Palace of Miracles Exhibition

This is an interactive scientific exhibition and education centre. Primarily it teaches children, showing them the rules of the natural sciences. It is a fusion of didactic approaches particular to a museum, a school, a playground or amusement park, and a cultural centre.

New features are added to the permanent exhibition annually, called e.g. 'Everyday magic', 'New illusions', 'Do not believe your eyes', and 'Tune into us'. Visitors can touch and try out all sorts of things in order to discover and get familiar with natural laws. They understand by experience how they work.

There is a square-wheeled car, a sticky wall, and a virtual moon walk; you may try out the monocycle, the blue-box, and others. These are all easy to use and no knowledge of more complex scientific theories is needed.

We really had fun there yesterday. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera decided not to work despite all of the other miracles.

Wellness

A cave within the spa.

I Love standing under the shower part and getting a shoulder massage.

Kamilla drinking a virgin Pina Colada in the water bar.

Hungary is blessed with an enourmous number of spas, some for medical treatment and some for pleasure and of course most of them for both. Thus, wellness is a big business and a common scene here,as 90% of the population goes to a spa at least once a year. It is also a big part of the national image. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9IvM4fVhx4

Folk Dancing

My favourite Klezmer band

Jewish dance

A great Roma folk band

Folk Dancing is a huge pastime in Hungary. In my hometown, there is a dance every Wedesday and Sunday night with different live bands and teachers. I especially love it in the summer since between June and September all the dances are outdoors. You can be a beginner or an experienced dancer, and you are guaranteed to have a great time and get a great workout. Furthermore, you can learn about various cultures, because every time a different minority group, living in Hungary, leads the dance. This summer we participated in Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian, Greek, Roma/Gypsy and Jewish dances. You can get more info and pictures of the dance houses in my previous postings (see June 25, and July 29, 2010).

Hungarian Bread

Kamilla and I eating hungarian fried bread with sour cream and cheese on top


If you ask a Hungarian who lives outside of Hungary what he misses the most from his country, he will list Hungarian bread in the first three items. Above you can see two pictures from one of our neighborhood bakeries. Too bad the smell does not go with the photos.

From Trash to Treasure

Buying second hand clothes in Hungary, and generally in Europe, is very popular and considered normal. People are not ashamed of it. There are groups that go on a hunt, usually girlfriends, and they are extremely proud if they find something great for almost nothing. It's an inmportant part of life because European women love looking great, and who can afford, especially these days, to buy expensive clothes? And since there is a market for it, retailers make sure that their businesses go well. Many times the second hand clothes shops look better than a boutique, with a very unique and pleasant atmosphere. They also sell jewelery, usually have a cool bar section, and maybe an art gallery or exhibition garden. And you can get a henna painting or a gel tattoo while shopping as well.

Drink up

http://www.liligo.co.uk/travel-blog/travel-tips/2010/07/20/10-destinations-to-drink-up-1904/

Hungarian wine has a history dating back at least to Roman times. There are 22 wine regions in Hungary, and an extended network of wine tours, where you can taste all sorts of different wines. The most famous ones are Tokaji, a white dessert wine which is called "the wine of kings and king of wines," and Bikavér, or Bull's Blood, a very rich and delicious red wine.

International Dance Groups

Just stumbled upon this dance show the other night with all these beautiful costumes. Kamilla was in an awe watching them dance.

Travelling Funfair Games

Hungary's largest alternative traveling game park, with its colorful swirls, covers downtown Pécs for ten days; throwing huts, colorful, magical cupboard games, player tents, drill machines, impatient contestants waiting in lines, trying to beat the famous wandering company. No one can go without playing.

Artists from Agrentina Straight from the Cosmos

The Puja Group unites various branches of art, theatre, dance, circus, extreme sports, architecture, and physics, only to be topped by multimedia technology and live music.

In this unique show eight acrobatic performers put on a breathtaking show, as they are suspended in the air by a crane, centered around the "La Bola" (The Ball). The piece is a cosmic allegory that motivates us to look into the infinite universe. The show is called The K@osmos.

Living Statues Championship

The magic of living statues, living immobility . . . I don't think I need to comment much more on this. Above you see a couple of our favorite ones.

Cirque and Street Theatre Festival

Now, this is cool! I hope Bill Patti will check out this posting. For two weeks "A Miracle is Occurring on the Streets," as the local newspaper said. The steets and squares of the inner city of Pécs are occupied by street artists, street theaters, circuses and knockout performances. Unexpected and exhilarating things are happening all over. Anyone at anytime might become the protagonist of a play; a player in a street game might pass by a statue that turns around, or one might just be caught up in a processional mass. More details to come...

Csik Concert

I had no idea I would get this lucky. I love this band and I had never seen them live. And last night as part of the CHERRY FEST in Ujfeherto, Hungary, where my brother lives and I am visiting, there they were. Amazing. As Emese said, the Fusion they do is fantastic. They turn old folk songs into world music and new rock songs into folk music to get the young generation to like this genre again. All my respect to them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6RaU9n4ZuI&feature=related

Csík Zenekar - Most múlik pontosan

Life in the Country

Hungarian demijohns (demizson) from my dad's collection.

Kamilla in a typical Hungarian wheel barrow. My dad and uncle pushed her for five miles to the cemetary and back and of course she loved it.

We are spending a couple of days in the Hungarian countryside. These two things inspired me to share the experience with my friends. The demijohns came up in conversation, not long ago, at Blue Ridge Music when Tom Nixon was explaining the word to me as part of a bluegrass song he was teaching me on the guitar. At that time I had no clue that they were the same things that I used to play with in my dad's cellar as a child.

Hungarian National Circus

Kamilla on the back of Szandra, the cutest Indian elephant, during the break.
It was obvious that the circus will soon travel throughout Europe with this show. There were a lot of Hungarian motifs, and most of the cast wore traditional Hungarian clothing.

Took Kamilla to a circus production. The last time we went was five years ago when we were still in Budapest, before we moved to Georgia. It was quite a pleasant experience. The circus team was lead by Gedeon Richter. The Richter family is a really old circus family in Hungary and they made me nostalgic with the classic traditional circus acts that I remember from my childhood.

Bluegrass in Hungary

I was really suprised to see the outfits the guys were wearing. Where are the beards and baseball caps. . . ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gp9G157S18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nOoZJTxh30&feature=related

I had the chance to see a Hungarian bluegrass band tonight (The Banjo Jumping Band) in the small town of Dunaujvaros, where my parents live. The concert was a part of a summer concert series held in a beautiful park that is built around a gazebo.

Well, bluegrass is getting popular in Europe, but these boys definitely have a lot to learn. I am spoiled now, since I live in the land of bluegrass and can hear the best bluegrass music on a daily basis (This is definitely a friendly tribute to my friends at Blue Ridge Music).

Midsummer Night

Solstice celebrations still center around the day of the astronomical summer solstice. Some choose to hold the rite on the 21st of June, even when this is not the longest day of the year, and some celebrate June 24th, the day of the solstice in Roman times.

Although Midsummer is originally a pagan holiday, in Christianity it is associated with the nativity of John the Baptist, which is observed on the same day, June 24. It is a very fun day in Hungary called Szent Ivan Éj, meaning St. John's Night and on this night everything is possible according to the legends. Especially in the field of LOVE. In most towns people make bonfires, and lovers who want to stay together forever leap over the flames. Old people keep a lot of sour cream at home that day just in case burnt feet need to be treated. In Pecs, we celebrate the longest day and the climax of the sun with a lot of concerts, activities and of course fires.

Street market pictures

Pecs at night

Love the weather here. No humidity at all. And the nights are incredible.

All last night at the museums

Op Art by Vasarely, a Pecs born, internationally recognized painter.
The Pecs Chamber Choir (with several of my friends in it) giving a concert at the Csontvary Museum. Tivadar Csontvary Kosztka, the painter, is worth checking out.
Silk, canvas and tile painting in the Archeological Museum where the theme of the night was The Turks.
Children creating in the style of VASARELY.
The Hungarian TV recording as the kids are working with leather at the History of Pecs Museum. The town has had a leather factory for centuries.

Every year there is a night in Pecs (around Midsummer's night) when for the price of one, you can visit all museums any time between 5 pm and 12 am. This is a special night with all sorts of extra programs, lectures, slide shows, dances, concerts and handicrafts for children. Kamilla and I spent six hours in our favourite museums. We had a lot of fun.