Concerts, Fetes and festivals

My local metro station. The public transport here is fantastic - so easy!

We started the day with a piano concert in the Liszt Academy of music. There was an italian pianist, Daniele Terzano who was absolutely wonderful! A really soft touch on the keys and clearly passionate. He played a few pieces by Liszt (of course) a few by Debussy, and then for encore a piece from Tosca. Incredible! I gather he is accompanying the operas that I will miss! It was interesting because the audience does not clap between songs here, only at the end of the Liszt and again at the end of the Debussy. I gather it can be quite stressful for the musician as you get no feedback on how they're enjoying things...

After this we headed to the suburbs for a local festival or fete. I could have been at any local school fete except for the hungarian food and music. I had the opportunity to try Goulash - the traditional beef stew cooked in a pot hanging over an open fire, and also a traditional dessert which is very like trifle - vanilla and chocolate sponge with cream and custard, a bit of fruit (sultanas I think) and some brandy... I also tried some of the various bbq'd meats they had on offer - the sausages were delish!

After we came back to town, I headed to the Szechenyi baths, where I spent about an hour hopping in and out of hot baths of varying temperatures - 28, 36, 38 and 40 degrees celcius - SOOoo relaxing! I then had a half hour massage before heading home to bed. yawn!

On Sunday we hit the trams and trains again for another suburban festival - this one associated with various caves (wine tasting!). There were extensive markets and we wandered happily around for a few hours. Again, I have to mention the food - I tried the Toscni - like potato rusti but deep fried, and the Langos - very popular fried bread served with cheese and sour cream - both yummy.

Happily I also found my personal favourite... Kurtoskalacs or hungarian funnel or chimney cakes - yum!

We arrived back in town to find Andrassy street closed to vehicles and with a piano set up every hundred metres or so... Incredible! There were people everywhere enjoying the music, and festivities.

After a quick trip home to get changed into appropriate clothing (one of my new France dresses with two singlets and stockings with my sandals), we met again for a quick coffee in a cafe before I headed to the Opera House for the Gustav Mahler Symphony II. I'd bought one of the few remaining tickets - only 1000F which is about $5 - and I was sitting in the top balcony - at the back! But it was wonderful! After I realised that I had to use a side entrance to the building, no grand staircase for me - and found my seat I settled in for a lovely evening of beautiful, beautiful music.

Its all a little bit different here, which I love. The concert started with the audience standing and the full orchestra playing the hungarian national anthem - beautiful!! we should do that at home in Aus! Then they played "An die Freude - Anthem of the European Union" by Beethoven. The symphony has a full orchestra - in this case about 80 people - and also features an alto soloist and a soprano singing with a full choir - there must have been about 100 in the choir... so basically 180 people on stage singing and playing their hearts out. Absolutely wonderful!

After the concert we met up again to go to dinner at a buffet featuring traditional hungarian food. delicious! I was certainly tired and happy at the end of this day!!