENEGGER, BUCK NAKED

WE trekked all the way to Transylvania
to show you something you have never seen before - and never will again . . .

. . . the Governor of the great State of California, native of bucolic Austria, star of Hollywood and the muscle circuit, Mr Arnold Schwarzenegger, buck naked as the day he was born (except for a small, but significant anatomical detail).

Where? In Timisoara-Temesvár, Romania.

IF ITS SUNDAY, IT MUST BE SERBIA

OK, OK - it really was mainly business.

But, the truth is, it is always a pleasure to visit that most civilized of Serbian cities - Újvidék to Hungarians, Novi Sad to the rest of humanity.

It was no different yesterday. We went, we met with the folks we were meant to meet with, spent a bit of time with old friends from Sydney, Gordana and Frank Arok (enjoying the ambiance with Frances above), who have moved back to Novi Sad after their many years in Australia. And, we enjoyed once again the sights and sounds of this lovely city.

A CONCERT FOR THE TIMES - IN VIENNA

NOW, a special musical treat.

We reward all of you who visit our blog with the fabulous sound of Lilljana Buttler and the Mostar Sevdah Revival in concert. We were fortunate to be part of the sellout audience in Vienna, when this group of marvellous musicians - made up of Serbs, Croats and Bosnians - brought all the emotion of their homeland to the stage. And, they did it with the help of those in attendance on an emotion filled night which will be impossible to forget.

Sit back, switch off everything else and enjoy this musical delight. For most of you probably the first, but also the last time to enjoy the legendary Lilljana live on stage. At the age of 80, she was taking her final curtain call, as part of a sellout tour of Europe.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

MEMORIES of glorious Carcassone, a medieval gem in the South of France.
France and I had the pleasure of visiting last autumn.
It was a superb sight to see the old fortress from our hotel window, but a visit to the Festival of New Wine in the town center was even better.

IRON CURTAIN MEMORIES

IT was a dream come true, when just a few days before my birthday, Fran and I returned to the section of the Austro-Hungarian border, where a piece of the old Iron Curtain still stands.

Not much more than a souvenir of a bygone era, at a crossing which isn't even attended by border guards anymore. Just outside Sopron, at the site of the Pan-European Picnic of 1989, when thousands of East Germans busted through the barriers, abandoning hundreds of old Trabant cars on the Hungarian side of the border.

I have long planned to commemorate our family's past as refugees, who also left Hungary not very far from this spot and on this day we did. Find out how, by running the video clip.

LONG LIFE, MAZEL TOV!!!!

JOIN us in wishing long life, happiness and Mazel Tov to Maggie and Den.

They have announced the big day - our children will embark on their married life on June 6, 2009, at a ceremony near Sudislav nad Orlici in the Czech Republic.

We hope to see many of you there on this auspicious day - mark it in your diaries!

PHOTO OF THE DAY

BUDAPEST is the city of hot water springs and none more famous than the venerable Széchenyi Baths in Városliget (the City Park).

More famous even than the baths themselves are its waterborne chess fanatics, who are ready to take on all comers day and night, summer, winter autumn and spring.

They have featured in every imaginable tourist guide ever written about Budapest, were even present in the famous Hungarian tourist ads of a few years ago on CNN. Therefore it was high time, they also took pride of place in our blog.

Here they are, for all of you to enjoy, Budapest's aquatic chess wizards in action on a beautiful sunny winter's day in February (water temperature - 38 Celsius).

PHOTO OF THE DAY

AS they say in the real estate business - location, location, location!

And in this respect, the city of Budapest is truly blessed. On the two banks of the Danube, soon after the great river takes a 90 degree turn to head south, towards the Balkans, Hungary's capital is a wondrous sight, especially on warm summer nights, with its multitude of historical edifices floodlit for all to enjoy.

A sight not to be missed for all of you, if ever you decide to wander around historic, beautiful Central Europe.

TIME TO SAY - ENOUGH!

DEMOCRACY means tolerance of diverse and often not very palatable views.

However, there comes a point, when people, the decent majority say - "ENOUGH!"

That was the situation when thousands poured into the streets of Budapest's XIIIth district on an April day. They were responding to a small bloc of extreme rightwingers, who have got the idea, they have freedom of the streets of this beautiful city.

That misconception was corrected in a resounding and, frankly, very satisfying manner when the decent folk of this city made their views known in a very public manner. And it wasn't confined to the ordinary people. Hungary's Prime Minister was on hand and thunderous ovation greeted the speech of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who announced - "We will stand up to them!"

There we all were, Jews and non-Jews, Skinheads Against Nazis, Gypsies, men, women, young and old, black and white, sweeping the rubbish from our streets.

Young men and women holding up their names and phone numbers, to show the bastards that decent people are not afraid.

It was a good day to be alive, a good day to be in Budapest, a good day for decent folks.

And, a very bad one, indeed, for the lunatic thuggish fringe. They have remained conspicuously absent from the streets of the city ever since.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

IT may not be New Year's but, nonetheless it is time for a resolution.

From now on Fran and I will do our very best to keep our blog going, even when we may be busy, tired, or simply not in the mood.

So, if we have nothing meaningful, or interesting to say, we will still try to post a Photo of the Day. And, here's one for starters -

Budapest and the Danube on a crisp and clear winter's night, with the Royal Palace in Buda providing the backdrop to our Serbian friends and partners, Nebojsa (left) and Dragana, one of our now retired players and a star recruiter of talent for Scott International Management.

BACK AGAIN - MTK ARE CHAMPIONS!!!

I WAS looking for an appropriate moment to restart our blog - what better than to celebrate MTK winning the Hungarian League?

It was a great day, the 120 year tradition goes on. There were cheers, there were tears and how right was the young guy who announced through his loudspeaker at the kickoff - "Voltunk, vagyunk, leszünk!" Or, we were, we are, we will be!

MTK is and long has been the pride and joy of Hungarian Jews and so it remains. Being there when the Blues won the league again, after an interval of five years, was and will remain a highlight - and a big one at that - of our almost half a decade of living in Hungary. May there be many more such moments, such days, such nights - which ended around 2am at the venerable old MTK Stadium, where fans and players and officials celebrated after the 250km trip home from Sopron.