About the romanticisation of things

... and of a time in the past, of a political ideology, of a condition. Some time ago I was a following a very heated debate (about an issue that is not exactly relevant now) when all of a sudden I felt a slap on the face: one of the speakers accused the other of romanticisation of poverty. That rocked me! It ringed a bell and it made me think over whether I could possibly be doing just that, not only towards poverty but also, for instance, towards communism. I must admit that I have never dedicated much of my time to better understand any of these, neither socialism nor communism and even less poverty. And this whole romanticisation thing definitely deserves some more reading, too. 

Last weekend I finally visited the Memento Park. I had been meaning to go there since I moved to Budapest - which now makes exact 5 months - but kept postponing it, so typical of me. So I did, and it was magic. Some could say that this fascination with this period of history would not persist have I lived in those times or under its late effects. Maybe, maybe not. For the time being I will keep flirting with these ideas.

One of the statues at Memento park

I took a few pictures there, surely fewer that I would have liked to. My poor fingers could not remain gloveless long enough! I will arrange them on a nice Flickr album all of their own, soon hopefully.

Has this story reminded someone of Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris? :)

post scriptum: an album for the beautiful statues of Memento park

An excursion to Ecseri

It was a friend's suggestion. Curious to understand more about the place she had so promptly elected for a visit during her short stay in Budapest among so many other pearls in the city, I ran to my books. One of them described Ecseri Piac as "one of the biggest flea markets in Central Europe, selling everything from antique jewellery and Soviet Army watches to Fred Astaire-style top hats". Despite not knowing what this hat was all about,  I could only conclude that this would be fun! 

And we had indeed a very good time walking among teddy bears and Nazi artefacts, memories of good and hard times, pieces of gypsy culture or art nouveau style. It is true that I am anyway very easily pleased with whatever that is old. By old I mean something that pre-exists me; in a more fashion, current language, vintage or antique. I find it quite peculiar this feeling of being in the presence of an object that was already around when I came into being. I like to imagine how many  secrets and what sort of  intimacies they have witnessed but would never tell. 

We ate lángos. You might be wondering what is that if you are not one of those familiar with the Hungarian cuisine. Due to its high concentration of grease and the lack of traditional cutlery, I could not register the moment for the posterity. I did not want to decorate my relatively new camera with shiny fingerprints. The fact is that the lángos degustation was a remarkable moment of the day. I was told that it is a summer thing this lángos, but was not explained why; some things one must just accept.

It is not hard to reach Ecseri using public transportation. I did not say it was central, though, so get ready for the trip! Actually, the journey itself can be an unconventional distraction, I enjoyed it very much! Outside the Kőbánya-Kispest metro station (the last stop in the blue line - or first, if you look at the matter from a different perspective!)  the landscape was not the most promising. But we took a tram and it was not long until I felt as if I had been transported to somewhere far from Budapest.

As part of a new policy developed since I left Finland, I did not acquire anything. Do not fool yourself, that was merely the result of pure discipline and auto-control. Instead, I photographed, and later I decided Ecseri deserved its own set on my Flickr.

Practical information: the address is Nagykőrös út 156 and (still according to my book) the market is open from 8-16.00 (Mon-Fri), 6-15.00 (Sat) and 8-13.00 (Sun). A bus stops right at the entrance; to figure out about routes and public transportation in Budapest, I recommend checking Google Maps.